The voices in my head: Eleanor Longden's 'psychic civil war' | Hacker News Reader

The voices in my head: Eleanor Longden's 'psychic civil war'

theguardian.com

33 pointsalphydan7 comments

This leads me to wonder if there actually might be some value in revisiting Jaynes' Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. I'm also reminded of a monograph -- can't recall the name -- by a 1970s psychiatrist that argued for treating schizophrenics through cognitive therapy, and provided several case studies in support of his or her argument. It seemed a bit speculative to me when I read it, but this article is pretty good anecdotal support in favor of that kind of strategy.

I'm confused, I hear voices in my head all the time, isn't that just called thinking, or a type of active thinking. Sure they are not at war with each other like they were with this lady, but I certainly hear my mother's voice say 'pick up your clothes from the floor' and she's nowhere to be found, or like right now, I'm hearing 'Okay, enough Hacker News, you've got a meeting to get to in 30 mins and you are already late.'

They've also said 'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' when I'm about to do something risky, or even 'Nice job - swish', when I've done something that's a bit of a trick shot.

Are we talking about louder, more insistent voices, further down the spectrum of voices in head? I guess my question is --- 'Who doesn't have voices?' and what's wrong with them?

When you are thinking, you know that voice is you. Even when you 'hear' your mom telling you to clean your room, you know it's inside your head.

When you have schizophrenia, the voices sound like they are outside your head. Like you are hearing someone standing behind you.

I did not know that.

right now, I'm hearing 'Okay, enough Hacker News, you've got a meeting to get to in 30 mins and you are already late.'

Can you actually hear it? Is it an actual voice, and the only way you know it isn't someone standing next to you is because there isn't someone standing next to you, and you can't seem to get any bearing on the direction it's coming from?

It's like that. It's not an internal monologue, it's not just thinking, it's a voice. It's the same perception as hearing. It feels exactly the same as when someone next to you says something (without the spatial aspect); it just didn't originate as a pressure wave hitting the ear.

> Are we talking about louder, more insistent voices, further down the spectrum of voices in head? I guess my question is --- 'Who doesn't have voices?' and what's wrong with them?

Do they interfere with your day to day living? Do they cause you distress? Do they ever tell you to harm yourself or other people?

There's a few possibilities.

People with an OCD can experience very distressing, intrusive thoughts. There are no reported instances of someone with an OCD acting on those thoughts. The risk to other people or the person comes from the protective measures the person takes. Someone who has a germophobia may restrict themselves from day to day life and wash their hands frequently with bleach. A mother with post-natal OCD may have thoughts like "just throw baby out of the window". She will reduce contact with her child to protect the child. But no woman has ever acted on the thoughts of an OCD; no mother with OCD has ever thrown their child out of a window.

People with an OCD recognise their thoughts as thougts.

People with a psychosis style illness may hear voices - have auditory hallucinations. Violence as a result of a psychosis style illness is rare, but possible. A person hearing non-distressing voices may want to learn how to contact mental health services just in case the voices turn distressing. A person experiencing distressing voices should probably contact mental health services.

EliRiver and ripter describe nicely the difference between thoughts and voices.

There are a few things that can cause auditory hallucinations and not all of them are mental illness.

I hear voices every night as I fall asleep...

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