Hearing Voices – Mental Illness?
While the hearing of voices that are not there usually conjures up “mental illness”, this is not always true. Historically, artists, poets, religious have reported such voices; sometimes referred to as muses. This continues to this day. This is not necessarily mental illness,
“It is estimated that between 5% and 28% of the general population hear voices that other people donot.1 Hearing voices is a hallucination that may or may not be associated with a mental health problem. It is the most common type of hallucination in people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.2 However, a large number of otherwise healthy individuals have also reported hearing voices”.
We explore the mental illnesses that manifest voices.
Hearing voices phenomenon can be found in various forms of mental illness;
“Katie, who has bipolar disorder, describes her experience of hearing voices when she is manic or depressed. Not everyone realizes that some sufferers of bipolar disorder also have psychotic symptoms. These could include delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations. “For me, I hear voices”.3
Dr. Grohol explains, “Bipolar disorder is a fairly common mental disorder. Bipolar disorder is also well-understood and readily treated by a combination of medications and psychotherapy. It is characterized by alternating moods of mania and depression, both of which usually last weeks or even months in most people.”
He continues, “Schizophrenia is less common than bipolar disorder and is usually first diagnosed in a person’s late teens or early to late 20’s. More men than women receive a diagnosis of schizophrenia, which is characterized by having both hallucinations and delusions. Hallucinations are seeing or hearing things that aren’t there. Delusions are the belief in something that isn’t true.”4
Conclusion:
“There are lots of potential reasons someone might hear voices, including anxiety, stress, depression and a history of trauma – all good reasons to seek mental health help”.5
“The way we distinguish the ill meriting clinical care from the non-ill is whether the experiences are causing distress, dysfunction or reduced capacity in some way,” Carpenter says.6
This is where Counseling on Demand comes in. Our counselors and therapists can assess your condition, distinguishing the ill from the non-ill, setting your mind at ease if non-ill or guiding you on the road to better living if ill.
We are online at CounselingonDemand.com.
Online treatment of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are probably not best treated here. The others; bipolar, anxiety, depression, trauma, respond well to online treatment.
We are only a click away.
- de Leede-Smith, S. and Barkus, E. (2013) quoted, mentalhealth.org.uk, hearing-voices
- NHS Choices (2014). Hallucinations and hearing voices quoted, mentalhealth.org.uk, hearing-voices
- mind.org.uk/information-support/your-stories/hearing-voices-with-bipolar-disorder, Dec 16, 2014
- 4. John Grohol, Psy.D,is the founder & CEO of Psych Central.
- Anna Medaris Miller, Staff Writer, http://health.usnews.com/healthnews/healthwellnessJuly 2, 2015, at 12:13 p.m. ET.
6 William Carpenter , a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland and chair of the Psychotic Disorders Work Group for the American Psychiatric Association’s latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
