Hearing voices in your head, or experiencing auditory hallucinations does not always mean that you have mental illness. Many people have reported hearing voices that do not cause any kind of problem in their life. Some of these voices are generally positive or contain positive messages. According to research, only about 33% of people that experience auditory hallucinations require psychiatric treatment due to mental illness. For the large percentage of individuals that hear voices, they report that these voices offer inspiration and support.
Regardless of whether these voices offer support or pose a threat to someone, people usually start hearing them following some sort of traumatic experience. Roughly 70% of individuals that hear voices notice them after physical or sexual abuse, death of a loved one, and/or a major accident. These voices are seen by some experts as a psychological coping mechanism that the brain created to help deal with major stress.
Some experts suggest that the more negative the trauma, the more likely the voices will consist of negative threats. However, there are plenty of people that have learned to live comfortably with their voices – many people embrace them. Brain scans have been able to show that when people report hearing voices, the same areas that process sound and store memories appear to be active. The exact brain activity during an auditory hallucination can differ among individuals, but in general, areas involving memory and auditory processing seem to be operating simultaneously.
What Causes Auditory Hallucinations? The Reasons You Hear Voices In Your Head.
It is a common misconception to automatically assume that if you are hearing voices in your head, you are experiencing a schizophrenic hallucination. Although voices are among positive symptoms experienced during schizophrenia, there are other reasons that people hear voices besides mental illness. Only when the voices persist as being unpleasant, negative, and destructive are they usually considered a sign of a psychotic break.
- Brain Damage / Injury: If you experienced any brain damage as a result of an accident or medical condition, the damage could cause you to hear voices. Many people report hearing spiritual voices after being involved in serious accidents. Regardless of what type of voices you hear, it is likely a result of damage to the brain.
- Bullying: Often times people that are heavily bullied growing up end up with various mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and feel inadequate. Intense bullying can lead to the individual hearing voices because they have become so traumatized and feel awful about themselves. This is especially common if you are only a child and don’t have the necessary coping skills to deal with bullying. Your brain simply breaks with reality, and voices can be a way in which some people cope.
- Death of a Loved One: If you have lost someone very close to you (e.g. a family member), you may hear voices related to their death and/or may even experience communication with them. Some people report that during the early days of bereavement and grief processing, this is the only way that they can mentally cope with the loss.
- Drugs: There are many drugs that can lead to you hearing voices. Most drugs that affect the brain and levels of various neurotransmitters can result in auditory hallucinations. You may hear voices after taking drugs or during a period of withdrawal from the drug. A relatively common example is for people who experience Adderall-induced psychosis. In most cases, once the drug is out of your system, the voices should subside. However, consistent long term drug use may damage the brain enough to lead to conditions like schizophrenia and/or psychosis.
- Hypnogogic Hallucinations: Many individuals hear voices when they fall asleep and/or are just waking up from a dream. This has to do with your brain activity either entering and/or coming out of a dream state. When you fall asleep, your brain waves change to the slower theta range and random dreams occur. Most people that hear voices following a dream or before sleep may hear sounds or voices call their name. Most people report very brief sounds while experiencing these hallucinations. Some people report visual hallucinations that accompany their auditory hallucinations as well.
- Isolation: Anyone that becomes isolated from social contact for long enough may start to hear voices. This often happens with castaways, sailors, and individuals that cut themselves off from society for extended periods of time. It is thought that hearing voices are in some ways a compensation for lack of interaction as a result of being isolated. This may be more common than we think among individuals in solitary confinement.
- Mental Illness: Individuals with mental illness may experience voices that are threatening and very negative in nature. These voices may be difficult to deal with and may really scare the person hearing them. Common illnesses that result in people hearing voices include: psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dissociative identity disorder (DID) and major depression with psychotic features.
- Physical Illness: Individuals dealing with a severe physical illness may experience delirium and may become disorientated with their surroundings. If you experience a high fever and are really sick, it is possible that this could lead to experiencing auditory hallucinations. The body is likely in an extreme state of stress and is trying to recover from the sickness – which could lead to hearing voices.
- PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder): Various traumatic experiences such as natural disasters, being victim of a crime, and/or serving as a soldier may result in post-traumatic stress disorder. Some people actually hear voices and/or hallucinate as a result of this disorder. Although not everyone with this condition hears voices, it is not an uncommon experience.
- Sexual Abuse / Physical Abuse: Anyone that has been sexually or physically abused may end up hearing voices. The younger the age of abuse, the more likely voices entered your head as a result of what happened. You may hear the voice of the abuser in your head and you may not know how to cope with it.
- Sleep Deprivation: Going considerable periods of time without proper sleep can result in hallucinations. Anyone with significant lack of sleep could end up hallucinating. This is one of the prominent symptoms of prolonged sleep deprivation. Researchers hypothesize that it could be related to neurons composing the I-function in the brain. This leads to production of a dissimilar reality and the pressure on the neurons from lack of sleep attempt to create something even though they are burnt out. Since the neurons are under significant duress from lack of restoration that would accompany sleep, brain activity becomes sporadic and incoherent – resulting in psychosis-like symptoms.
- Spiritual Experiences: Certain individuals hear voices in their head as a result of spiritual experiences. Some people report hearing spirits / spirit guides, angels, “God,” sages, mystics, and deceased loved ones. This shows that there is a fine line between hearing voices as a result of a spiritual experience and voices as a result of mental illness. Other people hear voices of evil spirits in cases of a haunting.
- Starvation: If you are starving and have not eaten properly for a prolonged period of time, you may hear voices. Once again, your brain is malnourished and burnt out. It has no energy stores and attempts to function to the best of its ability. Some individuals diagnosed with anorexia have been found to hear voices as a result of food deprivation.
- Stress: Some people report hearing voices as a result of significant stress. Anyone under major amounts of mental stress for a prolonged period could potentially experience an auditory hallucination. In regards to stress, we are not talking about your average stress from work, we are talking about a cumulative build up of major stress.
