There can be “voices that are more thought-like,” says Jones, “voices that sound like non-human entities, voices that are perceived as the direct communication of a message, rather than something you're actually hearing.” Voices aren't always voices, either. They can sound more like a murmur, a rustle or a beeping.
Most commonly though, people diagnosed with schizophrenia will hear multiple voices that are male, nasty, repetitive, commanding, and interactive, where the person can ask the voice a question and get some kind of answer.”
In fact, an estimated 70% to 80% of people with schizophrenia hear voices. 1 These voices can call your name, argue with you, threaten you, come from inside your head or from outside sources, and can begin suddenly as well as grow stronger over time.
The Voices in My Head
It turns out that people with schizophrenia are actually hearing their own voices in their heads. This is due to a phenomenon called subvocal speech, which most of us experience in a slightly different way.
Schizophrenia usually involves delusions (false beliefs), hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that don't exist), unusual physical behavior, and disorganized thinking and speech. It is common for people with schizophrenia to have paranoid thoughts or hear voices.
The exact causes of schizophrenia are unknown. Research suggests a combination of physical, genetic, psychological and environmental factors can make a person more likely to develop the condition. Some people may be prone to schizophrenia, and a stressful or emotional life event might trigger a psychotic episode.
Disorganized Speech Schizophrenia can cause people to have difficulty concentrating and maintaining a train of thought, which manifests in the way they speak. People with disorganized speech might speak incoherently, respond to questions with unrelated answers, say illogical things, or shift topics frequently.
Schizophrenia. Those suffering from schizophrenia have severely impacted cognitive abilities including impaired speech and decreased motor skills. As a result, patients often project disorganized speech symptoms which when combined with poor task controls that may sound as if someone is mumbling.
Residual schizophrenia is the mildest form of schizophrenia characteristic when positive symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia (hallucinations, delusional thinking) are not actively displayed in a patient although they will still be displaying negative symptoms (no expression of emotions, strange speech).
Seeing, hearing, or tasting things that others do not. Suspiciousness and a general fear of others' intentions. Persistent, unusual thoughts or beliefs.
Results: In patients with schizophrenia, MR imaging shows a smaller total brain volume and enlarged ventricles. Specific subcortical regions are affected, with reduced hippocampal and thalamic volumes, and an increase in the volume of the globus pallidus.
For some people the voices will be clear to hear, whereas for others they may appear as a constant mumbling in the background. Sometimes only one voice will be heard, but other people may hear a number of different voices at the same time.
People with the condition usually aren't aware that they have it until a doctor or counselor tells them. They won't even realize that something is seriously wrong. If they do happen to notice symptoms, like not being able to think straight, they might chalk it up to things like stress or being tired.
Drastic changes in behaviour may occur, and the person can become upset, anxious, confused, angry or suspicious of those around them. They may not think they need help, and it can be hard to persuade them to visit a doctor.
It is possible to experience hallucinations while being aware that they aren't real. As with delusions, this would require a meta-awareness of the unreality of what appears to be a real experience.
This symptom, which afflicts more than 80% of patients, is among the most prevalent and distressing symptoms of schizophrenia. Patients “hear voices” speaking to them or about them without anyone actually being there.
By incorporating methods and theories from affective science, researchers have been able to discover that people with schizophrenia exhibit very few outward displays of emotion but report experiencing strong feelings in the presence of emotionally evocative stimuli or events.
Phrase repetitions were found to be more prevalent among the schizophrenic group, and especially among the TD subgroup, and indices of phrase repetition were positively correlated with dimensions of formal thought disorder.
In some people, schizophrenia appears suddenly and without warning. But for most, it comes on slowly, with subtle warning signs and a gradual decline in functioning, long before the first severe episode. Often, friends or family members will know early on that something is wrong, without knowing exactly what.
Schizophrenia is a chronic and disabling illness, with the majority of patients experiencing multiple relapses during the course of the illness [1].
Stressful life events
Highly stressful or life-changing events may sometimes trigger schizophrenia. These can include: being abused or harassed. losing someone close to you.
Drug or alcohol use can make it worse. On the other hand, people with schizophrenia can be a danger to themselves. Suicide is the top cause of premature death among people with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that has no cure. It causes symptoms of psychosis, including hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking and speech, abnormal behaviors, and changes in emotional affect. While this condition cannot be cured, it can be successfully treated.