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Hello FarmerFrank:
Here's some information that may be helpful to you:
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Redefining hearing voices
If it was not for social psychiatrist Professor Marius Romme, visiting professor of the University of Central England, the Hearing Voices Network may never have been founded. He describes why he believes hearing voices – or auditory hallucinations – is not necessarily symptomatic of an illness.
"Hearing voices in itself is not a symptom of an illness, but is apparent in 2 - 3 % of the population. One in three becomes a psychiatric patient - but two in three can cope well and are in no need of psychiatric care and no diagnosis can be given because 2/3 are quite healthy and well functioning.
There are in our society more people hearing voices who never became psychiatric patients than there are people who hear voices and become psychiatric patients.
The difference between patients hearing voices, and non-patients hearing voices, is their relationship with the voices. Those who never became patients accepted their voices and use them as advisers.
In patients, however, voices are not accepted and seen as evil-messengers.
Don’t kill the messenger
They are messengers and they have a message. They are related to sincere problems that occurred in the person’s life and they tell us about those problems. Therefore it is not wise to kill the messenger. Instead of not-listening to the message we should look how to help and sustain the person in solving their problems. (It is like it has been in many wars and conflicts in ancient times already, where the messengers were killed when a message was not welcome).
Research shows also that hearing voices in itself is not related to the illness of schizophrenia. In population research only 16% of the whole group of voice hearers can be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Also, therefore, it is not right to identify hearing voices as an illness. Psychiatry in our western culture, however, tends unjustly to identify hearing voices with schizophrenia. Going to a psychiatrist with hearing voices gives you an 80% chance of getting a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
However, when you identify hearing voices with illness and try to kill the voices with neuroleptic medication, you just miss the personal problems that lay at the roots of hearing voices - and you will not help the person solving those problems. You just make a chronic patient.
Handicap
Many patients rightly realize that their experience of hearing voices is wrongly interpreted as a symptom of an illness of schizophrenia. Many patients also rightly feel that it is a handicap that they are not allowed to talk about their voices in psychiatry on fully unjustified grounds.
Many patients also are unjustly treated with high doses of neuroleptics which becomes a drawback to their development and their possibility to take their lives in their own hands.
Therefore many voice hearers are glad that there is an opportunity created by the National Hearing Voices Network, where their experience is recognized and accepted as real. Where the possibilities are available to talk about this experience and be appreciated for it.
Source: Redefining Hearing Voices
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You can find more articles like the above in the
Resources area of this discussion. Articles like the one I quoted from address our perceptions in regard to people who hear voices. Other articles address coping techniques people can use, still others refer to support sites such as the Voice Hearer's Network or Intervoice. I suggest you read through the articles that are linked there as it may help alleviate some of your anxiety and concerns about your experience and possibly, point you in the direction of finding the support you need.
took benzo's with my coffee....
Drugs in the
benzodiazepine family are typically prescribed to assist people in coping with anxiety or stress, particularly over the short-term. However, all drugs have side effects so I suggest you also investigate the side effects of any drugs you may currently be taking. For example, this site links some specific benzodiazepine with dissassociative and other psychiatric symptoms:
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So-called "Paradoxical" Effects
According to professor Malcolm Lader, 5% of those using benzodiazepines may be affected by so-called "paradoxical" reactions in response to the drugs rather than the desired tranquillising effects. Such reactions include increased aggressiveness (in some individuals even violent behaviour), depression (with or without suicidal thoughts or intentions), and sometimes personality changes. In some instances, reactions such as hallucinations, depersonalization, derealization and other psychotic symptoms occur.
Ativan (lorazepam) and Halcion (triazolam) in particular may produce dissociation and other psychiatric symptoms.
Source: A Site of Dependance
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