Hearing Voices thread by Tempy in December

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You might like to know there is a Hearing Voices network in the UK and a very interesting program was made by Channel 4 TV on this subject.

Firstly, you're psychotic if the voices speak directly to you and try to goad you into evil acts or belittle you. They are benevolent if they assist you or try to encourage you to be creative or more sociable (spiritual guidance). As it says in the Bible, you will know them by their works - constructive or destructive/ positive or negative.

If it's just background noise - it's a sign of internal psychobabble as with chit-chat or an external example of the same thing, that you're picking up because of hypersensitivity to sound (common problem with Aspies): Neutral effect.

There is also the fact that you can hear yourself 'think' (rehearsal/ planning/ talking to yourself). Some people describe these inner voices as separate personalities with their own lives - science prefers to think of them as just parts of you that need integrating into the rest of your personality (see Multiple Personality Disorder for cases where these parts can take over and have their own lives).

How you treat them will decide if they stay separate or become part of the whole. If you deny their existence and resist them, this leads to persistence of effect (They'll probably bang on the door of your consciousness forever, trying to get your attention) - just as reacting violently to them, feeds their negativity and yours, creating a destructive relationship. The way your inner world works is no different from your outer world in this way. Outer or inner relationships work best with respect, friendliness and politeness.

Lastly, as has been pointed out, external sounds can give you the impression of being voices simply because words are made out of simple sounds, cobbled together as is noise (Rises and droppings of pitch and tone as well as persistance of a single note).

That was a good synopsis of the issue.

I think that many aspies in the past (and present?)have been DXed with schizophrenia because they said they heard voices(literal aspies)and the DR misunderstood what they were stating.I remember myself having difficulty with this question on the MMPI(along with many other ambigious questions).I do hear "voices in my head"...the most common is "white noise" from water pipes,refrigerators,central heating.....it took me a long time to figure out where these sounds were coming from but it often sounded like a TV was on and I could hear very quite conversations that I could never quit make out the words to but did sound like dialogue...sometimes water pipes sound like music.

I think it is more common for aspies t have a continual dialogue running in their heads doing "practice conversations".Many of us that have had negative experiences and a lot of anxiety talking to people feel some relief in working out what we want to say to someone who we fear might misunderstand us(for me this is DRs and bosses inparticular).In real life the conversations never go as I had planned because I can never really know what they will say,so my responses are not correct(if that makes sense).I also think aspies may do this more often if they are socially isolated.My observations of NT's is that they are constanty bouncing their thoughts off each other to get "feed-back" on how to think or feel about something.If you have no "others" that you can do this with...you are going to do it with yourself(talking to yourself,another sign of schizophrenia)is some aspies way of processing their internal struggles.

The "demons" and "angels" talking to you is what the psych's refer to as "negative/positive self talk"and is something they tend to focus on in behavior modification therepies.The theory is that our actions are proceeded by thoughts and thoughts are what we tell ourselves about who we are and who the world is...ie,reality.Chemical depression can make positive self talk pretty dfficult as can a life time of negative treatment from family and society."I am good enough,smart enough and people like me"just seems absurd self dellussion when you can't get a date,are flunking your classes and the mirror says that you are a hedious monster.I think many aspies are natural "problem solvers",ao have a tendency to focus on the negative in an attempt to understand and alliveate it.Problem with this is it saps all your energy to make actual changes and we hate lies(Not everyone is attractive or smart,sorry doc,that is a flawed premise).So...dont make me lie to myself that I am attractive,my postive self talk has to have some grain of truth..."I am not attractive but some people will like me any way" make a lot more sense to me.


ramble,ramble,ramble....the computer also seems to be another form of "self-talk".I am putting my thought =s into a void and they may or may not get a response but I help clarify them for myself by writing them out.The computer community has probably helped more aspies then most counseling.

I have had this for longer than I can remember. I have two "personalities" in me other than my own. I don't call them personalities though, I call them fragments. I know (and they know) that they are mere fragments of my personality. They each represent different parts of me, parts that cannot coexist in just one person.

One has always been there. Preceding my conscious thoughts. He is a being of care, compassion, understanding, hope and compromise.

The other is younger. From around my 11th year. He is a being of righteous anger, determination, loyalty, faith and willpower.

I value them both (Although the righteous anger can be a bit much sometimes) and I try to live my life after their ideals. To me, it is kinda like asking myself "What would Jesus do?" and then do my best to do it. With me though, it isn't Jesus, but a different part of myself.

I have also found that when I make up stories, I can hear what the different characters would say for my inner ear. These never grow to the strength of my two fragments though.

So that is why they freak out on me!

As a writer I have many characters, and they are more than me with other names.

I also have toolkit personas, The Mechanic, The Printer, who live in one skill set.

One point of view, Good, Evil, does not work for me.

Biblical based Psychology is religion, Science that seeks to change people, to make everyone the same, is not Science, it is conformity.

I will agree that relationships work best with respect, friendliness and politeness.

What I reject is the idea of preparing for debate, by only considering one side.

Psychotic, Multiple Personality Disorder, Schizophrenia, don't sound friendly to me.

If I seek to change what is a problem within or without, I am Psychotic? How about angry?

If I look at all sides of a question it is Multiple Personality?

If I do not accept everything you say it is because I am a dilusional Schizophrenic? Perhaps you are wrong, most things in life have been proven wrong, including the existance of Schizophrenia.

I am just a person with my own point of view, my own ways of dealing with things, and I get good results.

My Deamon and I can get by just fine without the Biblical Psychology of Comformity.

"I yam what I yam an that's all what I yam." Popeye

YES! I used to experience this a lot!! ! I just thought it was an overactive imagination, or some kind of attempt at identifying a pattern in the sound. I haven't heard it for a while though.

Well, for me, they usually kind of physically manifest in my mind into people i know. Different people have different personalities and when i feel the need to bring certain issues in my life up to myself, whoever i subconsciously feel it would be best to bring it up to appears. Then i begin my conversation with them. It is strange because even though i know they are just in my mind, i will intentionally hide things from them, and i feel embarrassed if they find something out that i meant to hide. I am actually kind of relieved that this is a part of AS.

Krex - wow! I was just going to bring up something about this but you've gone into enough detail for me not to bother. By the way I don't see why internal voices should be treated as any different from external ones as the same rules apply.

Inventor - you're right about Schizophrenia. Diagnosis is about cobbling a load of symptoms together and making out it is a whole thing, which it is not.