Types of voices that you may hear
- Controlling voices – Voices may attempt to control how you act. They may tell you to engage in negative behavior.
- Multiple voices – You may hear more than one voice in your head and they may be conflicting or fighting with each other.
- Spiteful voices – Negative, cruel, nasty, vindictive voices often accompany mental illness.
- Supportive voices – Many people experience support from the voices that they hear.
- Random voices – Some people may hear random, meaningless voices. In other words, the voices heard aren’t necessarily controlling, negative, or supportive – they are completely random.
Notes: Voices typically call out your name. They are common to hear when no one else is around. Some people experience the voices as being inside their head. Others experience voices as coming from an external source in the environment. You may believe that you are hearing other people’s thoughts. Voices may increase in loudness (volume) if you are highly stressed.
How to stop hearing voices in your head OR cope with them
- Learn to live with them – If the voices are positive, people can learn to live with them. Even if they are negative, people can learn psychological coping techniques.
- Medications – Various types of antipsychotic medications are used if the voices are a result of psychosis or schizophrenia. These tend to be pretty darn effective at reducing frequency of and/or eliminating hallucinations.
- Reframing – Some therapists are helping patients learn how to “reframe” the voices that they hear. This is done by bringing the voices to conscious awareness and recognizing that they are merely a symptom and aren’t based in reality. The goal is to help people get comfortable with the voices because usually if the person gets stressed out, the voices increase in intensity.
- Trans-magnetic stimulation (TMS) – Researchers have found that TMS helps quiet voices by suppressing auditory and acoustic hallucinations for a 90 day (3 month) period. This type of therapy involves decreasing brain activity in specific regions using magnetic fields. Areas of the brain that are typically targeted are usually those involved in speech processing.
Should the voices be eliminated? Only if bothersome.
If the voices are not negative in nature, there’s not usually a need to silence them. However, if they are swearing, pressuring, and/or attempting to control a person, psychological help is highly recommended. Usually there are a couple different types of individuals when it comes to hearing voices. There are those people who hear voices and they do not interrupt a person’s social life and experiences and there are individuals who hear voices that evoke a negative, fearful response. These are the voices that need to be reduced and/or eradicated.
Have you ever heard voices in your head?
What was the experience like? Was the voice supportive or mean? When did you first hear a voice? Was it a single voice or multiple voices? Just know that you are not alone in your experience and you are not necessarily going crazy either. Many people hear voices on a daily basis – some can be positive, some could be highly vindictive, while others can be completely random. Feel free to share your personal experience in the comments section below.
I usually only hear actual voices, that sound like there really are people around me talking, when I’m very stressed. Either because I’m very stressed at that very moment (I have bad social anxiety) or I’m going through a stressful time. I also may hear whispers often before or the days after I actually hear voices.
They are never nice, usually they yell weird or mean things at me, or sound like 2 people talking about me behind my back or someone else judging me. It also looks like everybody’s staring at me sometimes. And sometimes when people talk to me I heard weird background voices or they start repeating what the real person is saying so I may end up hearing tons of voices repeating ‘hey’ over and over.
Usually I completely panic and it all just gets worse till I can be alone somewhere and try to calm down… It’s horrible. I’m glad it doesn’t happen That often but I still wish there was a way to stop it. It only makes my fear to go outside worse.
I used to have visual and auditory hallucinations as a child. I always saw a dark figure follow me around and his voice tell me he’s behind me to hurt me. This dark figure would stand in the corner of my room facing the wall at night if I slept alone so I started sharing a room with my sister. I stopped seeing this around when I was 12-13.
I have heard voices sometimes. I attempted said ice twice. Wrote a letter and all. Just as I was about to actually attempt I heard a male voice telling me to stop. It would instruct me on what to do next until I’m safe. It came from outside my head. A few days ago I suffered a breakdown and saw visual hallucinations. I saw a fly in my bathroom turn into an ant.
It started laughing at me. Then there were lots of voices laughing at me. Then only one male voice laughing at me in a malicious way. After this I felt as if I’m being followed. The dark scares me because I think that figure might come back. I’ve suffered sexual abuse for the past 4 years. I am in the process of getting free so I’m under a lot of stress. I just don’t know what it all means. Haha. The hallucinations have stopped for now.
I’ve started hearing just one voice in my head since I was in elementary school. It wasn’t a calm soothing voice, it was yelling and cussing at me. Not necessarily telling what to do. It’s been with me coming every now and then when I was in school. I haven’t heard it in about 3 years, because honestly I started smoking weed which I think suppressed it.
I had to stop because of my job, but yesterday I heard it clearly yelling “I’m back F’er” and just started yelling for about 10 mins. I was at my moms and she said I just stared at the wall as if in a trance. I honestly wish I was making this up and it was just something I watched and wasn’t real. I really don’t know what to do.
In the beginning, there was these two really sweet ones. They sometimes sounded like parents, then an elderly couple (the small arguments). They would always tell me to remember and they gave me compliments. But then there was this third one. Every time it spoke, it was like static hissing, and it would always be heard. It was really cruel, and tends to tell me awful things.
Now there’s two of them, and they have nothing but malicious intent. They tire me gravely, tend to leave me crying at night. Only noises and music block them out. I am terrified of going to the doctor in case he would not believe me and that my family will laugh at my incompetence. That’s what they say they’d do at least.
Matthew my friend, there is no shame to tell someone about your condition. Not only you have these voices. Thousands or millions of people hear voices in their heads, but please understand one thing that voices you hear are just echoes in your mind. This voices often comes after stress, sleep disorder, social isolation, some illness and it is caused by many other unhealthy things.
Go to your doctor, tell him/her everything from the beginning, tell to your family and friends. There are some pills too and they’re effective, but go to good doctor there are many medicine about this state. Remember you are in control of your body and mind. No voice, nothing can make you do things that you don’t want to. Control your mind, you are dominant. If voices don’t stop and they say really bad and cruel things, (this is kind of a my method and it helped many times) just Order them to be quiet.
