[liveforfish]

My son hears voices. This week he says they're getting louder and yelling at him more.

How do you live with yours? Are there tricks or therapies that help? What do you recommend for living with them. He does take medication.

[costello]

We should make a sticky for the top of the forum with suggestions on coping with voices.

[costello]

Pat Deegan used to have a good short summary of coping strategies for voice hearers at power2u.org. I can't find it now.

[Sometimes psychotic]

http://recoveryfromschizophrenia.org...oices-list.doc

This I put in one of the stickies..for me music when I sing I tend to have to concentrate a lot and it drowns the voices out. Also I have this spinning ring thing I visualize in my mind...anything that requires intense concentration will work.

[costello]

Originally Posted by Sometimes psychotic

http://recoveryfromschizophrenia.org...oices-list.doc

This I put in one of the stickies..for me music when I sing I tend to have to concentrate a lot and it drowns the voices out. Also I have this spinning ring thing I visualize in my mind...anything that requires intense concentration will work.

Thanks, s.p. This question comes up every once and a while and people make great suggestions like this. We really should collect them and put them somewhere that anyone new to PC could find it.

One suggestion I remember reading somewhere was that if you feel like you have to respond to a voice when you're in public, hold a cell phone to your ear so it will look like you're talking on the phone.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by costello

Thanks, s.p. This question comes up every once and a while and people make great suggestions like this. We really should collect them and put them somewhere that anyone new to PC could find it.

One suggestion I remember reading somewhere was that if you feel like you have to respond to a voice when you're in public, hold a cell phone to your ear so it will look like you're talking on the phone.

I know I would like an easy to find reference...my cbt therapist gave me a whole list of things to do...if it was more permanant I might actually slowly type them in. There have to be like 150 things on the list and you pick what sounds good and try it out.

[newtus]

i dont understand how that stuff is supposed towork?

plugging ears too?...hm

a doc oonce told me to hum.

trying to block the voices is harder than letting them just talk
so i dont do anythigb

[serloco]

I use commands to make mine quieter. I state my intent that they will gradually become less, and then I imagine that they do. I just focus my attention on them and they grow quieter as I imagine. They are in my mind, and so I figure my mind can work to silence them. Sometimes I imagine that the voices are getting carried away, and as I imagine it they appear to be getting pulled away. With the imagination many things can work. By imagining that they talk less works too. Just thinking it helps.

"I try to create a mental image in my brain where there is a glass wall and everything that i don't like gets pushed up against the glass wall, it breaks and turns into sparks like fireworks." That is what works for my OCD. Like sometimes psychotic says, mental visions could work for voices as well i never tried.

Here's a good site that your son can visit: Intervoice | Essential Facts about Hearing Voices

Also, sometimes the first, second antipsychotic might not work so you should tell him that so he has more hope in this situation. Most times it's just a matter of increasing the dosage although I could be wrong.

[Ash0198]

I challenge them and ask them what's the evidence for and against what they're saying? Mind u that can work....depending if ur not so called 'delusional' then believing them is more of something that's likely to occur. That happens to me. But I do it anyways just to make me feel a little better about myself

[LoveForMyChild]

My daughter has aprox 27 voices (trauma induced). They started at age 6...she's now almost 18. The medication she's on helps some, but what seems to help most is calming activities such as music, art, writing, etc. There are times nothing seems to help, and I tend to feel so helpless to help her at those times. I never thought about the fact that since they are in her mind, her mind may be able to control them! I'll have to talk to her about that!

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by newtus

i dont understand how that stuff is supposed towork?

plugging ears too?...hm

a doc oonce told me to hum.

trying to block the voices is harder than letting them just talk
so i dont do anythigb

Not 100% of stuff works for everyone....I laughed at the ear plugging because trust me that was like the first thing I tried but I think that works for someone on here. I remember trying to fall asleep by the air return because it made a loud blowing noise and that helped quiet them a bit...why I don't know but I suspect that the same auditory circuits in the brain are competing for both hearing and creating voices.

[liveforfish]

Thanks everyone. He did mention that coloring w/ crayons helps tone them down. He does talk to them so I told him to tell them to shut the hell up. (Don't know if that's good advice or bad?)

He's starting to think the voices are aliens trying to communicate with him. I've heard people on here say similar things. I guess if one is constantly hearing them, it's easier to believe they're coming from an outside source than one's brain.

I've been reading about foods and supplements that can help. He won't take vitamins or anything else so that will be challenging. Although he could eat the foods high in the stuff he would need. I'm still researching the food connection.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by liveforfish

He does talk to them so I told him to tell them to shut the hell up. (Don't know if that's good advice or bad?)

He's starting to think the voices are aliens trying to communicate with him. I've heard people on here say similar things. I guess if one is constantly hearing them, it's easier to believe they're coming from an outside source than one's brain.

It's pretty much trial and error---maybe it will help, maybe not, its a very individual disease.

Past a certain point the voices mix with delusions, thus the aliens---delusions well I've never found anything to control them, you're unaware that it doesn't make logical sense so its hard to just think your way out of it because its totally real to you.

[Gr3tta]

I handle voices similarly to handling anything that real to everyone people say. For instance, just because a voice tells me something, doesn't mean I have to believe it or do it. I still have free choice in how I respond, even if I can't control them.