Hearing voices is normal. by Cybersnark

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Hearing voices is normal.

POSTED BY: CYBERSNARK
UPDATED: Sunday, January 28, 2007 13:54
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006 4:26 AM

This doesn't mean you're not crazy, it just means that this isn't the best indicator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5346930.stm

Quote:
Dutch findings suggest one in 25 people regularly hears voices.

Contrary to traditional belief, hearing voices is not necessarily a symptom of mental illness, UK researchers at Manchester University say.

Indeed, many who hear voices do not seek help and say the voices have a positive impact on their lives, comforting or inspiring them.

I hear voices all the time. I just call them "characters," and write stories about them.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006 4:29 AM

MSG

where exactly are my inspirational voices???? All I have is a bunch of students saying...did you know you forgot make-up this morning?

I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

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Monday, September 25, 2006 8:58 AM

HOBBLEIT

Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
This doesn't mean you're not crazy, it just means that this isn't the best indicator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5346930.stm

Quote:
Dutch findings suggest one in 25 people regularly hears voices.

Contrary to traditional belief, hearing voices is not necessarily a symptom of mental illness, UK researchers at Manchester University say.

Indeed, many who hear voices do not seek help and say the voices have a positive impact on their lives, comforting or inspiring them.

I hear voices all the time. I just call them "characters," and write stories about them.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

This reminds me of the time when a doctor asked my friend if he heard voices to which he replied "yes". When the doctor asked him when he said "whenever someone talks to me."

"did the titanic bend? No!"

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Sunday, January 28, 2007 12:27 PM

SIRI

OK - I'm going to jump in here as I work with people diagnosed with Schizophrenia and other psychoses. There are some huge difference in this arena. There are a number of factors to consider when working with someone who "hears voices." Some important questions to ask are whether the voices are "inside your head" or "coming from outside" for example, thinking that the TV or radio are sending you secret messages or telling you to do things, i.e., "command voices". Another question might be if the voices are telling you to do things like hurt yourself or someone else. Then there's the questions of paranoia. Sometimes people really are in danger but if they can't tell if it's real or not that can be a serious problem.

Finally, even people who truly suffer from schizophrenia, with or without taking medication, may still hear voices (usually it's voices outside their heads that are giving them "commands" thus "command voices." These can be the most worrisome. If they can still function and not act on the voices that might be telling them to harm to themselves or others, then they can often learn to live with it and recognize the difference between their own "internal voices" and outside "command voices." If they've never questioned it, then they don't think about whether the voices are "real or not."

There are so many factors involved and we are complex organisms - us humans. People are probably most familiar with Russell Crow's characterization of a math genius with schizoprhenia in A Beautiful Mind. Another interesting movie that explores this theme from a different perspective is Gweneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins in Proof. I saw it as a play before it was made into a movie and liked it better than A Beautiful Mind. Proof explores the impact on the family and fears around the thin line between genius and mental illness. Case in point - River's confusion with the voices - albeit she was also psychic so she was hearing voices in other people's minds. Geesh! That would be creepy as hell.

I attended a seminar once with a Phd professor of psychiatry who was also diagnosed with schizophrenia. He talked about the characteristics of schizophrenia, i.e, speech delays, etc. but also what appears to be precognitive abilities, not actually future-reading, but simply the ability to recognize patterns before so call "normal" people. There were clinicians as well as people with schizophrenia in the room. He used a couple of examples. One was putting up patterns of dots and asking people to hold up their hands as soon as they recognized the object in the pattern. People with schizophrenia were able to recognize the object significantly faster than the "normal" folks. Another test was word association. Say what comes to mind when you say "LION" - most folks say "TIGER" folks with schizophrenia would say "STRIPES" bypassing tiger and going directly to the stripes of the tiger.

Fascinating topic. Thanks for putting it out here.

"This must be what it's like to go crazy."

Siri

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Sunday, January 28, 2007 1:45 PM

DAVESHAYNE

This sounds like a thread for the League of Psychic Nutcases.

But on topic and all people hallucinate a good deal more than is generally recognized. Olfactory halucinations are particularly common - conjecturaly because smell is the sense most closly linked to memory.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

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Sunday, January 28, 2007 1:54 PM

KANEMAN

"This reminds me of the time when a doctor asked my friend if he heard voices to which he replied "yes". When the doctor asked him when he said "whenever someone talks to me."

LOL....really funny.

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