Need a little help with definitions...

[greysea]

Hi,
(i hope this is in the right catagory)
I was wondering what exactly do people define as 'voices'?
I'll try to explain as best i can but i think it could get a bit confusing ...so apologies in advance ^^.....

Basically, i doubt i hear auditory hallucinations (i've had a couple of those in the past due to fatigue etc) and these 'voices' certainly don't come from outside of me. They mostly feel like they are a part of 'me' or are 'me'. Some of them are very distinct from one another with certain unique traits, but they don't feel like other people.
I'm not very good at describing it, actually i'm not really that good at talking at all... it's a bit like someone holding many balloons, sometimes all the balloons are together and sometimes there are different groups of balloons together or even the occasional balloon on its own... all these balloons are being held by the same person ('me') and sometimes the groups of balloons being held together can change.
Another way to describe it is a bit like a Ven diagram... each 'voice' can have its own circle, or it can share it with others. There are many circles. There is also the intersection between each circle... when things are good there are fewer circles, but when things get bad it's like fracturing them up and each 'voice' has its own circle and has no intersection with the other circles at all.
So they can seem quite distinct at times....

I was also wondering if anyone else thought a bit like this? or knew what it could be... or not as the case mey be.

I did vaguely attempt to explain bits of this to a close friend, but all i got was the very strong impression that this was not quite right... yet i don't know if that's in general or just that the people i spoke to about it happen to think differently to me... so i'm not sure...

I'm sorry this is so convaluted and abstract, it's probably not a complete picture but i hope someone will be able to help
Thank you so much!

 

[KP1]

I don't know any thing about your experience but I do this your description is very good,you are good with words. There may be others on here that have had similiar experiences.
Kp

 

[greysea]

i generally lose people when i talk like that ^^* so it's nice when people can understand it and not laugh....

 

[Apotheosis]

http://www.rufusmay.com/

http://www.hearing-voices.org/information.htm

 

[greysea]

Thank you Apotheosis

 

[greysea]

See i always thought along with this:
http://rufusmay.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=9
which is why i was confused when my friend said otherwise...
but sometimes they are more intrusive and loud.

 

[Apotheosis]

I think that what is important to bear in mind; is as to how much distress these experiences causes; & how well you cope with them. Many people hear audible voices; & never receive any diagnosis. It is only those people whose experiences cause them severe distress; end up coming to the attention of MH services; through their own admissions, or the concerns of others. From there these experiences are pathologised & labelled as being abnormal.

The longer I have lived with mental illness; the more I have learned to cope & deal with these experiences. However I feel; I continue to go through the motions of everyday life. Whatever I am thinking I have learned ways to not react to it in unhealthy ways. I do not need to "act" on my thinking. When I was fist ill & at other times; there has been a lot of shouting; acting out; & signs of outward distress. That is no longer the case. In fact the last three periods of illness I have had, over the past 7 years; have not resulted in section. I suppose that some of us learn to act very well. But resolution & recovery can be found. I no longer have the same fears & anxiety with what I have gone through & can still experience from time to time.

I do think that a lot of these experiences are subject to the way they are interpreted & reacted to; by ourselves & others. Which can either assist recovery or compound the circumstances. I don't think it is helpful to apply a standard of "normality" to subjective experiences. For starters; society is not sane, society is sick, & there exists a general insanity within the wider society as a whole. Also, these experiences of "altered states" & "non ordinary" experiences, are in fact quite common; & in all likely hood a natural part to our species; & part of the normal functioning of Mind. It does not help to pathologise the entire range of human experiences, whatever they may be.

If your experiences do not cause distress; or even if you enjoy aspects of them; then where is the problem? Experiences which can be hard & distressing can be learned to cope with & deal with more effectively; so that they do not cause as much distress - & there are many ways of doing so.

I hope that makes sense & can be of help.

We All Hear Voices

Do we? yes we do! But hearing voices is considered a 1st rank symptom of Schizophrenia, is it not? Well yes it is considered that and I will talk about schizophrenia labels another time. But while hearing voices is one of the most feared experiences in our society, I’d like to suggest that we all hear voices. Perhaps not as amplified or as intrusive as classic hearing voices but nevertheless different parts of ourselves are constantly talking to us. Phrases like ‘being single-minded’ and ‘being of one mind’ are deceiving. We all have many personalities. Often they argue in our minds and compete for attention. Also we are all different in different situations. For example, when I’m on the fooball pitch you will see a very different Rufus (aggressive - nick named ‘psycho’!) to the one who sits in a team meeting (thoughtful, professional) or who visits his elderly relatives (caring and kind).