Say it loudly in your mind. But as a good old advice, just like when you hear clocks voice or fridges, try not to give attention to that voice. Think about other things and it will pass away. It’s not some special voice or something like that. It’s not God, it’s not something evil too, your mind just tricks you. As you said when you are listening to music it passes away, because you are thinking about other things that is why. God bless you my friend and good luck.
So I have been hearing two different voices lately and it physically scares me. One of them is a woman while I sleep (kinda like a recurring nightmare but different) and some other times when I start to feel happy, it will tell me lots of the bad things I have done, and call me stupid and pathetic. The other voice physically tries to scare me by telling me he is behind me, is close to me, and is going to hurt me. I haven’t been able to sleep well recently because of it.
You should definitely get him some help from a psychiatrist. It sounds like it could be bipolar disorder. The voice could be an auditory hallucination brought on by psychosis. Also when people are living in a manic state they sometimes act and think differently i.e. femininity. I experienced some of it myself as I am bipolar.
I hear 2 voices in my head and they wont shut up…
This was going on with me when I was a kid. “Hearing voices”. Sometimes it gives you good or bad advice, but please my friends, do not forget that this is happening in your head. Don’t be scared. It is caused by many things, such as: stress, sleep disorder, social isolation, some illness. So my good old advice for you is just don’t listen to anything.
Just like when you hear clocks voice or fridges, try not to give attention to that voice. Think about other things and it will pass away. It’s not some special voice or something like that. It’s not God, it’s not something evil too, it’s just voices that echoes in your mind. Don’t get nervous about it. Best way to deal with it is Relax and don’t think about it.
Don’t let your mind take over you. You are controlling it, your thoughts and mood and everything. Most common way that you get these voices are by stress. I know that it’s life and you will get many stressful moments within but always stay positive, smile more and be strong. God bless you.
I don’t hear voices. I do hear annoying frequencies and then only while I sleep during the night. I tried to sleep during the day and never heard anything. Recently I was out of the U.S. and I felt so much better. I did not have any annoyance. It came to the point that I started to think that my dentist did some work and that I have some form of receiver in my head. I sometimes wake up and still hear for some time annoying sound.
During the day I am completely sound and don’t have any problems, but I had to give up working as I could not bear with the stress of non sleeping and having stressful work (I was paid 150K). This is just to illustrate how dangerous this situation is for me. Did anyone have similar experience? Is there anything that can be done? It is going this way for more than 4 years. I am claustrophobic and could not take MRI. But I really need information.
I started hearing voices when I was in the 5th grade and continued through out my adult life. The voices would tell me things that were going to happen and it exactly happened the way I heard. I also experienced visions when being awake. And what I saw in my vision, I saw exactly on later.
I am 57. About 10 – 12 years ago I was laying on my mothers couch and I remember I kept saying to her it sounds like voices coming from the upstairs unit directly above. Then she said they were out of town and there wasn’t anyone up there. A short time later was my first realization what seems like two voices, mostly a woman’s voice, came into my awareness.
I was shocked. Two of the first things I heard clearly after this, was the woman saying “see, see, I told you so.” Then “he can hear us”. After this was a lot of repeating my thoughts, but also saying things like BS and bitch and “F U” and also some sexual related stuff, not hardcore but in that nature. The worst of it was when the main woman’s voice named itself “CC” and is always saying it all day to get my attention at work, etc. Holy nightmare.
I can relate so much to these comments…it feel as though you’re alone sometimes when you try to explain to people what’s going on in your head. Reminds me of that movie queen size with her seeing her mother and her mother made comments about her weight. That’s how it is for me, but inside of my head, and the voice is a much meaner version of me. Since I was young she has always been there there and there has never been a time when she wasn’t. I believe that I share a body with another spirit…I’m not even sure if this is a mental disorder or something more on the spiritual side.
My 10 year old son has been hearing voices more so now since was on lexparo then now getting off zoloft. Before, lexapro he had voices once in awhile. The voices tell him to kill himself. Even told him to go in the bathroom to do it. My son says they are spirits. I am a spiritual person but I know the mind is a crazy thing. WE been to the psychiatrist. Next step is Abilify.
He has ADHD too, anxiety and depression. I’m reading manic depression can cause voices too. This voices is always negative. Weird thing is I woke up Sunday morning and I heard two voices talking and getting closer to me. We did sage our home. He still heard the voice in school only. He does not hear the voice when he sleeps. It is so frustrating. I hate to see my son go through this.
When I was 4 or 5, I was laying in bed and I closed my eyes and started hearing people say my name slowly and it got faster and faster until I freaked out and opened my eyes and it disappeared. The room felt like it was getting darker and colder. This was actually my first memory and I remember it like it was yesterday. I joke about being haunted sometimes because ever since then, growing up, I would hear people run and talk in the house and I would be the only one there. I would hear someone run up and down the stairs inside over and over but nobody else heard it. I’ve kept this to myself for a long time but recently it started happening again. Like I was someone else or someone else was controlling me.
Throughout my life I’ve regularly (perhaps annually?) experienced an auditory hallucination. It is always a woman’s voice, and she only says simple things like “Hello” or my name. The voice is loud, as if somebody has crept up and spoken into my ear, and always makes me jump, but is never frightening for some reason. I thought I’d mention it as the main difference to what people are describing for me is that it’s always when I’m wide awake, busy doing things, rather than being near to sleep.
I hear my stepfather’s intimidating voice whenever under highly stressful situations, against any strong opposition like someone getting in my face about something, or if I witness other people raising their voices at each other. I wish I could never ever hear him again. I have constant flashbacks awake and asleep. Lately I have been awakened by someone yelling something loudly, like one word, but don’t know what the word was, but I do know it was in my head.
