The Nature of Hearing Voices

Earthhorse

I was watching a docu-drama last night, The Doctor Who Hears Voices (see an interview with the director here), and it reminded me of a question I've always had when it comes to people who hear voices.

What I'm wondering is ,what is it about these voices that distinguishes them from the interior monologues (or dialogues) we all have running in our brains?

Is it the number of voices (monologues) or is it the nature of what they say? Or the persistence with which they say it? Or is it something else?

When a person presents themselves with this symptom how do we know what they're experiencing is an auditory hallucination as opposed to their own expression of a fragile mind unable to order it's thoughts properly?

Chunky Monkey

The same way you would distinguish between your own voice and others on a recording?

When someone's in a fragile state of mind perhaps they revert back to a childlike state in that they become more sensitive to things like tone of voice. They could have have heard someone on TV or on the street talking in a certain tone that frightened them, for example, subconciously and later on their mind brings it to a conscious level and they interpret that as a voice in their head saying something frightening-they click together in the same category.

I dunno now I'm just guessing.

sam34

people will tell you that the voices they hear are as loud and clear as if there was someone standing in front of them talking (except there isnt). its that sound that distinguishes it from a thought or ones own "internal monologue".
you can sometimes see people who are hallucinating look around as if looking for the source of the voice.

DrIndy

its an interesting phenomenon!

The psychology behind it is really interesting. Normally the concious brain is able to sift through all the thoughts that pass through and bring them all together, rejecting some and keeping others.

For some reason in psychotic states, the mind no longer has this filter and the voices pass through and those thought can either appear as "foreign" thoughts that another person or entity has placed in there. They can also manifest as voices which are either spoken to or spoken in a third person.

It is actually very distressing to have someone telling you that you are crap constantly going in your brain and that is why it is so important to understand this and sympathise with people with schizophrenia

Earthhorse

DrIndy wrote: »

For some reason in psychotic states, the mind no longer has this filter and the voices pass through and those thought can either appear as "foreign" thoughts that another person or entity has placed in there.

So, all things being equal, such a psychotic state could happen to anyone?

Is it possible that the psychotic state is then just a case of the brain's defenses giving in? What I mean is, let's say that on a daily basis someone has the thought, "I am crap and worthless". Normally, they can deal with this, put it to one side and move on. It takes a little energy from them, sure, but they can basically still function. But after weeks or months or years of this, or maybe just during times of heightened stress, the brain's defenses are down and the "voices" seem "foreign" and essentially hallucinatory.

I realise what I'm asking mightn't be known but I am curious how much we know. Like you say, it's an interesting phenomenon.

Latchy

I watched the programme in question OP refers to and it brought a different slant in that the doctor treating the person who was the subject matter of the programme ,was himself diagnosed with schizoprenia as a teenager. What i have always wondered about whenever i come across somebody who hears voices is what kind of voices are they .Is it just like hearing a normal human voice except it is inside your head ? .It must be horrific

eth0_

Yes, it's like having one or several people constantly talking in your ear, telling you you are worthless or telling you to harm people.

I am a fan of Dr Rufus May's work, however, I thought that documentary was appalling. The documentary worker came across as a bit of a twit, and he seemed far too sceptical and interested in making May look like he was just as "mental" as the patient he was treating. I would have liked to have seen interviews with one or two other patients May had helped. His approach isn't new, but it's very radical in that it doesn't try to "dampen down" the voices and turn patients into dribbling zombies (which is what most psychiatrists seem to end up doing to schizophrenics).

I have a friend who was in and out of hospital for many years with schizophrenia - he has been medication free for a couple of years now, and never saw any significant improvement in his condition during the time he was treated by psychiatrists.

You have to remember Rufus May is a clinical psychologist working for the NHS, he's not just some quack doctor, which is how many TV reviewers portrayed him the day after the show was broadcast

Latchy

I do recall the documentry interviewer ( think he was from dublin ) was trying to ridicule Dr May throughout the programme and it was intresting when may confronted a psychiatrist at a public book launch about the methods he used to treat schizophrenia . The same psychiatrist had treated May as a young man .Intresting programme