Hi, my name is Tom. I hear voices every day, and I would like to share my story. Hopefully someone else who is struggling with hearing voices every day can relate to what I’m going through.
At this point in time, I have only spoken with a social worker; I have not yet seen a psychiatrist and do not know if I suffer from any specific mental illness.
I hear voices everyday, almost all day, which has been going on for at least 6-12 months.
Trying to understand the voices I hear:
- Start as soon as I wake up
- End only when I’ve fallen asleep
- Multiple voices; can be male or female
- They insult me; criticise me; mock me; harass me; threaten me
- They want me to believe they’re someone from my past experiences/relationships
- They want me to believe they’re my neighbours
- They want me to believe they’re a group of people spying on me
- They want me to believe they’re ghosts or supernatural in some way
- They want me to believe it’s my fault they’re harassing me; that they are punishing me
- They want me to believe they’re goal is to cause me harm
- They want me to believe they are of a greater power
- They want me to believe that they know everything of my past/personal life
How hearing these voices makes me feel:
- Helpless
- Frustrated
- Sad
- Depressed
- Confused
- Scared
- Embarrassed
- Angry
- Vengeful
- Like I am constantly being watched
Times I haven’t heard them OR hear them less often:
- Socialising
- Drinking alcohol (which is bad)
- Travelling or spending time outdoors
- Concentrating on an activity/writing/watching TV or playing video game
What I want:
- To find ways to help hear the voices less often
- To find ways to stop hearing voices for good
Taking Control:
- The voices I hear imply they don’t care how I feel or what happens to me, so I don’t want to believe anything they say. If they don’t care about me, I shouldn’t care what they think.
- The voices I hear threaten me, so I want to realise that although this is scary, they can’t hurt me, that only I can hurt me.
- The voices I hear harass me over things that happened in my past, so I want to realise that I can’t change anything that has already happened.
- The voices I hear lie to me and try to confuse me, so I don’t want to believe anything they say.
- The voices I hear imply they can see me and that they watch me, but after a long period of time of hearing these comments there is no proof whatsoever that anyone is spying one me.
- The voices I hear insult and criticise me, but they are not a real person, so their judgement does not mean anything real.
When I stand up to the voices I hear:
- When I am alone, and I “call the voices out” looking for an explanation or reasoning behind their negativity, there is little or no response.
- When I am feeling confident and am ready to confront the voices, they are not present with a response.
- The voices I hear seem to work very much like the way a bully would harass a weakened person.
The voices I hear feed off of my fears, my paranoia, and any negative emotions I am feeling or ideas I am thinking.
The voices are negative, and only cause me to feel that way.
I need to realise that these voices only make me feel afraid, so I need to work hard at trying to understand what is happening, and I need to work hard at taking control.
Ways I can keep busy:
- Hobbies/doing things I enjoy
- Socialising/spending time with family
- Physical exercise
- Mediation and self-reflection
- Writing
- Sharing my experience with others