I’ve experienced many multiple concussions in my youth. I get worried about physical symptoms I get now too, like these zip zag shooting pains in my head, almost like lightening bolts. I normally suffer chronic migraines that last 3/4 days with maybe few hours relief. But the lightening bolt shooting head pain episodes come upon me suddenly but last about 15/20 minutes. They also leave me feeling all foggy brained and almost like I got hit in the head all over again.
It feels like another concussion again. And the back bottom of my scalp feels weird miss-shapened. I get worried when my BF feels it and makes comments, worry for awhile, but then am like maybe it is just scar tissue. I know it’s the PTSD and not crazy but sure wish it would just stop and let me have peace.
I’m in my twenties, but I think I have always heard voices. I did have sexual abuse in my early childhood. The voices are internal and after they are done speaking I normally can’t even remember exactly what they said, only whether it seemed positive or negative or in between. The positive/indifferent voices come and go whenever but the negative voices happen usually only in certain situations.
I’m alone, I start to feel strange, my depth perception gets wonky, my hands and things around me seem to be much larger or much smaller than usual, sounds around me get very, very loud and everything seems to be moving incredibly fast. Even if I were to walk across the room at a normal pace, my footsteps would sound like huge booms and it would feel like I was sprinting. I hear the negative voice in this situation, it sounds male and it says very critical and negative things that seem to be towards me and it happens so suddenly that I feel startled.
lala – Your description about what happens when you hear the negative voice is very similar to mine. I feel that everything around me gets larger and louder, while I feel like I am getting so small that I am disappearing. I have recently started remembering some unspeakable abuse that happened from the time I was 11 and continued till I was 14.
Those years have been completely missing from my memory for 40 years! I have never been able to recall that part of my life until this past summer. I know what triggered the memories, but don’t think it’s important in the telling of this. I have been having flash backs, paranoia, nightmares and possibly hallucinations- seeing my abuser, recalling certain smells and sounds etc.
There are times when I am 11 years old again – I feel so small, scared and alone. The voice that tortures me is that of my abuser. At first, it was more like playing back things he said all those years ago but more and more he is in my present life. I am criticized by him about everything from how I look, how I act, my goals,my marriage and how I parent my children.
I am withdrawing from my life and family a little more each day – he reminds me that I am alone and don’t deserve anything good, that I was unwanted by my own mother( which is true) and that no one will ever love me. I have a wonderful husband,6 beautiful boys and a pretty good life- but he tells me that I am an imposter in my own life- that if they knew what I really am it would all be taken away.
When he is talking to me, it’s like I’m caught in a whirlpool and feel myself shrinking so small that I will go down the tub drain and disappear. I can smell his cologne and the whiskey on his breath – so strong sometimes that I vomit. He talks to me so often that I am afraid to be around people. I have never had any sort of mental illness – unless blocking out years of my childhood is a mental disorder.
I am curious about your negative voice – is he by any chance the voice of your own abuser?
It’s only happened 4 or 5 times in my entire life. The first time I remember, it was quiet in my room around the time I was 10 years old. Its wierd. Like I’m hearing a cafeteria in the next room. I feel like they’re voices from past conversations I’ve had, thoughts, and voices of people I know or imagined at points of time all mashed together.
I can never pick out one voice, but they get louder and louder even though it feels like everyone is talking at a normal tone. My brain feels like it’s shaking and then I get a headache. Each time it happens, it feels like they’ll never stop talking, but it only lasts for a few minutes. I don’t know what it is, but it feels like a wake up call that I might loose my mind one day. I’m in so much fear that one day it will happen and the voices won’t go away.
I hear random voices before falling asleep. Usually if I try to focus on what they’re saying they go away because I wake up a little too much I guess. I haven’t had any trauma in my life so I don’t know why I hear them. They don’t bother me, but I wish I could hear them more clearly, just out of curiosity. It is kind of annoying when I hear them say, “Mom” because I don’t know if it’s them or my kiddos. I kind of think it’s just my brain spewing back all the things I’ve heard that day. Just like an auditory dream before I actually sleep.
Way back in 2008 when it first started, I had been over my head with stress, the thought I had lost my best friend forever, and some in between feelings of how inadequate I was. I had, in my mind felt the most lowest. I had wanted to commit suicide, anything to get away from the madness. I had been so broken, that I heard this calming, assuring voice.
Like a whisper. Not from my ear, but from my head. A voice of a woman; to this day I do not know if it’s my own voice. The voice had soothed me, and told me that everything was going to be okay, and that I needed sleep. I felt as if they had been patting my head, and telling me over and over that I was exhausted and wasn’t thinking straight. I listened to the voice. I calmed down. I went to bed. Whenever I am in a complete meltdown and feeling like I can’t continue, that voice appears all over again. Like a whisper.
Assuring and calming. They have never been violent, or told me to do things that would hurt me. It is always me needing to sleep, me needing to calm down, and that they would help me. To this day, it continues to happen when I’m at my most lowest, or when I don’t think I can continue forward. It has protected me many times, whatever/whoever it is.
You can see my reply to the person before you, but if you both read the two parts then it’s easier to understand what you can turn the voice into a positive to where it’s only helping, not scaring not making you feel worthless. It’s a challenge whether it’s mental illness of types or some sort of metaphysical gift with no instructions.
I’m 15 years old and I get driven insane with a voice shouting at me whenever I stay quiet for too long (10 mins) e.g. even in English if I’m reading a book… After 10 minutes a violent loud voice shouts at me… I can never work out what it’s saying because in my head I shout back telling it to go away and that I’m scared. When I sleep I hear it too. I have to clench my eyes shut and scream back it scares me so much and it’s happened for a very long time – since as long as I can remember. Any advice? Anyone please, it’s just plain scaring me now.
I was studying and suddenly I said “Mai Nahi Maanta” which in English means “I don’t believe” and I could hear a bird repeating it several times and When the bird stopped, I said it again and the bird repeated it. I was very much amazed. I think when you hears voices, the nature is trying to convey you a message. It can be positive or negative.
