#voice hearing

[schizosupport]

i don’t quite remember the op but i saw this post saying that it’s better to think that psychosis can be neutral or even positive not just this horrifying end of the world kind of feeling (which i have felt but not very often) which made me consider maybe i experience psychosis more often than i think or realise, almost on a day to day basis just me questioning everything. im not sure why i just feel like i needed to tell someone sorry if this ask is weird

It's not weird at all! And yeah psychosis isn't inherently negative, and I would go so far as to argue that psychotic symptoms can be non-disordered. Psychiatric diagnoses usually involve clinically significant distress, and nominally that's true for psychotic symptoms as well, but it's my experience that some psychiatrists are so afraid of anything psychotic that they consider any such experiences inherently disordered/problematic and to-be-eradicated.

It is known that a segment of the population hears voices without it being a problem for them, and since psychiatrists suck at differentiating between bad/harmful voices and negative or positive experiences of hearing voices, I think leads to the pathologizing of a group of people whose main problem was elsewhere.

(and most people who have clinically distressing psychosis ALSO have non-distressing symptoms of psychosis! And differentiation is important! "Not normal" does NOT equal "wrong and must be changed"!)

Anyways, sorry for going on a tangent! It just made me think of that.

[pluralprompts]

Prompt #1,716

Character A never questioned the fact they had voices in their head before. But one day, they suddenly started hearing a lot more voices. A truly ridiculous amount, in fact. Where did they all come from?!

[sophieinwonderland]

As a psychotic person with (harmful) delusions and hallucinations, I'd like to chip in and say the way people are responding to your switching + imposition guides with "but they're delusions and hallucinations, obviously these are bad" really rubs me the wrong way. Because it feels like they're trying to support people like me, but they speak about delusions/hallucinations in a way that doesn't really make me feel safe around them. Like, they feel like the kind of people to try and reality check me or tell me to "get help" instead of just letting me exist as a psychotic person, y'know? Shuffle me off to the side because anything related to what I experience (including I, myself) must be hidden away until it doesn't exist "like that" anymore. They're making such a huge deal out of this that it makes me wonder how they'd react if a psychotic person like I confessed to them about having delusions/hallucinations. Would they freak out? The way they talk about these things makes me feel like they'd freak out. And then try to tell me they "know what's best" for me and force onto me their own ideas about how I should manage my psychosis. It's something in how they talk about delusions without actually talking about or with delusional people. Arguing over what we experience without listening to the people experiencing it. Inadvertently promoting the idea that delusions and hallucinations can't be managed and gotten to a healthy level that sometimes people just live with, no need to panic about it. Idk, it's hard to put into words

I very much agree.

These posts often come off as very dismissive and othering.

They cast certain conditions and experiences as these just... objectively terrible things all the time... and then dive straight into trying to police how people are allowed to relate to them.

And while the bulk of this latest discourse has been focused on the dissociation aspect, it's not been exclusively that, as the hallucination subject has been brought up too.

See this post for example:

(Fact check: I have no idea what they mean about me "encouraging dissociation" outside of the switching guide, and I've never said schizophrenia is healthy nor do I believe every person with Schizophrenia to be a system though I do think there is overlap and this is one way systems can form. There's a ton of nuance being intentionally and maliciously cut out but that I don't have the time to bother with.)

This feels a lot more like what you're talking about.

The quoted line about treatment for hallucinations being akin to conversion therapy is something attributed to Dr. Romme of the Hearing Voices Network.

The Hearing Voices Movement started in the 1980s in Europe when a patient confronted Romme about the limitations of the psychiatric care being provided. Why, the patient asked, was it OK for Romme to believe in a God whom he could not see or hear but not OK for her, the patient, to believe in voices that she really did hear? To learn more about the voice-hearing experience and to try to help his patient, Romme had the woman’s story told on TV and asked for other voice hearers to contact him. Approximately 550 reached out. Remarkably, many of the people who heard voices did not need clinical help. Writing in the Journal of Mental Health in 2011 after conducting a literature review, Vanessa Beavan, John Read and Claire Cartwright asserted that it was safe to say that 1 in 10 people in the general population will hear voices. Romme eventually compared psychiatric treatment to eliminate voice hearing to conversion therapy for sexual orientation.

What I love about this story is how it shows a psychiatrist who was actually willing to listen to and learn from their patients instead of simply assuming they know what's best.

Psychiatry has a long history of starting with assuming something is just inherently bad and needs to be gotten rid of from the start and building treatment models around that. In this case, Romme was willing to re-evaluate generations of tradition and develop new treatment methods for the needs of the actual patients instead of trying to force people to fit into society's idea of normalcy.

And I think that's what we need more of in the world. To focus on people's own needs and their health first instead of trying to "fix" undesirable traits.

[neiviele]

I think there's nuance that is being lost in the voice-hearing debate that seems to pop up every now and again?

I 100% believe that healthy voice hearers exist and that voice-hearing can be non-pathological and beneficial... but at the same time, voice-hearing can arise for many causes, and I don't think it's healthy to make concerns into an all or nothing, they're all against us thing.

Some voice-hearers have no pathological conditions, or are spiritual in nature. This is fine. But there are all sorts of other reasons why someone might hear voices, including but not limited to brain tumors, malnutrition, loneliness, other mental disorders, genetic diseases, and mental degradation. If a voice-hearer has one of these conditions and also identifies as a voice-hearer or understands that to be a component of their voice hearing, this is fine. But I feel that the concerns that arise with voice hearing are being misunderstood, because a common concern I keep on seeing from others (that does have validity to it) is that it is a sign of other issues.

