What people tell us about their voices 27
Article last updated 20/10/2008
Many of our site visitors leave messages, here are some examples of what people have told us about their hearing voices experiences :
"I spent about 5mos in a state hospital after being in and out short term. I've been hospital free for over a year but I am so afraid of telling anyone about my voices being back."
"Its nice to see people communicating freely. I was hospitalised 7 times. Once in Dunedin, NZ which is close to you. I was there visiting my brother. Its great to see people finally discussing the voices and people that they hear. The more I read the more I realise how similar peoples experiences are. Which makes me realise that we are all seeing the same thing which is interesting."
"I have been hearing a single voice, for the past three years, the voice is coming from a living indian guru, she is very demonic, but she does not scare me. "
"I appreciate everyones honesty. I have been hearing these same voices. I take meds that dull the voices, but every morning and throughout the day until evening is an agonizing harrassment. Every thought i think I recieve comments from voices that claim they are fallen angels."
"I have heard voices claiming to be demons for 8 years. I can even blast music and I will still hear them but if I listen to talk radio even at a low volume I do not seem to hear them. I hope this might help someone else"
" I am a mental health prof. However, after several stays in hospital i too learned the horrible 'rules' you described. Seeing it all wrote down moved me to tears, i'm so angry and sad that that is the reality of our care. Then the b******s wonder why we wont talk!."
"I agree that it is best to be able to discuss the experiences of hearing voices and all , but only with other people who hear voices. In my experience, I have found that there is such a stigma related to hearing voices that people, including doctors, treat you differently when you discuss them. I have very little use for the mental health system in my area."
"Hello, I've heard voices for almost four years now. It happened when I was nineteen, much like one of the other posters here, I was a psychology major at a very good science college and studying pre-med. My experience came after using ouiji boards "
"I just started hearing this voice ... ,the last time I heard the voice it ask me if I was all right,I am alone most of the time it has happened, it's a male voice and when it happens I don't feel any fear of the voice".
"I have heard voices since I was 41 years old (10 years ago). Sometimes they were clear, sometimes faint. They have given me very helpful guidance and although I have been reluctant to 'connect' (afraid I had a mental illness), I cope much better when I am in contact with the voices. Your website has been reassuring and I would like to thank you for the information."
I have been hearing music since May 2006 until now. I am 56 yrs. old. The music I hear changes from time to time from a soft mellow one to somewhat nerve breaking. The music keeps on during my waking hours. I get a few hours sleep due to this disturbances and keep on waking every 2 or 3 hours.
"I started to hear negative voices, have nightmares, and see things that were not so good. Where in the past it was always good experiences. When I look back, I see it was a spiritual crisis .... Everyones journey is different, but there are many similarities within those journeys. Try looking at each voice, and see if it can relate in anyway to the way you feel about something. Are they playing on your insecurities and fears about yourself, if so then set about overcoming them alittle at a time. Or accept them and move on. often when you realise what it is the energy seems to dissipate. If you see them as something evil and scary, that is the effect they will have on you. Change the way you see them, imagine them as children who are lost and surviving in the wilderness. I used to do that, imagine the voice as a child, and often it would diminish. I know it is a difficult journey,. Remember to be good to yourself. Always acknowledge your victories, know they cannot hurt you, and the only thing to Fear is fear itself. "
"Right at this moment, as I’m writing this, the voices are blaming me for not following their instructions months ago. Typical of them, they want me to fault myself for supposedly aborting an initiation I supposedly was going through. At other times they’ve told me that they hate me because I’m unattractive. This is but one example of their, mostly unsubstantiated, attempts at damaging my sense of self worth. There are several voices which I hear often that seem to belong to distinct personalities, but there’s one that is most predominant, a young female voice, talking to me almost all the time. Thankfully, both harshness and volume of the assaults have been gradually decreasing in the past weeks. I attribute this to my realizing the nature of the voices and learning to be unaffected by whatever they throw at me."
" ... I hear voices that tell me to take care of myself, reminding me to take medication that I take daily. My daughter, sister and her daughter hear and experience such things as glass breaking before it happens doorbells and phone ringing before they actually ring. I am also pre-cognative and will hear some things break, water running, such as this before it happens. I don't know how common that it is. My experiences do not frighten me anymore me as they have in the very beginning, they have actually helped me."