My son told me when he was 4 years old that he would sometimes hear a voice in his head. He had an awesome imagination, so I thought it was just that. He’s 15 now and just told me he still hears (just one voice) but now it is negative, derogatory and tells him what to do. He has always had generalized anxiety, low self esteem and some depression issues. He was bullied chronically from a young age about an overbite, which was repaired, and for the last few years about his sexuality (he has some feminine mannerisms and ideas). I am quite concerned, and feel he should get some help. Please, what advice can you give me?
Sorry I’m not the creator of this website, but I can relate to your son (I’m 18 female). I also heard a voice when I was around your sons age and she’s still here to this day… She makes comments and tells me what to do all the time. I wish I knew what this was and I wish that I could help…just thought I comment to let you know that they are people like your son out there. Usually makes me feel better to have people relate to me.
I’ve been hearing voices for years as I’m falling asleep. I’ve never been alarmed by it. I actually find them comforting. I will lay awake listening to them until I drift into sleep. : ) It’s hard to make out what is being said sometimes. Usually random.
My nan passed away in 2013, she had 3 heart attacks within the space of 3 months. The night before the first heart attack, I was in bed half asleep and half awake, and I could hear this lady telling me that my nan’s going to have a heart attack throughout the night and she may even die. Obviously you’re not going to listen to a random voice, so I went to sleep; I got woken up by parents at around 5 in the morning explaining that my nan had a heart attack and they need to get to the hospital right away, and I needed to look after my brothers.
My nan actually passed away in the ambulance but they bought her back to life. I now believe the voices I hear are true. Last year around February time, I was going out with my ex boyfriend, I encountered a large amount of abuse within the 6 month relationship, which caused me to be diagnosed with Psychotic Depression Syndrome, one night he threw me downstairs and kicked me in my spine (this is still causing me problems now). I ran home and got in bed and began to cry, after I stopped crying, I could hear a voice next to me in bed.
It was a woman and she whispered ‘Run, Run, Run’ over and over again, it freaked me out and I had no clue what she was talking about. Two months later after we split up, I was walking home from work at five in the morning, he invited me to his house to ‘apologize’ and ‘get back together’, so I went round hoping things would change, but I walked into my own trap and he raped me on the 8th April 2014. I will never forgive myself for not listening to the voices and I will never forgive him.
I also have visual hallucinations every single day of my life, since last April. There’s always a man in the corner of the room crying and just staring at me; and there’s a woman she looks Victorian, she’s dressed in all black and she has her mouth wide open (like overly wide) and she looks as though shes screaming at me but I can’t hear her.
I take and have been taking Adderall for my ADD for about 10 years now. The comment that referenced “Drugs” in hearing voices while on Adderall as a side effect, can long consistent term drug use damage the brain enough to lead to conditions like schizophrenia and/or psychosis? Or were they referring to other long term drugs, (not Adderall), since Adderall is supposed to help chemistry unbalance that an ADD person has?
I remember having a voice in my head from the age of 3 . I don’t really remember when it stopped, nor do I know why it suddenly stopped. I was about 8.. or 9. I’m not sure. I thought it was completely normal. The voice was not much of a negative one, it was more like the opposite of me. She would have an opinion about every single thing I said or did. And we would fight. She didn’t really like me, but I liked her.
Even though whenever I prayed she would interrupt me or say something stupid. And when I thought someone reads my mind she would start saying embarrassing stuff. I was mostly a positive person and she was a negative. I believe she might have become a part of me because right now I’m acting and thinking like she would. Could that even be possible?
I read in an article in New Scientist in recent years that talked about recent research that showed many people experience the odd voice once in a while. Minor brief episodes. I can’t remember if such episodes where more than the odd word or phrase in a month or year. I suppose rundown castaways of old might have paranoidly thought there could be something there and start hearing more of it. It would be great if such research could be included here.
I hear a lot of talk about voices or God and spirits in these things. I have talked to many Christians over the years. In the Bible it talks about the still small voice, a gentle whisper. In modern times Christians describe what sounds like an interactive inclination, a revelatory knowing in other words. It might be interactive or not. All very subtle, non grandiose.
Of course there is the all encompassing voice of God experiences but this is rare to rare people. If there is anything in between, I don’t know of it. I suppose I shouldn’t mention it, we will probably get a spate of people suddenly convinced they hear whispers. But it is useful to know how different “real” religious experience may differ from the delusion. The ‘functional’ and the logic defying ‘dysfunctional’.
On the flip side of the above, I have heard that so called ‘demonic’ spirits, can impersonate peoples thoughts misleading them, and a person without these tends to not have audible thoughts but feels and acts independently. The feelings of course are not out of ordinary but are regular responses. A still silent observant mind so to speak. The subject area is interesting, as it is revealed that even desires, feelings and inclinations are affected.
But I have heard of instance that confronting such thinking based voice as to what it is, can quickly lead to a prolonged period of much escalated harassment in face of such denying, before it falls silent in the long-term. I personally don’t doubt there are hardwired reactions that lead to hearing voices/cross talk in the brain. But why isn’t a goal to eliminate the voices.
Surely, as with the ‘demon’ example above, and neuro-plasticity of mind retraining, it is possible in certain limited cases to train your mind to ignore and suppress the voices, to close them down as you do with any thought, on a permanent basis despite the physical problems that cause them.
I’ve heard hurried whispering at random points in my life ever since I was younger. Nothing traumatic has happened to me, as far as a I know. I can never make out what they say and I can go months without hearing anything from them. Most of the time I just ignore them. I’m 18.
When you mentioned hurried whispering it immediately triggered a very strong memory from my childhood. I was very sick and delirious from a high fever, and heard this urgent chattering getting louder and quieter again. I think it was a hallucination caused by the fever, but it was quite scary at the time. I really feel for many of the people posting these comments. What they are describing sounds like it could be very confusing and even traumatic.
There is so much about the brain that is not understood. It is an incredible organ that is also the seat of our very sense of self. But it is not infallible. The comment earlier that when we are tired, stressed or unwinding and falling asleep, the brain just cycles through and replays seemingly random impulses that we then experience as spoken words is probably a pretty good explanation.
