Coping With Hearing Voices
Hearing voices is a type of hallucination. A hallucination is the experience of perceiving something that other people do not. When a person is hearing voices they believe someone is talking when there is nobody actually there.
Research shows that 10%-15% of people will hear voices or experience other hallucinations at some point in their lives. It is not always a sign of mental illness.
The experience of hearing voices
Hearing voices for some people can be comforting, positive or inspiring. For others, the experience of hearing voices can be highly distressing and disturbing and can have a negative effect on their lives.
It is important to remember too that the nature of voices can change, with positive voices turning into hostile and critical voices over time.
How do people deal with hearing voices?
People deal with voices in a number of ways and the method chosen may depend on the cause of the voices. The most common form of treatment is anti-psychotic medication. Talking therapies are also known to be effective, particularly CBT. For more information see our Anti-psychotics and About Talking Treatments & Psycholgical Therapy sections.
New perspectives about managing voices have developed which may reduce your need for medication. The Hearing Voices Network provides the opportunity for people to talk freely about hearing voices as well as offering practical help and support.
As well as helping to explore ways of managing the voices, talking to others can help you to reduce feelings of isolation and boost your self-confidence.
Whether you take notice of, talk to or ignore your voices depends on the individual. Some people find that ignoring or not accepting the voices can make the experience worse while others set aside time when they will listen to the voices, and other times when they will ignore them.
For some people however, engaging with their voices or talking back can make the voices worse.
Talking to the voices can be an embarrassing and sometimes stigmatising experience.
What is important is to find a method or a combination of methods that works for you.
