Mental health: working with people who hear voices (original) (raw)
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Experiences of hearing voices: analysis of a novel phenomenological survey
Background Auditory hallucinations-or voices-are a common feature of many psychiatric disorders and are also experienced by individuals with no psychiatric history. Understanding of the variation in subjective experiences of hallucination is central to psychiatry, yet systematic empirical research on the phenomenology of auditory hallucinations remains scarce. We aimed to record a detailed and diverse collection of experiences, in the words of the people who hear voices themselves.
The experience of hearing voices: An interpretative phenomenological analysis
This article presents an analysis of two case studies of people who hear voices. In accordance with a phenomenological approach, the meanings which the participants attribute to their voices are highlighted in the analysis (specifically in relation to the nature and origin of the voices) and the influence which these interpretations have on their efforts at managing and reducing their disruptive effects is explored. It is concluded that if this analysis has accessed general processes in voice hearers’ experiences, therapeutic practitioners may need to work with voice hearers in promoting psychologically satisfying meaning-making around their experiences, from which contextualised responses to managing the voices can be developed.
The experience of talking about hearing voices with family, friends, and others
Psychosis, 2019
Objective: There is evidence to suggest that close social networks and wider social influences have a significant impact on people who hear voices. The aim of this research was to explore people's experiences of talking about voice hearing with family, friends, and others. Method: Transcribed interviews with five participants, recruited through mental health services, were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Two superordinate themes, each with multiple subordinate themes, were developed from the interviews: "Who can I talk to about this?", which explores the way people communicate carefully about their voices to manage their experiences of shame, and "I was shocked by how they responded", which considers others' reactions to participants disclosures and the impact this had on the participants. Conclusions: The research findings are compared to the existing literature, limitations of the research are considered, and clinical considerations for supporting people who hear voices are explored.
International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2017
Background: Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) played an important role in the psychiatric diagnostics, but in the last few decades the diagnostic-free complex phenomenological understanding of the phenomena of voice hearing became the focus of studies. Materials: Six semi-structured interviews with recovering voice hearers were conducted and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Discussion: The self-help group gives significant help in identification and dealing with the voices; therefore, it serves as turning point in the life story of voice hearers. Conclusion: Applying self-help group in clinical context contributes to better outcomes in treatment of voice hearers.
Background: Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) played an important role in the psychiatric diagnostics, but in the last few decades the diagnostic-free complex phenomenological understanding of the phenomena of voice hearing became the focus of studies. Materials: Six semi-structured interviews with recovering voice hearers were conducted and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Discussion: The self-help group gives significant help in identification and dealing with the voices; therefore, it serves as turning point in the life story of voice hearers. Conclusion: Applying self-help group in clinical context contributes to better outcomes in treatment of voice hearers.
When Spirit Calls: A Phenomenological Approach to Healthy Voice-Hearers
We present a mixed-methods study, from an anthropological perspective, of 22 healthy voice-hearers ie, people who report hearing voices but have no need for clinical care. They were interviewed using the Varieties Of Individual Voice-Experiences Scale (VOICES), a new scale assessing phenomenology, beliefs and relationships with voices, and their emotional and behavioral impact. Despite in many cases hearing voices daily, they report remarkably little distress, with almost all mentioning a positive impact on their life. Most interpreted their voices as spirits, and spoke of learning to understand, to manage, and even to train their experience of communicating with spirits productively. There was, however, considerable diversity in their voice experiences. Some described experiences they seemed to have discovered after starting a practice. Others described reaching for a practice to make sense of unusual experiences. This raises the possibility that cultural ideas about spirit communication may have two effects. On the one hand, they may help those who begin to hear voices involuntarily to interpret and manage their experience in a non-threatening way, through a meaning framework imposed on experiences. On the other hand, it also suggests that cultural ideas about spirit communication may lead some people to identify some thoughts as voices, and to come to feel that those thoughts are generated outside of themselves, through a meaning-framework shaping experiences. This should remind us that the culture-mind relationship is complex. There may be different kinds of phenomena described by individuals as "voices," with practice and interpretation changing how these phenomena are experienced.
Relating to voices: Exploring the relevance of this concept to people who hear voices
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 2009
Objectives. Conceptualizing interactions between voice hearers and their voices as a 'relationship' has recently become an area of psychological inquiry. To date the literature exploring the details of a hearer-voice relationship has arguably privileged the researchers' account of voice hearing at the expense of the individual's explanatory framework and perspective. The present study aimed to establish the perspectives of voice hearers regarding any 'relationship' they may have developed with their voices. Method. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 service users who had heard voices for at least 12 months. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results. Analysis resulted in five major themes, three of which are discussed here: Defining the 'other' which detailed the personification process; 'Me vs. the Voice' which explored oppositional positioning between participants and their voice and strategies employed to retain power and 'the Voice and Me' which considered the union that was apparent, as well as participants' rejection of a relational concept. The concept of a 'relationship' was both accepted and rejected by participants. Acceptance of relating was relative to the poverty of social relationships. Rejections were considered in terms of preservation of self-hood, conflict with personal explanatory models and constructions of the term 'relationship'. Conclusions. This study has provided evidence that supports new developments in working relationally with voices. Working within this frame may help to emphasize hearers' strengths whilst ameliorating distress. However, this concept needs to be posed as a possible rather than an established conceptualization.