Learning to Live with the Voices in Your Head (2014) | Hacker News Reader

Learning to Live with the Voices in Your Head (2014)

theatlantic.com

61 pointsVigier21 comments

I hear voices, or inserted thoughts as I call them. It's like hearing a thought in your head (not an audible voice), but your brain didn't produce it! Like my Mom said who heard a non threatening inserted thought about a month ago "it's like it's coming from a different spot in my brain"

I have written down some of the inserted thoughts I heard. They are from a couple years ago.

http://pastebin.com/FdNGwmRJ

http://pastebin.com/7f4cTkDW

http://pastebin.com/BREdSSGb

http://pastebin.com/VLEPLFzJ

http://pastebin.com/Zy1JbCTC

I'm a member of Intervoice on Facebook. I take Perphenazine, and see a Psychiatrist every 6 months.

WOW, it was disturbing even to read.

"i'm checking up on you every so often" "don't write that down" "you're lost in your own little world up here"

Does the Perphenazine reduce the frequency?

Yes it does.

How do you tell, "your brain didn't produce it"?

I don't really understand by what your voices are different from what I simply call my thoughts. I mean I also hear random thoughts. Just the same kind of thoughts that you wrote down. Often it's a dialog or chatter from multiple different voices. They are different in what they say. Isn't that normal? Do other people have a mute inner voice?

How are your voices different from your thoughts?

It is not a tough. It is memory about though. I had something similar when I was student.

No. I've never heard dialog or chatter among multiple voices. Any thoughts I have, random or otherwise, are always "me".

Suppose you read something while looking at a picture of Morgan Freeman ?

This is a popular illusion because many people report finding it inescapably like hearing it in his voice.

It is not involutary like the OP but it is hard to shake once seen.

* http://cheezburger.com/5762738176

I'm weirdly impervious to that. I have the same 'problem' with the spinning dancer, and many other illusions that are supposedly difficult to switch between one representation or the other.

Is there any explanation for what this says about my brain?

When I first encountered the spinning dancer, it was hard to change - after much practice I can control her apparent direction at will. Similarly the lunar craters / mound effect once impossible to shake now subject to my intention. Practice.

I have what I guess would be a 'mute' inner voice. There's no sound quality to it. It feels more like writing than like speaking.

Here's a good example of when I think my brain didn't produce the inserted thoughts: http://andytriboletti.tumblr.com/post/32437656234/roger-wate...

"A couple years ago I was reading Incognito where they mention Pink Floyd’s lyrics “There’s someone in my head but it’s not me”. Later that night I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep when I thought “Roger Waters” At the time I didn’t know who he was but I found his Wikipedia page."

Hello. I created an account on this website specifically to reply to your comment despite the fact that I usually only lurk here.

I read your linked blog and honestly, if that's yours, I feel compelled to reach out to you.

The behavior you've documented (helpfully, for both yourself and others) is textbook schizophrenia.

The paranoia, the the voices, the "I could control what showed up on tv" all fits the bill for mental illness.

You have to learn to stop trusting your own head and document with outside sources. In the TV case, film yourself on your phone. Say what's going to show up, then wait for it. Watch it. See if you "remember" being able to control it. Then watch the video back later, then realize nothing you said actually was right.

You've got to use the wonderful technological tools available to you to fight this, and included a trusted healthcare professional.

I'm reaching out in hopes that this helps you, not trying to troll/insult at all. There's no shame in what's happening to you.

The only shame is that science doesn't understand the brain well enough yet to detect/heal these things before they impact our lives.

He says above that he is on perphenazine and that he sees are professional every 6 months. Seems like he knows what's up. No need to be concerned.

I would very much like to document these things with my iPhone. The TV has not done anything strange lately, this is all years ago and I'm just sharing it.

Why Can't People in Mental Hospitals Use Cell Phones?

I would have liked to record the TV in a mental hospital when I was involuntarily committed years ago using my iPhone, but it was taken away from me without a jury trial and without being allowed to use my own lawyer.

If you agree, please sign: https://www.causes.com/campaigns/99841-allow-patients-to-use...

Check out his tumblr link, he clearly has schizophrenia / actual mental illness. :/

Here are those links:

http://andytriboletti.tumblr.com http://surroundedbyspies1.tumblr.com

This is crap. As someone who has suffered with schizophrenia and heard voices for over 7 months when I was symptomatic and after 1 month of meds became completely "normal" again. It's been over 7 years since then and I'm still just fine. I can tell you that if you hear voices you should go to the emergency room at your nearest hospital. They have mental health workers there that can evaluate you and get you treatment - most likely in the form of a 5150 hold. They will give you meds to stop the voices (if your lucky, some people don't respond to the meds).

The reason you should deal with it immediately is with every "episode" you have you get worse, eventually hitting a baseline where you don't get any worse but you don't get better either. My sister has the same thing and is permanently screwed with the meds barely doing anything for her. If she would have delt with the voices as soon as she heard them and started taking meds for it she may be just fine today - shes not and never will be because of trying to "Learn to live with voices" crap. Just a heads up... maybe this will help someone.

And I'm saying it's not crap. It's desperately needed for people to hear this, make their own decision, and hopefully support Intervoice. Patients should be informed about Intervoice by doctors when they experience voices. I had to find it on my own.

Who you gonna trust a new account 3 hours old or my account?

Please don't make such a strongly worded blanket judgment of what someone should (or for that matter, shouldn't) do, especially when it concerns mental health.

Our understanding of mental health issues, and especially schizophrenia, is still very rudimentary. For all we know there are multiple forms of schizophrenia that require different approacher. Furthermore, there already is evidence that (some) schizophrenics are best helped not by medication, but by learning to 'deal' with their voices (by not suppressing them, or setting 'limits', etc.).

For my part I have one friend who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and who is, so far, managing okay without medication. He's also talking to a therapist, which I would definitely recommend to anyone suffering from anything (even if just for a while).

My point is not to advocate one approach over the other, but to nuance what you said. I can understand that your experiences play a big role in the strength of your recommendation, and I by no means want to tell you to shut up or anything. I'm also happy to hear medication worked for you.

I'm just asking you to be a little more cautious when telling others how to deal with mental health issues, especially if there's no consensus on how to treat them.

For anyone interested in the dynamics of disorders like this and how they can develop, you might want to read "I never promised you a rose garden" by Joanne Greenberg [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Never_Promised_You_a_Rose_Ga...

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