That is also what dreams are usually considered to be…just the brain doing its sorting and shuffling. It does not necessarily mean anything of significance. If you experience encouraging, guiding voices, then I would say take the strength they give you, and as for the rest, just try to let it go like any weird passing thought. Especially if they taunt you and mess with your self esteem.
It is probably the mental equivalent of picking at a sore, or obsessing about yourself in other ways. These are behaviors that can be observed in stressed or captive animals, and whatever else we are, we are just animals. Luckily, we can learn to practice certain things that are helpful in controlling stress, like affirmations, mediation, physical activity or stretching, playing or listening to music, etc.
Which reminds me, I wanted to ask if those who have been troubled with negative self-talk or ‘external’ sounding voices if listening to music helps to overcome them? You certainly have unique minds, and I hope that you are able to learn how to deal with any associated trauma and get the best from the potential creativity of your minds. It should definitely be remembered how many great artists and thinkers throughout history have experienced these differences and difficulties before.
I’ve heard voices in multiple instances, usually when very tired or while trying to fall asleep, which is VERY difficult… :/ When I experience them, they sound as though they’re coming from a separate entity, whispering audibly into my ear. Tonight, the voice I heard whispered “All you have to face, is him”, repeatedly. I don’t get it… Whenever I have auditory or visual hallucinations, it’s always at night, whether I’m exhausted or not. I just wanted to get this off my chest… I can’t talk to anyone.
I can understand that. Talking to someone else you know about it can feel embarrassing or outright out of the question sometimes. My opinion for you is to mentally (and audibly) question this voice. Questions like, “Who are you talking about?”, “Who are you?”, “Why are you telling me this?”, “May you tell me more?” If you haven’t already, It’s best to follow the repeated whisper with a repeated response. Alternatively, you could meditate and even practice Astral Projection. You could find the answer you’re looking for.
I want to comment here because I do sometimes get random head voices saying unconnected things before I go to sleep. Usually it will sound a bit like my mum saying my name. This is common for a lot of people, and I get it more if I am very late going to bed. One morning, however, as I was waking up, a random voice in my head said “You’re going to die next week!”
Of course, hearing a voice in my head saying that, made me worry about death for the whole of the following week. But I’m still here. The sinister voice was simply a very brief nightmare. So the best advice I can give to anyone who gets odd head voices before going to sleep, or when waking up, remember, it’s just a fragment of a dream or a nightmare. You could listen to quiet spa music through headphones to shut it out and meditate your way to peaceful sleep. The soul lives inside the brain, but the brain is also like a very complicated computer.
If it’s over tired, it will malfunction and throw out confusing signals, as it mulls over what you’ve been doing the day before. And if you don’t have much self-love, your head voices might start to sound like enemies, when you are really simply annoyed with yourself. So tell yourself you are loved by angels and your loved ones. Try to build confidence, get to bed earlier, read and listen to calming music, and just like magic, the random head voices will shut up. I hope this might help someone. And if you believe in God, wear a cross to bed. It may seem like a spiritual placebo, but it will reinforce feelings of being safe at night.
Thank you for your positive insights, I will put these methods into practice, God bless.
I’ve recently had this happen to me, but only once. I’ve been a little depressed, but also very sleep deprived. I work at night and sometimes I skip my day sleep if I have the following night off, so I can go visit and keep an eye on my aging dad. He doesn’t understand this very well, so instead of letting me rest some in the chair, he wants to go out on errands, trips, or write checks for him.
So long story short, sometimes I’m very sleep deprived. One night I was in bed going to sleep, and as I was hashing over things in my mind that have been bothering me lately, I heard a loud voice say, “Don’t be ridiculous!” Or something like that. The voice sounded close, like he was right in my room. I felt like he knew what I was thinking.
I didn’t think my concerns were ridiculous. I couldn’t tell if the voice was encouraging me or mocking me. I always sleep with my bedroom door locked. When I heard this voice, I didn’t even open my eyes. There was some part of me that sensed it wasn’t real and I was too tired to care anyway. I just went to sleep.
The next day I sort of speculated that maybe I heard the neighbor talking or maybe somebody in the house outside my room, but I’m not sure. I don’t normally hear things and this only happened to me once.
Lately I’ve been hearing things mostly at night in my head. Last night I had a major panic attack, and immediately after, started hearing several voices, people murmuring in my head-which then turned into deep sobbing and moaning. My head felt cloudy & disoriented, & my body was stiff yet violently trembling from fear. Is this “normal” for people with bipolar disorder to experience?
Hello. Today I have realized that I hear an aggressive voice inside my head. this voice is filled with anger. And hateful words towards myself which brings myself esteem down. I may have no trauma affect or accident. But one of my reasons were mentioned and it was the isolation. I admit that I don’t have any real friends to hang out. I don’t trust too easily. also I get so jealous by my younger sister who is the opposite.
She is fun loving and beautiful and has many friends to go out with and I am like a nobody. I have read so many reasons as to why we hear these voices and I still don’t know how can I live with it. I can’t it is so destructive and it makes me so aggressive towards the people that I love. They don’t understand why I am so mean sometimes. I have lost some good friends because of this. I don’t think isolation alone is the reason… I think bullying too. So should I tell my mom about this or I can heal by myself?
Yes, please tell your mother about this. Hopefully she will get you some help from a doctor or a counselor. Good Luck!
I’ve heard voices since I was 10, I’m on medication that helps a bit, they often stop if I’m reading, so I’ve been doing that more. I think before you try medication, you should search for something that stops them, as most people suffering from psychosis report they stop during some activities. They are quite frightening sometimes, but getting them under control is so amazing! This article was so informative, I love that ‘spiritual experience’ is listed!
