7/5/2023 0 Comments I hear voices in my headThese so called “voices” may be entirely normal. The truth is that there are many reasons to explain it.įor some people who speak of hearing “voices” these vivid experiences represent inner thoughts, hopes and dreams and they are filled with the themes of their private mental life. What do people mean when they say they hear voices? Are “voices” always indicative of mental illness? Clearly we need to assess this phenomenon to understand why so many people describe this experience. Vinnie Jones, the UK footballer, The writer Philip K Dick, Socrates the Greek philosopher, or John Forbes Nash, the Mathematician have all written about their “voices” The experience is very real for them and we know about it because they have written it down. ![]() Some see them as part of their health and adaptation to life, for others the “voices” are indicative of mental distress. Some have this experience as an exceptional event under extreme circumstances others live with their “voices” on a regular basis for a prolonged time. They hear voices when there is no one there. They all describe hearing “voices” as an intimate part of their mental lives. Regardless, Alderson-Day wants those who think they hear voices to always seek help from a medical or mental health professional.What do Anthony Hopkins, Zoë Wanamaker and Sigmund Freud all have in common? It is something they share with John Frusciante, former guitarist with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Mahatma Ghandi, the father of Indian Independence, and Joan Of Arc, the revolutionary French saint. But Alderson-Day thinks that a better understanding of why people hear these voices could help mental health professionals treat them in a more targeted way, perhaps helping those individuals manage and reframe their experiences into ones that are less distressing. Right now, the common practice is to treat frequent psychotic episodes with medications. Over time, if the predictive processing theory holds up, this might change the way we treat some mental illnesses. Voice hearers are well represented among people who call themselves mediums or psychics. I know at least one or two people who would call it that.” Others think of it in terms of the voice of a passing loved one, or in terms of a spiritual framework. “Which may be that they think it’s just something that their brain is producing like a kind of unconscious brain radio happening. “Quite often the very first time they might not realize that other people can’t hear the voice or the voices but over time what they might do is develop an explanation for themselves that makes sense of it,” says Alderson-Day. But many people who experience auditory hallucinations can understand sine-wave speech without training. Sine-wave speech is a form of artificially degraded speech that humans can understand with proper training. “Doing this kind of research particularly with non-clinical voice hearers is really key for showing how what we believe about the world, what we expect to hear can really shape our sensory experiences,” says Alderson-Day. Non-psychotic voice hearers accepted that it was happening in their heads, which again leads credence to predictive processing theory-our expectations really might matter. ![]() The biggest difference between those who heard voices and those who heard voices and had psychosis was their ability to accept that the tone wasn’t real. Again, suggesting that voice hearers are primed to hear sounds in their environment. This tendency, to hear the tone when none was present, was especially likely to happen to those who hear voices – whether or not they had psychosis.
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