When I had my first psychotic episode... I heard maybe 2-3 voices that were external. I think perhaps one of them is my 'internal' voice just louder, there is a female who would be kind to me & perhaps 1 other.

Most of the time (when I can hear it... went for 8 months without hearing anything recently) I have a single recognisable voice that sounds like it is just inside my ear... I suppose it's in my head but I can most definitely hear it too. I found this a problem when asked "is it in your head or can you hear it..." because it's both.

It either gives commentary, criticizes (occasionally praises) or tries to convince me of things. In fact, it was the voice that told me I had schizophrenia. It tends to be quite quiet & I can ignore it but sometimes it gets very hard to ignore & can be a bit distressing. The louder it is, the harder I find to know whether what it is saying is true or not. I recognize it all as stemming from my own thoughts but it has a life of it's own.