I don’t hear voices often because I’m on a great medication regimen. But, when I do, it’s usually because I’m either physically sick, or under severe stress. I don’t get depressed either, due to good meds. And, I’ve finally got the hypomania under control, which for years, I was unfortunately unaware of. Oh happy days!
When I’m alone and think of something, another “person” joins the conversation. They may not say anything relevant to the things I’m thinking about, they just start to speak. It feels like someone would be speaking right next to me, but of course there is no one there. When I’m trying to sleep I can hear someone calling my name distantly. After that the voice starts speaking. It doesn’t feel like they’re speaking to me directly, but as if I would be listening to a conversation between two people from a small distance.
The conversation doesn’t usually make sense at all. It’s very stressful, and it really scares me. It has been happening for as long as I can remember, but recently it has become more and more common for the voices to start. I have been wanting to talk about it to my psychiatrist but I fear that he’d say that I have schizophrenia. I haven’t told about the voices to anyone yet, but it felt quite good to share it here.
Hello Emmy, I have been googling this topic and came across your comment. It seems to be the closest thing to my experience! This just started happening a week ago and I have heard these two entities stressfully arguing twice now! I have no idea what to make of it! Have you heard more or read more about this specific type of thing?! I am very curious and looking for insight! Thanks, Shay
I have two rings of voices around my head. The inner one is all the negative stuff – the stuff that says “you are a dead man” the first time you look in the mirror in the morning. The “I need to die now,” “someone please shoot me,” “I need to vanish” stuff rarely goes away for any extended time. What’s odd is that it seems to be me that is talking, not some external party. While that track spends time discussing suicide, I think of it as greatly wearying rather than compelling.
I’m bipolar. Is this what you mean by hearing voices? The outer ring is more repeats/tunings of conversations I have had or imagined having. When there are many conversations running with high repeat counts and repeated slicing and dicing of word order, I can barely see the external world through all the cacophony. But again, no one is giving me orders. Would you call that hearing voices? Thanks!
No, I’m afraid that what you describe is NOT the same as “hearing voices”, or auditory hallucinations. What you describe is your own voice in your head. Auditory hallucinations are someone else’s voice in your head!
I experience the same thing. I relate well with the ‘ring’ of voices & cacophony. My psych told me that despite some of the voices sounding like me, the fact that I was hearing them made them auditory hallucinations. *I have Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, Tourette’s, Asperger’s, MS, Epilepsy, & Dysautonomia – I’m doing pretty well nonetheless. :)
I was prescribed Avelox, Tetracycline and Nexium by Dr. D.C. on May 1, 2014. Soon after, I started hearing singing and chanting which I have never experienced before. A nurse told me that some medications can cause a psychotic reaction. I googled and also contacted Bayer who makes Avelox. They tell me that with some patients, just one tablet can cause a psychotic reaction and some symptoms are irreversible. I was prescribed various anti-psychotics, but none have worked.
Instead, I ended up with very unpleasant side effects. I am at my wit’s end. I have stopped taking anti-psychotics and considering taking Vitamin B3, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Zinc citrate as I hear that the treatment may help. However, I cannot find a psychiatrist that practice orthomolecular psychiatry in Victoria. Does anyone out there knows of a psychiatrist that practice orthomolecular psychiatry? Thank you.
1 Month before I heard 2 Voices of a known people. they scared me a lot like they are inside me. I was unable to reach them directly. I thought they were dead and they’ve came to me after they die. They both are husband and wife. They threatened me a lot. Finally I went to hospital and took some psychological treatment and now I am alright and I don’t hear any more voices.
I talk to God every day. And He talks back to me every day. We have long, interactive conversations. In the pages of books and magazines. I don’t usually hear auditory hallucinations. Although I have many times. Usually multiple random voices outside my head. I’ve also had visual, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory hallucinations. When God talks to me, He speaks to me through the pages of prayer books, magazines and the Bible. Actually, any written materiel will do for God. I guess my Dr. would call this phenomenon “delusions of reference”. But, I feel it is real. I have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
My brother hears voices, but these voices could be only one or two different beings. He says they are demons or spirits, that they try to cause him pain or illness. These voices he hears also tell him that there is a secret base in Chiapas, MX where all these holy people that pray all day are there and these demons want him to go there. He constantly says these voices tell him the truth about life and so on – and that everybody’s thoughts are provoked or sent by the demons. He says the demons are our thoughts that makes us think. (Some demons are good and some bad). I hope I could find a cure for him. He does not want to go to the doctor to get evaluated.
Every time I get very stressed or very upset, I could hear a voice tell me to calm down and wake up. So far, that voice is still inside my head but she will only lecture me on lack of priorities and poor social interaction. When I calmed down, the voice lessens. Only time when I am calm that she still speaks is the harsh comments of the people I meet. Those she didn’t like, which is very awkward and I had to ask why… So far no answer.
It could be an auditory manifestation of your deep subconscious. Auditory manifestation meaning the thoughts of your subconscious could physically be heard by you. Like, maybe your inner subconscious is communicating with you how to assess yourself. Perhaps deep in yourself, those harsh comments you hear could be what you truly think of that person. To me that sounds like a more advanced case of “gut instinct”, a natural feeling we get towards people we’ve never met (being able to gauge whether they “feel” friendly or nasty, without knowing a thing about them) or having a feeling towards a situation or future events.
If the voice is making harsh comments, then you should follow up with it. e.g, If it calls someone a bitch or manipulative, then ask that person something or do a suggestive action that would indirectly expose them as bitchy or manipulative. But if its something like “that purse is terrible” then maybe that purse IS just terrible.
I’ve been really stressed lately from a lot of different angles. Last night I was experiencing a state of being sleep and awake at the same time which is pretty common for me. Sometimes I see things in the closet or behind the door or under the bed. But last night was the first time I heard actual voices. I thought it was my girlfriend, but it didn’t sound like her and I figured it had to be. The voice told me to get up and open the Windows. It’s like 10 degrees here. I finally woke up and asked her “what’d you say” and she insisted that she hadn’t said anything. It scared me. I also hear loud footsteps sometimes and those really creep me the f*ck out!
