Psychologists have launched a study to find out why some people who hear voices in their head consider it a positive experience while others find it distressing.
The University of Manchester investigation – announced on World Hearing Voices Day (Thursday, 14th September) – comes after Dutch researchers found that many healthy members of the population there regularly hear voices.
Although hearing voices has traditionally been viewed as ‘abnormal’ and a symptom of mental illness, the Dutch findings suggest it is more widespread than previously thought, estimating that about 4% of the population could be affected.
Researcher Aylish Campbell said: “We know that many members of the general population hear voices but have never felt the need to access mental health services; some experts even claim that more people hear voices and don’t seek psychiatric help than those who do.
“In fact, many of those affected describe their voices as being a positive influence in their lives, comforting or inspiring them as they go about their daily business. We’re now keen to investigate why some people respond in this way while others are distressed and seek outside help.”
Although the voices heard by psychiatric patients and members of the general population seem to be of the same volume and frequency, the former group tend to interpret the voices as more distressing and negative.
The team believes that external factors such as a person’s life experiences and beliefs may be the key to these differences: for example, the presence of childhood trauma or negative beliefs about themselves could have an affect.
“If a person is struggling to overcome a trauma or views themselves as worthless or vulnerable, or other people as aggressive, they may be more likely to interpret their voices as harmful, hostile or powerful,” said Aylish.
“Conversely, a person who has had more positive life experiences and formed more healthy beliefs about themselves and other people might develop a more positive view of their voices.
“People being treated for hearing voices are usually given medication in an attempt to eliminate the problem. By investigating the factors influencing how voices are experienced we hope to contribute to the development of psychological therapies to help people better understand and cope with their voices.”
I have a special talent for killing discussion forums
In 2002, the Air Force Research Laboratory patented precisely such a technology: Nonleghal weapon which includes (1) a neuro-electromagnetic device which uses microwave transmission of sound into the skull of persons or animals by way of pulse-modulated microwave radiation; and (2) a silent sound device which can transmit sound into the skull of person or animals. NOTE: The sound modulation may be voice or audio subliminal messages. One application of Voice to Skull is use as an electronic scarecrow to frighten birds in the vicinity of airports. Many mind control victims also have claimed to be harassed by Voice to Skull technologies.
(http://peacepink.ning.com/forum/topics/introduce-v2k-voice-to-skull )
The voices are from the vibration of head and body movement hitting your ears. the thoughts are just the attitude you had about the sound you heard.
I have been having trouble with voices in my head and in my dreams. They are becoming worse which is making school even harder than it already is. It constantly has to do with the struggles of heaven and hell, the idea of sin, and all the “religious” figures such as the antichrist, jesus, the devil, god, angels, demons etc. It is like I am seeing life (and hearing converstations) on multiple levels of existence. It is making me go nuts and I can’t stand it. ……. ugggg mental illness is rough. (at least I am hoping this is what it is)
Wow, that’s wat I’m going thru, everything that happens to me good or bad, I question who’s doing this to me because there is so much evil in this world.
In all honesty the psychiatric community needs to find a cure but it won’t happen because a lot this is perpetrated by our own gov’t doing experiments on our citizens. I know people are going your crazy. I used to hear voices in my head and literally started psychologically playing games with them until they admitted about Freemasons, Illuminati, Bilderberg Group, skull & bones, Bohemian Grove etc…. I never in my life read or studed conspiracy theorys before hearing these things. I’m hopeing that people involved will come clean about MK ULTRA and the real side affects of prescription medication, LSD and other hallucinatic narcotics, all ever Alex Jones at prisonplanet.com and infowars.com has information but people are to naive to listen.
What if u have three voices in ur head and they tell u ur alone and people tell u that the voices are not really
Are not really what Brandon?
I read something interesting on another website. It was a form of treatment for people who hear voices. It involved using magnitism on a certain part of the brain. People who tried it, didn’t hear voices for months. I think that’s mainly what the treatment involved.
Sometimes I feel like I am literally and mentally talking to myself on this forum.. I’m not sure why this is, but I may as well continue to talk to myself. I’ve decided to let others also talk to themselves, afterall, we are supposd to be mad here right? Anyway, mad isn’t a nice word, and it is unfortunate that in this day and age there is such a stigma against people with mental illness. People with physical illness get treated with sympathy, but people with mental illness get nothing, they are treated at a subhuman level and cast in the loonie bin.
hi Alice. i would of never entertained a mad chat, b4 i experienced some really out of this world experiences which were externally complicating the issue that made me question reality.. those voices could quite possibly be real, for what reason well never know. im not saying mental illness dosent exist, but i think our governments use these symptoms to orchestrate their own will, under the cover of darkness to the general populas…
Hi there. Hearing voices may come as a byproduct of trying to think outside the box and really be insane, but it does seem real and separate, like it is coming from someone else by telepathy, and these experiences tend to happen to you out of the blue, rather when you are going out of your way to have them and questioning reality. There should be more experiments carried out to see if there is some kind of telepathy involved, but psychiatriests usually ignore what their patients voices are saying and what it really means, probably afraid of going out of business.
i have to see a doctor because my family is worried about me because the voices in my head tell me everyday to kill myself and then show me pictures of what i’ll look like dead i don’t what to do one day i nearly gave in
You should probably stop thinking about death and morbid things and take up a hobby to take your mind off that stuff. You may also feel better if you eat a healthier diet and cut out sugar which causes mood swings. If you get a voice like that, just ignore it. You don’t have to do what they tell you. I’ve managed to turn my voices into the positive and have them working for me, where they now give me advice, suggestions, reminders etc. If you give them positive praise and admiration, they will likely then act that way towards you, because people like being praised.
I wont be answering anymore of your posts. Clearly someone is playing a no-reply game with me under various usernames, and used the suicide card when then saw I hadn’t responded to the last few. Time to grow up and be a bit nicer and kinder like I am.