You Ask, They Answer
Q A
Q A
: What’s voice-hearing?
: How does it develop?
: Put very simply, voice-hearing involves hearing a
: There are several theoretical approaches to this
voice in the absence of any speaker or when there’s
phenomenon.
no one around who could have said the thing that has been
One prominent theory says that voice-hearing is simply
heard. It’s a sound that no one else can hear and is often
a form of inner speech, the process when people talk to
beyond the hearer’s control.
themselves in their head. When voice hearers do inner
This is a quite common occurrence that sits on a wide
speech, the theory goes, something goes wrong and they don’t
spectrum, with up to 15 percent of people having
recognise it as coming from themselves but from
occasional experiences and up to 80 percent having
someone else.
Some people
hallucinations while they’re falling asleep or waking
Voice-hearing is also strongly related to trauma,
who hear voices
up.
particularly
childhood sexual abuse and bullying.
also have other
However, about one percent of the population
In
this
case,
voices
seem to be the re-enactment of
experiences that
hear voices quite regularly but aren’t affected by
unpleasant past experiences.
accompany the
phenomenon,
them or can manage them adequately, the so-
Another fashionable theory is that voice-hearing
like feelings of
called non-clinical voice hearers. But there are also
is caused by a wrong prediction made by the brain.
burning and
individuals who are quite troubled and stressed by
In this circumstance, people expect to hear a voice
tingling in the
these voices, which can be a real source of alarm and
and therefore create it in their head even if no actual
body
concern.
sound is there.
Voices can be loud and aggressive or comforting
There are lots of different theories around, and,
and supportive. Others are kind of neutral. Some people
since the phenomenon is so complex and varied, it’s very
describe hearing voices when they actually don’t hear
unlikely we’re going to find a single theory that explains
anything. They have a feeling of being communicated with
everything.
rather than actually hearing any sound. And that’s led experts
: Which meanings are usually attached to the
to postulate that hearing voices may be an experience of a
experience?
social agent trying to communicate with a person but not
: In the past, voice-hearing was considered a sort of
necessarily using sound.
glitch in the brain requiring drugs to make it go away.
Some people who hear voices also have other experiences
However, over the last 25 to 30 years, the Hearing Voices
that accompany the phenomenon, like feelings of burning and
Movement has been promoting the notion that voice-hearing
tingling in the body.
Q
A
10
MARCH 2020
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com