What is 'Hearing Voices'?
'Hearing Voices' is a term used to represent the experience of what is also called 'auditory hallucinations', or hearing things that other people cannot. People who hear voices are commonly diagnosed with schizophrenia or another mental illness.
What is the Hearing Voices Approach?
Hearing Voices work is based on the research of Professor Marius Romme and Sandra Escher, which found that many people ‘hear voices’ without distress or ever seeking mental health services. This is supported by several major research studies1 which have found that about 4% of the population hear voices - yet in most countries only about 0.5% of the population are diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Romme and Escher interviewed many voice hearers – both those who ‘cope’ and those who are in distress and have a diagnosis. They found that voice hearers who ’cope’ have different skills, beliefs and supports, compared to those who live with extreme distress. These include:
· Higher self-esteem
· An explanatory framework for the voices
· More likely to discuss the voices with others
· Communicate more often with the voices
· More social and supportive connections
· Ability to set limits with the voices
· Ability to listen selectively to the voices
Hearing Voices Groups were created as a response to these findings. They are safe spaces where voice hearers can share their experiences, learn new ways to understand, cope and live, and create a powerful sense of hope and possibility.
Today there are hundreds of Hearing Voices Groups around the world (in the UK alone there are over 300 groups) and voice hearers are supporting each other to make meaningful recoveries on their own terms.
Prahran Mission has run Hearing Voices Groups since 2005, and is proud to be supporting other organisations across Victoria to create these new opportunities for collaboration and recovery. We work in partnership with other Hearing Voices Networks in Australia and overseas.
1 Research into the prevalence of voice hearing:
Jablensky, A., McGrath, J., Herrman, H., Castle, D., Gureje, O., Evans, M., Carr, V., Morgan, V., Korten, A., and Harvey, C. (2000). Psychotic disorders in urban areas: an overview of the study on low prevalence disorders. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 221-236.
Johns, L.C., Nazroo, J.Y., Bebbington, P., and Kuipers, E. (2002). Occurrence of hallucinatory experiences in a community sample and ethnic variations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 174 – 178.
Wiles, N.J., Zammit, S., Bebbington, P., Singleton, N., Meltzer, H., and Lewis, G. (2006). Self-reported psychotic symptoms in the general population. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 519 – 526.
Further reading on the Hearing Voices approach:
Coleman, R. (2000). Recovery: An Alien Concept. (2nd ed.). Wormit Fife: P&P Press.
Coleman, R., and Smith, M. (1997). Working with Voices II: Victim to Victor. (2nd ed.). Dundee: P&P Press.
Downs, J. (Ed.). (nd). Starting and Supporting Hearing Voices Groups. Manchester: self-published.
Meddings, S., Walley, L., Collins, T., Tullett, F., McEwan, B., and Owen, K. (2004). Are hearing voices groups effective? A preliminary evaluation. Unpublished research paper, Sussex, UK.
Romme, M. (2008). Recovery with voices outside psychiatry. Conference presentatation at “Recovery from Psychosis International Conference”, Perth, 5 November, 2008.
Romme, M.A.J. (1996). Understanding Voices: Coping with auditory hallucinations and confusing realities. Gloucestor: Handsell Publishing.