" ... I hear voices, more than one voice actually. I have always felt them to be benefecial to me throughout my life since early childhood, guides along life's pathway. I have never been directed to do anything harmful to myself or others, yet I have received a psychiatric diagnosis ."
As well as leaving a comment on this page, you may wish to discuss your experiences and get feedback and responses from other INTERVOICE supporters, if so you can join our the online discussion forum home pageclick on Register, follow the instructions and you will be joined up straight away.
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News about research, information, experiences 0
Page updated 21/11/2008
News from 2008
Psychologist's non-drug approach provokes reaction storm, Psychminded, 1st May 2008
A non-drug therapy used by a clinical psychologist when working with a voice-hearing client has provoked a storm of mixed reactions.
You can read full article here
Reflections on the making of "The Doctor Who Hears Voices" by Rufus May
"Over a million people watched the drama-documentary when it was broadcast in April in the U.K. on channel 4. Thousands of people are now down loading from several Internet sites. It has provoked a strong response from viewers. Many people have been inspired by the film, others more attached to a medical approach to distress have been outraged."
Read the article here
The Listening Cure, Time/CNN, 21st February 2008
HVN seeks to recast the phenomenon as a normal experience, encouraging members to maintain a dialogue with their voices so they can live peacefully with and even appreciate their presence.
We talked about the voices and my psychiatrist suggested I stop seeing them as a symptom of mental illness, Daily Mail, 07/02/2008
"I often wonder what would have happened to me if I hadn't found a psychiatrist who understood how to treat me."
UEL throws spotlight on 'hearing voices' , Newham Recorder, UK, 12 January 2008
The fascinating experiences of people who hear voices will come under the spotlight at a special one-day conference to be held at the University of East London
News from years 2006 and 2007
2007
What to say to the inner voice, CBC News, December 27, 2007
Daniel B. Smiths fascinating new book, Muses, Madmen and Prophets: Rethinking the History of Science and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination.
Muddy Thinking, The Guardian, 09/11/2007
More and more people like Peter Bullimore are turning their backs on the label of schizophrenia and its conventional treatments in an attempt to reclaim their lives.
'Schizophrenic' label doubles the torture felt by sufferers, The New Zealand Herald, 19/11/2007
Peter Bullimore still hears aggressive voices inside his head, but he has rejected the stigmatising label of "schizophrenia" and is now campaigning for it to be discarded.
Woman hears voices with a speech impediment, New Scientist magazine, 20/08/2007
Researchers claim a Swiss woman who fell off her bicycle has yielded a unique insight into how auditory hallucinations are generated.
Botschaften aus der anderen Welt, Frankfurter Rundschau, 17/07/2007
Stimmenhören ist für Justiz und Psychiatrie Symptom für eine Psychose. Oft ist es das tatsächlich. Aber es gibt auch Stimmenhörer, die noch nie in der Psychiatrie waren und sich mit ihren Stimmen arrangiert haben.
Trauma care, Boston Globe, 02/07/2007
For over 25 years, Harvard psychiatrists have helped and studied victims of many of the world's most devastating events. What they found is more heartening than you might think.
Hidden demons, The Guardian, 15/06/2007
Academic Benjamin Gray recalls his experiences of dealing with voices that other people could not hear.
Is 'voice-hearing' an act of lunacy, or are we ignorant to the plight of the sufferers?, Belfast Telegraph, 07/06/2007
This week's tragic case of a father in London attacking his young daughter has brought people who 'hear voices' into the spotlight.
Glad to be Mad, New Zealand Herald, May 14th 2007
The links are clear between insanity and creative genius, suggesting better ways might be found to help sufferers of mental disorders.
Mind over medicine, The Guardian, 11/05/2007
Mental health professionals should look beyond the medicalisation of psychosis and recognise the relevance of traumatic life events.
Hearing voices doesn't mean you're mentally ill, icwales, May 2, 2007
Psychologists at Bangor University are planning to delve into the psyches of people who hear voices, but are not mentally ill.
"The harmful concept of Schizophrenia", article by Marius Romme and Mervyn Morris published in Mental Health Nursing explaining why the term 'schizophrenia' is not just stigmatising, but also fundamentally flawed. See article here
Do you hear what I hear?: Psychology undertakes some new directions, Creative Loafing Atlanta, 04/04/2007
Daniel B. Smith's exploration of a grassroots British organization called the Hearing Voices Network is a mind-blowing deconstruction of our notions of normality.
