Coping with Hearing Voices by Rethink

Most people in modern-day western culture think of hearing voices as a clear sign of mental illness but it's as well to remember that not everyone shares this opinion. A report published by the British Psychological Society in (2000) claims that 10-15 % of the population hear voices or experience other hallucinations at some point in their life. However, only about 1 % of the population is given a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a similar number get a diagnosis of manic depression (often called 'bi-polar disorder'). In some other cultures hallucinations are thought of as spiritual gifts. So not everybody who hear voices is thought of as having a mental illness by themselves, their families or even the mental health services.

Hearing voices in itself may not necessarily be distressing. What really matters is the effect that hearing voices has upon the person's life. For some voice hearers the experience is highly distressing and disturbing and it has a negative impact upon their life. Voices can be critical, hostile and even result in suicide. For others the experience is not distressing; it can even be positive, comforting or inspiring. Sometimes, hearing voices becomes distressing in itself because of the way it is viewed by our culture and because of the way the media portray people who hear voices as dangerous to others, which is very rarely the case.

But many people who hear voices find themselves having to deal with a different world, which may at times be overwhelming and may shut out everything else. As a result reasoning may be almost taken away, making it difficult or even impossible to go about life without being affected by such penetrating and confusing experiences.

What are the voices?

Using brain imaging techniques (ie using a brain scanner), researchers can see which parts of the brain are active during different tasks. So, using these brain imaging techniques researchers can see which parts of the brain are active whilst you are experiencing psychotic symptoms, such as hearing voices. This shows that when you are hearing voices part of the brain, called Broca's area, is active. This is the same area that is active when a person without psychosis makes inner speech, such as when reciting a poem to themselves. This shows that the voices originate within the brain, in just the same way inner speech is generated. The difference is that with hallucinations (e.g. voices) the auditory cortex is also activated. The auditory cortex is normally active when we are listening to sounds, such as somebody talking. So, when you have hallucinations of hearing voices, Broca's area and the auditory cortex are both active, making it seem like the voices are coming from outside. Whereas, in inner speech (such as silently reciting a poem to oneself) only the Broca's area is active and we recognize it as our own silent speech.

See the rest of the article, including strategies for coping, here.