I went to the doctor’s today with this interview downloaded to my computer and listened to it while I got my IV. It’s a great interview for anyone who hears voices and for any of us who would like to better understand those who do.
Also I found that there was plenty of insight that I could apply to my own self-awareness though I’ve not ever been a voice hearer.
Like many so-called symptoms of “mental illness” voices can simply be part of the spectrum of human experience and are not always experienced as bad and are often developed to help people cope with extreme situations.
Will Hall is interviewing Jacqui Dillon, a leader in the movement in Britain.
Here is Madness Radio’s blurb on the piece:
What is it like to hear voices? How do people learn to live with their voices, and are voices sometimes positive and helpful? What is the connection between voices and trauma? Jacqui Dillon, voice hearer and director of the UK Hearing Voices Network, discusses how the movement of people who hear voices is creating self-help alternatives to traditional and often abusive mental health care.
You can listen to it here:
The organization Jacqui Dillon works with is Intervoice.
I could see how hearing voices would be a source of comfort for a lot of people. I mean, during my “mental breakdown” in 2007, I predicted the global banking meltdown… long before anyone was talking about it. And just before I got home, I was thinking, “I have a feeling Dr. S is going to move his practice” and I got a letter saying he’s moving his practice. My “psychic powers” are much stronger when I’m what’s labeled as “manic” or “psychotic” though… I had a lot of really cool insights into art and religion. I kinda miss that. So I could see hearing voices as being in the same vein.
As a sidenote, when I was first starting to see my therapist (before my hospitalization), she randomly asked me if I was hearing voices. When I think about that, to this day, I still think, WTF!? I mean, it was out of the blue. At the time I was not even manic. And she asked it with this big grin on her face, too. Therapists freak me out in general.
From Softpedia—voices are normal—many people never seek help because they are not perceived to be a problem
I actually went through a brief period where I would here my name being called when I was in crowds. I knew it wasn’t really being called out…but it only lasted a few weeks and that was the total extent of it.
I didn’t count that when I wrote the above piece…it seems rather insignificant to me.
you know, I’ve never, ever heard voices, either, not even when I was hallucinating. I would see things, but not hear them. And when I took psychadelics, my hallucinations were always very visual, I never heard things.
I once sat and TRIED to hear voices, but no cigar.