I have seen situations where voice-hearing is a sign that someone has encephalitis or some other condition, and if they hadn't gotten it checked out it could have led to an unfortunate situation down the road. It can and does happen. I don't think it's healthy to forget that it is still sometimes a sign that things have gone wrong somewhere, for some people.

Voice hearing is such a broad label that I don't find it helpful to classify it (or opposition to it) as being all good or all bad. I personally think that voice hearing is likely to be beneficial and not a cause for concern when it occurs early in life, can be controlled to some degree, is perceived as being ego-syntonic or otherwise an integral part of a person, and appears in the absence of other concerning symptoms. I do think you should be on the lookout for other conditions or potentially get it checked out if voice hearing pops up suddenly, can't be controlled, is ego-dystonic or isn't a part of who you are, and appears with other symptoms (such as uncontrolled weight loss, tremors, delusions, etc.)

[disableddyke]

[littlelightfish]

Funny things I found out playing with language setting in Netflix while looking episode 15:

Chilchuck's scream sounds HAUNTED in brazilian portuguese. Give it a try if you can.

(You can hear it here)

In spanish dub, Senshi says: "tocó mis senos de hombre", which means "he touched my man boobs" in Spanish. And I think that's the best dub line one so far.

[eastgaysian]

[stump-not-found]

i just think it'd be funny if more ao3 fics got completely derailed because he can't handle even the slight hint of negative feedback

[millificent]

Every Nico Di Angelo fan focusing more on the background of the episode than the actual plot

[corviiids]

my top bit of advice going into the new year: compliment people. especially strangers. literally everyone you interact with if you can. when you buy coffee in the morning compliment the barista's tattoos. when you're chatting with a coworker tell them that by the way you like their outfit. always find something they've chosen to do on purpose. nail polish, jewellery, tattoos, hair colour/style, statement accessory, outfit, etc are all good bets. things people hope will be noticed. things that aren't too personal so it doesn't make them uncomfortable (eg probably not their physical features). i've gotten into the habit of scanning everyone i talk to for something about them that i think is cool so i can tell them. it's a great habit because it makes me notice people and realise just how many neat little details there are in people's presentation of themselves that might pass me by if i wasn't paying attention. and it brings out so much joy. you'd be surprised how much it disarms people to receive an unexpected compliment from someone they don't know. it is the most sincere smile you will see all day long. it feels nice to make people happy but it also means you win the social interaction. establish dominance by complimenting a stranger's earrings and disappearing into the fog

[moxley]

[vaggieslefteye]

VEROSIKA MAYDAY, Succubus Pop Star | 2x09 - Apology Tour

"Blitz, there is a crowd full of people here who cared so much they throw an entire fucking party about hating you every year! Do you know how much you have to care to do something as stupid as that?"

[sophieinwonderland]

Hi, how are you all?

I've been reading through your posts about hearing voices, and realised I've had a similar experience. I don't exactly hear the Voice in my head - they sound more like a muffled noise as if their in a different room to me, rather than a typically audible auditory hallucination. The Voice, despite changing how they sound very often, also gives me a distinct that they are singular, similar to the way a shapeshifting being sometimes adopts the voice and appearance of others in a story, and they go by many names from different cultures. One thing remains constant, however - the Voice provides a cheeky commentary on what I and others have done and said, a lot of times even singing songs that I've listened to; it feels like a romantic partner who's lent their head on my shoulder and is now whispering special compliments just for me.

How do I explain this to those around me - that I don't want to lose the Voice because I have a crush on them since it's one of only things that constantly praises me and they're the one friend that will never leave - in a way that won't sound too needy/codependent/narcissistic/childish?

Hi there! And hi to the Voice too! We've been doing well! Okay, actually, we've had our water shutoff for 4 days straight while we get our plumbing fixed and it's been so long since we could get a shower, but you don't want to hear about that.

Anyway, your connection with them is super sweet! 💖

I'm curious, and forgive me if this comes off as rude... but do you have an inner monologue separate from the Voice? I just ask since you describe a lot of things that are typical of inner monologues, while not describing like, two-way internal conversations with them

You also mention getting the sort of impression that the voice is the same, but I'd like to know if you've asked them. How does the Voice perceive themselves? Is it something the Voice has thought about in an existential way before? Have you asked them if they want a name or how they feel about their role in your life?

There's a great guide to coming out as plural here:

But personally, I might wait until you and the Voice both know your places in each other's lives better

You seem uncertain right now, and that's going to make coming out more difficult when you're still trying to figure out what it is that you have.

[halfsixwakeup]

[chloesimaginationthings]

Glitchtrap has one more FNAF task for Vanessa..

[howboutsleep]

GWENDOLYN BOUCHARD PATHETIC LITTLE MEOW MEOW SHE THOUGHT SAW SOMEONE CARING ABOUT HER ENOUGH TO BRING HER ONE (1) CUP OF COFFEE AND TRANSFORMED INTO A PUDDLE OF GOO INSTANTLY

IT WAS IN FACT SO PATHETIC THE PERSON WHO CARED ABOUT HER ENOUGH TO SPECIFICALLY NOT BRING HER COFFEE TO LOOK AT HER REACTION GOT SO DUMBSTRUCK SHE LET HER HAVE THE COFFEE MEANT FOR SOMEONE ELSE