Mental health problems – you may hear voices as a symptom of some mental health problems, including psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder or severe depression.
Hearing voices is a very common experience. Hearing voices may be a symptom of a mental illness. A doctor may diagnose you 'psychosis' or 'bipolar disorder'. But you can hear voices without having a mental health diagnosis.
There are many significant factors that can cause hearing voices. The major factors that contribute to this condition are stress, anxiety, depression, and traumatic experiences. In some cases, there might be environmental and genetic factors that cause such hearing of voices.
They can sound more like a murmur, a rustle or a beeping. But when a voice is a recognizable voice, more than often, it's not very nice. “It's not like wearing an iPod”, says the Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrman. “It's like being surrounded by a gang of bullies.”
Hearing voices (i.e. auditory verbal hallucinations) is mainly known as part of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. However, hearing voices is a symptom that can occur in many psychiatric, neurological and general medical conditions.
The typical course of a psychotic episode can be thought of as having three phases: Prodrome Phase, Acute Phase, and Recovery Phase.
A psychotic episode or disorder will result in the presence of one or more of the following five categories: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought, disorganized behavior, negative symptoms.
Many times the voices can start gradually and are often described as a vague or fleeting impression of hearing your name called or people talking about you. People with schizophrenia can hear a variety of noises and voices, which often get louder, meaner, and more persuasive over time.
While many recognize it as a condition characterized by “high” and “low” mood swings, BD symptoms can also include auditory hallucinations. In fact, up to 25 per cent of people who have BD experience auditory hallucinations at some point during their illness.
Common form of schizophrenia. Prominent hallucinations, particularly hallucinations where you hear voices or sounds. Prominent delusions. Speech and emotions may be unaffected.
Mental health problems – you may hear voices as a symptom of some mental health problems, including psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder or severe depression.
Auditory hallucinations are an example of a symptom that may lead many to fear a more serious disorder. While anxiety doesn't cause these hallucinations on the same level as schizophrenia, it can cause what's known as "simple" auditory hallucinations that some people find extremely frightening.
brief episodes of strange experiences – such as hearing voices outside your head for minutes at a time. These may often feel like instructions to harm yourself or others. You may or may not be certain whether these are real.
People who have psychotic episodes are often totally unaware their behaviour is in any way strange or that their delusions or hallucinations are not real. They may recognise delusional or bizarre behaviour in others, but lack the self-awareness to recognise it in themselves.
People with psychosis typically experience delusions (false beliefs, for example, that people on television are sending them special messages or that others are trying to hurt them) and hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that others do not, such as hearing voices telling them to do something or criticizing them).
In most people with schizophrenia, symptoms generally start in the mid- to late 20s, though it can start later, up to the mid-30s. Schizophrenia is considered early onset when it starts before the age of 18. Onset of schizophrenia in children younger than age 13 is extremely rare.
They may believe other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. They may sit for hours without moving or talking. These symptoms make holding a job, forming relationships, and other day-to-day functions especially difficult for people with schizophrenia.
Signs of early or first-episode psychosis
Hearing, seeing, tasting or believing things that others don't. Persistent, unusual thoughts or beliefs that can't be set aside regardless of what others believe. Strong and inappropriate emotions or no emotions at all. Withdrawing from family or friends.
Antipsychotic medicines are usually recommended as the first treatment for psychosis. They work by blocking the effect of dopamine, a chemical that transmits messages in the brain.