Introducing myself

[Harley]

Hi
* I'm new as of a few days ago.
* I've been hearing voices since 1985 and have learned to cope fairly well.
* Unlike civilized parts of the world,Here in the states,if you hear voices your head is broken and you have to go someplace and live on thorazine (or what ever they use these days). Just finding an alternative to schitzophrenia is a relief. I'll accept arguments from a licensed phrenologist,but I not only believe that I'm not pathalogical. But I believe I accidently taught myself to hear voices.
* The major problem I've had is with acceptance. Not wanting to carry around a burden of false guilt,I've always been open about the voices. This puts some people off and presents some difficulties at work.
* The first year or so was quite a ride,but is seem to have control in general now.
* Interested in sharing thoughts with all of you.
* "no one is just one thing."
Harley

[Lolli_Liability]

Hey welcome to the forum harley.
Its interesting to here that you feel you brought the voices on yourself well tought urself to hear them
I hear voices frequently
havent learnt to cope yet

Im am sure you will find much support on this forum as i always have
best wishes Lollie xx

[rasselas]

hello harley

great to see you here. I'm intrigued by you saying how you consider yourself to have taught yourself to hear voices. it's really genuinely sparked my curiosity. if you feel comfortable expanding on it i for one would be very interested to read it.

best wishes, rasselas

[Ainsworth]

hmm i have two different (lots) of voices, directional and inside. my belief on what or where they come from changes from day to day depending on mood lol

welcome to the forum.

[Mayfair]

Welcome to the site Harley

Like rasselas, I'm interesting your self-taught theory. I also think I've inadvertently taught myself occasional but worsening social anxiety. Perhaps similar reasons. Also interested hearing your thoughts on false guilt. That's something that seems rarely talked about in here.

[john1]

Hi Harley, welcome aboard. You will find a supportive and safe environment here on the forum. Look forward to hearing more from you. J

[Harley]

Hello respondies
* I wrote a long and informative response to your responses and somehow erased it.
* My internet time is limited so I'll have to get back to you in a few days or so.
* Sorry.
Harley

[Mayfair]

Hi Mayfair
I'm posting a general response as a repley to this thread. I hope that's how it's done. I'm new to forum mechanics.
Harley

Have a look at this page Harley. It gives you a better idea of things, if you are unused to posting on forums

Hello respondies
* I wrote a long and informative response to your responses and somehow erased it.
* My internet time is limited so I'll have to get back to you in a few days or so.
* Sorry.
Harley

I find that when I write out a long response, it's good to use control+c and copy it before pressing the reply button, particularly if your connections isn't ace

[Harley]

Hello some more forum people
* I'm not sure what happened last time,but just as I was about to send a general reponse,I did something to erase it. I'll try to be more carefull this time.
* Back in early October of 1985,a friend and neighbour mentioned to me that white noise (static) had a calming effect and served to relax him. Starting that night,I spent about an hour every evening listening to AM static. Being the way I am,I started to play around with it. I discovered after a week or so that I could control the pitch and volume of what I was hearing. I thought I was doing some sort of feed back thing and learning to control the muscles around my ears or something like that. About a week later,I had leartned to slowly and carefully pronounce words. They sounded like words to me and I thought it was pretty neat. The first voice I heard was under my conscious control. About a week further on (guessing a bit here,but I was commited on holloween.) I could talk in "air voice" about as easily as I could talk in normal voice. Then one evening I quit for the night and the voices kept right on going.
* I've always been non-critical of sources and tend to believe what I'm told. I'm not sure why. But here began several months of wild ride. I invented the term "self hypnotic possitive feed back loop" (jargon is fun for everyone!) This seemed to discribe what was happening. The more frightened of some imagining I was,the scarier it got. The more interesting;the more fascinating. I believed the most incredible things,but not for too long at a time. ("psychic vampire KGB agents from mars?") There was this incredible anticipation: "Any second now! here it comes! this is it! The answer. The arrival. The punch line.This could go on for days.
* I didn't really think I could escape it,but I fled back east to my family who promptly had me locked up for observation. Those people get paid for the people they keep - not the ones they let go. They don't want any trouble though. I refused to take my thorazine and they threatened to go to court. I told them to go ahead. Several other ways I let them know I was going to be more trouble than I was worth. After two weeks they let me go and I fled right back to my home in the rockies.
* I'm sure there are more details but you are all invited to ask questions.
* I'm writting this as a text file. I'm going to send it now. If Iscrew it up,I'll try again tomorrow.
Harley