There’s a saying on an American greetings card that says ‘Inside me there’s skinny women crying to get out normally I can shut her up with cookies!’. A lot of women might relate to this concept, I know my partner Rebecca does. I use a technique called Voice dialogue to interview different sub-personalities like the skinny woman within, using different chairs. I used it the other day to help an up and coming actor understand where his self doubt was coming from. After talking to several parts of him we spoke to a guardian angel who told us about a bullying incident that had rocked his confidence and made him always want to fit in. It was this part that was stopping him taking on bigger acting jobs.

Some examples of inner personalities many of us have are the carer who looks after others, the perfectionist who always wants to be the best, the pleaser who likes to keep everybody happy, the joker who entertains and the critic who in small doses can help us improve our performance.

We don’t want to get rid of our many voices rather develop a stronger awareness of their strengths and limitations, so we can choose which parts of ourselves to listen to in different situations. Meditation is one way we can step back from our busy minds and watch without judgment the drama the different parts of our minds orchestrate.

In our society our inner child has often become buried in our desire to fit in to the adult world. In fact there are at least three inner children, the playful child, the vulnerable child and the imaginative child. But we ignore them at our peril. They have valuable energies that can enhance how we relate to the world. The vulnerable child allows us to become intimate with others, to sense their needs and our own. The playful child can help with creativity making our life more fun and help with problem solving. The imaginative child similarly allows us to dream to invent new possibilities, to change how we see the world. When you get a spare moment write down a few of your own sub-personalities. Remember none of them are bad, they all have their uses, if we have a healthy dialogue with them. And we can develop new ones. I recommend the book ‘Voice dialogue: The manual’ by Hal and Sidra Stone - for more information about the voice dialogue approach (see the resources section).

 

[greysea]

thanks again Apotheosis
This thread was mainly to gage how others thought processes went, it's not a problem for me most of the time and i don't usually consider it to be one. I do find duscussions of this kind quite interesting though (although i'd have to be in a very confident mood to even participate in one).
Thanks for all of your help!

 

[binthair]

Hi Greysea,

I think another way of looking at it is to compare the voices/personalities to 'types' which is an analytical psychology term. I have to admit that a) I am not an expert on this and b) I may be slightly wrong as my memory may fail me. But these ‘types’ are made up of (some sort of) energy and they normally reside in the unconscious. And at times they can rise up into the consciousness and take over so to say. For example, someone who loses their temper and all reason but will go back to their old self within a short time. I think it is normal for these ‘types’ to come in and out of our consciousness every day.

The problems come when a ‘type’ becomes dominant and won’t ‘fade’ back into the unconscious. So someone who has ‘mild’ paranoia (I think that’s all of us!) may develop full/worse paranoia because the ‘paranoia’ ‘type’ has too much input into the rational conscious and won’t go back to the unconscious.

As I said I am not an expert but it fits my view of the world and apologies if I got certain aspects and terms of analytical psychology wrong but I hope you got the message.

 

[Apotheosis]

thanks again Apotheosis
This thread was mainly to gage how others thought processes went, it's not a problem for me most of the time and i don't usually consider it to be one. I do find duscussions of this kind quite interesting though (although i'd have to be in a very confident mood to even participate in one).
Thanks for all of your help!

Glad that you are OK.

Phenomenology & the study of consciousness - I think is the most interesting subject that there is. The questions as to why we are here? The meaning of life/existence? & the meaning of consciousness? are the ones which are critical to our existence. The more progressive investigations into mental health take into account these questions & others; & attempts to explore the World of the Psyche & the deeper human experience, beyond mere appearances - what could be a more worthwhile or interesting study?

 

[ms_P]

I hear voices almost all of the time. The only question I've ever been asked about it by 'professionals' trying to diagnose me is, "Do the voices come from the electrical socket?" My answer is always no...okay so you're not schizophrenic. Huh?
Did I miss something somewhere?

"A shattered mind has shattered selves." Well gee doc, that explains everything.......................