Hearing Voices, Review of "Muses, Madmen and prophets", New York Times, 08/04/2007
What pain could have been avoided if only it had been clear that ... voices are not necessarily signals of mental illness.
Can hearing voices be a good thing? Local people urged to come forward, Manchester University, 03/04/2007
Psychologists at The University of Manchester are seeking more volunteers for their research into hearing voices, and why some people consider it a positive experience while others find it distressing.
Son attempts to reconcile a father's war within, San Francisco Chronicle, 02/04/2007
Smith focuses less on his father's experience of his voices and more on his notion that his father suffered from a pathologizing of voice-hearing in Western culture. To build his case, Smith reflects on earlier eras when voice-hearing was considered both real and powerful.
Voices carry, Boston Globe, 25/03/2007
The message and mystery of auditory hallucinations, from Moses to modern times.
Can You Live With the Voices in Your Head?, New York Times, 25/03/2007
In depth article about hearing voices and the development of the hearing voices movement by Daniel B. Smith from New York, USA.
The Independent on Sunday Mental health special edition: Guest editor, Rufus May, 18/03/2007
Mental health special edition edited by guest editor, Rufus May, mental health activist and INTERVOICE member.
Is there a link between madness and creativity?, Independent on Sunday, 18/03/2007.
Many illustrious thinkers and poets, including Shakespeare, have believed that genius is only a step away from insanity. John Walsh goes in search of evidence in our contemporary culture.
In Your Head: Hearing Voices, Psychology Today, 05/03/2007
People who hear voices in their heads don't always need psychiatric help. Sometimes the voices within can guide you in everyday life.
How I tamed the voices in my head, The Independent, 06/03/2007
When Eleanor Longden began hearing things, she soon found herself drugged, sectioned and labelled schizophrenic. Then a psychiatrist taught her how to talk back.
The harmful concept of Schizophrenia, Mental Health Nursing, 7 - 11 March 2007
Marius Romme and Mervyn Morris outline their suggestions for a more helpful and cause-related alternative to the harmful concept of schizophrenia.
Voices in your head? You may not be crazy, The Times (UK), 23/01/2007
Four per cent of people in the UK are said to hear voices. A new trial could help them.
2006
Top award for hearing voices group, Source: Sussex Partnership Trust, 01/12/2006
'Because of the way that the East Sussex Hearing Voices Groups were initiated by service users and depend entirely on the active participation and enthusiastic support of clients and carers, a Best of Health patients' panel awarded the Patient and Public Involvement Award to them.
Broken home linked to psychosis, BBC, 21/11/2006
People from broken homes may be more prone to psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, research suggests.
Time to listen to the voices again, The Herald, 03/10/2006
Sounding out those voices that nobody else can hear, New Zealand Herald, 06/09/2006
Hearing voices when no one is there can be a symptom of mental illness, yet a study of the phenomenon found nearly half the people who heard voices said their hallucinations were mostly friendly or helpful.
Voices in the head 'are normal', BBC, 18/09/2006
Contrary to traditional belief, hearing voices is not necessarily a symptom of mental illness, UK researchers at Manchester University say.
'I learned to live with voices', BBC Online, 18/09/2006
Hearing voices has traditionally been viewed as a negative thing and a symptom of mental health problems, but new research has revealed not only do four percent of people hear voices, but some say that the voices are a positive part of their lives.
Listening to the voices, BBC, 14/09/2006
How can hearing voices in your head be a good thing? Researcher Aylish Campbell says voices are a natural part of life and that how it affects you depends how you react to the experience.
Study into millions who hear voices in head launched to coincide with WHVD, Press Association, 13/9/2006
Scientists in the UK are to investigate why so many "normal" people hear voices in their heads.
Hearing Voices - the invisible intruders, "All in the Mind", ABC Radio, 22/07/2006
The latest research on how auditory hallucinations occur in the brain, what it's like to live with voices in your head—and the healing power of the international Hearing Voices Network.
Child Abuse can Cause Schizophrenia, EurekAlert!, 13/06/2006
The experience of hearing voices is consistently associated with childhood trauma regardless of diagnosis or genetic pedigree.