You Ask, They Answer
seen as positive because it had a spiritual and religious
meaning. Today, a lot of people find it helpful to think of their
voice-hearing in a spiritual context.
Voice-hearing has also been associated with positive things,
like creativity. Several writers, like Virginia Woolf, heard voices,
and some voice hearers find the information empowering and
destigmatising.
Q
A
: Do you have any advice on how to cope with
distressing voices?
: People who aren’t bothered by their voices shouldn’t
seek help because they’re already doing fine. But those
who feel distressed about the experience can try out a variety
of coping strategies that have proved to work for some voice
hearers.
Being compassionate towards voices, such as showing
is a meaningful experience that conveys an emotional
you are willing to listen to them, is one option. Another is to
message for the voice hearer.
challenge them by saying no to their commands. Being with
Though I don’t think this interpretation works for everyone,
animals, connecting with others, keeping busy, and getting
the change has been really liberating and empowering for lots
creative, like writing a diary or painting, can help others.
of people, and it has allowed voice hearers around the world to
Taking care of yourself turns out to be really important as
give their own meaning to their experience without being told
well. Being well nourished and getting enough sleep and some
what to think by psychiatrists.
exercise make a difference.
That being said, voice-hearing is still a poorly understood
There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy since people deal with
phenomenon getting a lot of bad press. It’s seen as a
voices, or any other difficult situation in life, in
particularly strong sign of madness, and therefore it’s
different ways.
highly stigmatised. There’s a lot of misunderstanding
Hearing voice groups are another important
There’s no one-
size-fits-all
about it. In particular, there’s a strong association
source of support because voice hearers can talk
strategy since
in the public mind between hearing voices and
about their experiences among themselves without
people deal with
violence, which is completely unfounded. A very
involving any psychiatrist or psychologist.
voices, or any
small number of voice hearers actually act on any
other difficult
: What are the options available for those
command the voices may make. Most people just
situation in life,
in different ways
who want to seek medical care?
hear the voices and ignore them, or they’ll find a way
: When you seek professional help, talking
to sort it out. And people with any serious mental
therapy is a very valuable option to make the
illness are much more likely to be victims of violence
experience of hearing voices less upsetting. Some find helpful
than perpetrators of it.
art and dance therapies as well.
The website Understanding Voices aims to dispel these
Though they are not the first-line approach due to their
misconceptions by providing free online information about
potentially adverse effects, medications can also play a
the many positive meanings voice-hearing can take on as
stabilising role when people are in serious distress so that
well as the different ways voice hearers have learned to cope
psychologically-based interventions can have their effect. On
with it. The website has been produced by Hearing the Voice,
the Understanding Voices website, people can find detailed
a research project at Durham University that approaches
information on how to make an informed choice about the use
the phenomenon of hearing voices through a wide range
of psychiatric medications for treating voice-hearing.
of academic disciplines, from theology and cognitive
neuroscience to philosophy, linguistics, and medieval
literature, because the topic is extremely rich and complex.
Dr Charles Fernyhough
One key finding is that voice-hearing has had different
Dr Charles Fernyhough is a professor in the Department
significances throughout history and across cultures, and, in
of Psychology at Durham University in the UK. He’s the
some contexts, it’s also been seen as very meaningful.
principal investigator of the Hearing the Voice project. More
Medieval mystics, for example, had various visionary
information can be found at www.understandingvoices.com.
experiences including voice-hearing, which was sometimes
Q
A
12
MARCH 2020
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