Source: Press Association, 19 June 2006

A leading mental health charity has today welcomed a Channel Four documentary which aimed to open up discussion on the stigma surrounding people who hear voices.

Last night Channel Four screened the “Voices in my Head” documentary which probed the experience of people who hear voices and pointed out that people have always heard voices.

Programme makers suggested history’s most spiritual and artistic people heard voices and that it was accepted as normal at the time.

The show then questioned why people today who hear voices are now labelled as “mad” and asked what has changed in modern society.

Today charity chiefs at Intervoice, a body representing support groups across the world for people who hear voices, welcomed the programme and said it had opened up a discussion about the meaning of voices for the people who hear them.

The charity said that for a number of years it has been assumed that hearing voices is directly associated with mental illness, however, recent research shows this is not the case.

In the UK, of the estimated two million people who hear voices, 1.25 million have never had a problem and the charity said voices should be not be regarded as a disadvantage but a variation in human behaviour that can sometimes cause difficulties for some people.

Coordinator of Intervoice, Paul Baker, said: “We would also like to hear from people who hear voices and do not have problems with them or have found ways to overcome their problems.

“We want to use these stories to help reduce the stigma associated with this experience and will publish them on the first World Hearing Voices Day on September 14, 2006.”

The theme of the World Hearing Voices Day addresses whether hearing voices should be considered an illness or as part of the diversity of human experience that does not in itself have to result in an illness.

Mr Baker claimed because of the fears and misunderstandings in society and within psychiatry about hearing voices, voices are generally regarded as negative and consequently rarely discussed.

To challenge this Intervoice members from around the world will be holding a range of events to open a public debate on the significance of voices in society.

Mr Baker added: “We promise to protect the confidentiality of people who contact us and to use their stories in a positive way to help other people who hear voices and to dispel the myths about voices that are held in our society.”