As many of you are aware, Eleanor Longden (a valued member of the Intervoice Board) travelled to Long Beach earlier in the year to give an inspirational talk about her recovery from overwhelming voices. Speaking alongside the likes of Peter Gabriel, Bono, inventors, ecologists and human rights activists, Eleanor received a standing ovation for her presentation.
Following this, Eleanor was asked to write a e-book about her journey to share her experiences in more detail. This e-book was released yesterday (8th August), alongside the full version of her TED talk. The talk itself has already been watched over 125,000 times – so it is really reaching out and spreading the message that people can learn to understand and live with even the most distressing voices.
Hear Eleanor speak, here:
Hear more from Eleanor
Eleanor Longden was a college freshman when she started hearing voices in her head. Diagnosed with schizophrenia and checked into a psychiatric ward, Longden spent years trapped in a nightmare of hospitals and medication
s, pain and despair. Yet she survived. Her technique: to learn to listen to her internal narrators, not reject them. Now on the cusp of finishing her Ph.D. in psychology, Longden still hears voices — and she says she wouldn’t
live without them.
Part personal memoir and part medical argument, Learning from the Voices in My Head challenges society’s definition of crazy. Longden calls for new, nuanced understanding of voice hearing and urges us to see madness not as a condition, but as a process — one through which those who struggle with mental health issues have the chance to emerge with their sanity intact.
Buy Eleanor’s e-book, see: www.ted.com/pages/tedbooks_library#EleanorLongden
Read John Ronson’s interview with Eleanor: www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/08/ted-talk-eleanor-longden-schizophrenia
Read ‘Everything you wanted to know about voice-hearing, but were too afraid to ask’ by Eleanor on TED: http://blog.ted.com/2013/08/08/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voice-hearing-but-were-too-afraid-to-ask/
Changing her relationship with her voices
It happened gradually — and some voices took longer to change than others. But primarily it was when I stopped attacking and arguing with them, and began to try and understand them and relate to them more peacefully. It was about putting an end to the internal civil war I mentioned earlier, because each of them was part of a whole: me! I would thank them for drawing my attention to conflicts I needed to deal with. I remember one very powerful moment, several years down the line, when I said something like, “You represent awful things that have happened to me, and have carried all the memories and emotion because I couldn’t bear to acknowledge them myself. All I’ve done in return is criticize and attack you. It must have been really hard to be so vilified and misunderstood.” There was an immensely long pause before one of them finally responded: “Yes. Thank you.”
thankyou..thankyou..my first voices came after a rape..then my horrified family kicked me out of the house at 16..i never told anyone but figured out myself I was not an I but in fact a WE..i never felt sick..but alone..now at 52..i am safe and centered..and have spoken up for visions and voices as being a sign..an awareness..but Elenor..you are my first real advocate that speaks for what I intuit…thankyou,,I wish you had been sooner befor my torured brother ended his own life with the mmedication he was give to drown out his own voice….may the conscious universe bless you and all those who speak out against bad science
Please help direct me to someone who can work with my 34 year old son in the United States. We live in Calif; but are open to travel to where he can get help. As a family we could rent a place to support him during the process.
Thank You,
Sherley
I am not a voice hearer but am writing a paper about hearing voices for an Abnormal Psychology class. Your approach is completely different from the standard treatment and wisdom on the subject. The Professor of my class is a practicing psychologist, hopefully this paper will give him reason to at least consider alternative treatments to the current “Dopamine Theory” protocols.
Thank you Eleanor for your bravery in telling your story. You gave me hope knowing that I’m not alone, and that I will get better. I think understanding ones self and especially ones emotions is one key to stopping or at least slowing down and lowering the volume to the voices. Good luck to all my fellow beautiful people.