I suffer from pretty bad anxiety and over the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing voices as I’ve been trying to get to sleep. There is a history of schizophrenia in my family, which has had me scared that I’m getting it as well. The voices are usually totally random small conversations or loud noises and once I openy eyes they stop. I don’t really experience any other symptoms and feel totally fine through the day but the thought of going to sleep is really starting to scare me. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? Thanks.
I have been having the same problem, but when the voices usually don’t stop until I sit up in my bed, I haven’t been getting much sleep because of it lately. I don’t think you are becoming schizophrenic, but if you are worried I would talk to your doctor just to make sure. I’ve been doing a lot of research on the matter and it seems like it happens because of stress, anxiety, depression, and low self worth. These are all things you should talk to your doctor about anyway, but definitely not as severe as schizophrenia. Best of luck!
I suggest looking (listening) for a hum nearby like a fan or the ac running or a buzzing street light, etc. In a semi-sleeping state these drones can trigger all kinds of sounds like voices, music, etc. That was my experience many years ago. Frightening at first, but once I figured it out it was obvious. It still happens on rare occasions but it’s no big deal. Good luck!
What you are experiencing is hypnagogic hallucinations and it’s not a sign of a mental disorder.
I get heavyhearted, wondering how many people experiencing sleep paralysis and hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations mistakenly believe themselves mentally ill – or, even worse, diagnosed mentally ill… :(
I hear voices, one really. It used to cause me physical pain! I’m not kidding. It would talk to me. Threaten me all the time, I had no control, no Will of my own. It made me put a knife to my chest & ordered me to stick it in. I knew what I was doing, but could not control it. I found out by getting angry at it! It could no longer control me. It said to me how did you do that? I control you! I could hear my daughter in trouble, I’d go looking for her! That’s how strong this thing was. Its been 13 years now since this voice came into my life, no meds could help! I’ve been on them all. I tried to kill myself a few times, came close too. I still hear this voice, but I just live with it now. It’s a living hell! But there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Believe me I tried. Good luck to all that have to live with this as I do.
Frank, Was this voice always malicious or did it start off friendly and harmless then turned? That’s what happened to me, and what I see a lot. -Brian
For a couple of years as I fall asleep my ears race with overlapping sounds and voices which seem oddly familiar to me, as if they are randoms samples from things I have heard in the past week. Rarely can I latch onto actual phrases because there is just so much sound, like three or four TV news channels on at once. Usually I ignore it and just fade into sleep, but sometimes it is so vivid I cannot sleep and have to drink some wine or get extremely tired to fall asleep. I have been under tremendous stress and am probably depressed. I worry this is a sign of a slipping mental state but it only happens as I fall asleep and I am relieved to know many people experience this with no ill effect.
I’ve experienced this as well. Most of the time, mine argue to the point of screaming and something tends to break. It’s almost always when I’m unsettled or upset.
I have been experiencing the exact same thing! I believe I am probably depressed too.
I just experienced the exact same thing. I am stressed, moved to new area, and then got into a minor accident, the other driver was very angry at aggresive and the cop less then sympathetic toward me, it was very upsetting. I didnt sleep that night. The next night as I drifted off to sleep I heard a jangle of voices, like several radio or TV stations mixed together, with static in the background. It was very loud too. I woke up and felt very freaked out. I also am slightly depressed.
As I fall asleep, I tend to hear multiple voices in my head. Sometimes they may say my name, or something completely random. Sometimes they can actually be really loud and I get scared and wake up a little bit. This has only been happening for a few months now, though.
This has been happening to me too. I sometimes wake fully up and look for the people who are talking. Only to find no-one there. Have you ever had visual hallucinations too?
This has been happening to me too!! I’ll even start answering them or telling them to be quiet and then realize no one is there, I also have had visual hallucinations as well as touch hallucinations.
Like when you think you feel something on your shoulder or arm? It’s happened to me when I was sleeping, woke me up and didn’t sleep for awhile after. I was too freaked out.
When I was a child I used to struggle to get to sleep as I would hear children playing and talking with the sound of bouncing balls, it would get louder and louder, I would get so scared. It would happen every so often. I have spoken to a professional and I do believe there’s another life out there I’m just waiting for it to happen again.
When hallucinations occur as you’re falling asleep, it’s highly likely that what you’re experiencing is hypnagogic hallucinations (if it occurs as you’re waking up it is called hypnopompic hallucinations). The hallucinations can be auditory and/or visual and/or tactile. Often times, people experience hallucinations in combination with sleep paralysis, which is when your body feels momentarily paralyzed while falling asleep or waking up; many also describe a feeling as if something is pressing on their chest during episodes of sleep paralysis.
Sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations are REM intrusion parasomnias – put very simply, aspects of dream states are intruding on your wakefulness. These parasomnias are common symptoms of Narcolepsy, a neurological disorder caused by the brain’s inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles normally, but can also occur in relation to migraines, stress or anxiety, sleep deprivation, medication side effects, or other reasons.
These parasomnias, though often terrifying, are not the result of, nor an indication of mental illness – in fact, nearly every person in the world will experience them at least once in their life. I, myself, have regularly experienced these REM intrusions, associated with narcolepsy, since I was a young child.
Magen, Thank you for the clear and concise explanation. I have had sleep paralysis my entire life and although terrifying I dealt with it. But since the birth of my son if I sit still too long hypnagogic hallucinations begin like scenes from a random movie. Every single time I begin to fall asleep (planned or not) the hypnagogic hallucinations start up. I thought I was just slowly going crazy, so thank you for helping me think otherwise! Maybe I’ll see a doctor!
Still up to this day I hear voices in my house. My father and mother say there isn’t something here. But it’s like ‘it’s’ watching me. Peeking after each corner. Watching every move. All the while telling me “Brace yourself.” It’s like something bad is going to happen. But I still don’t know which I have. I’ve tried meditating a few times. And I can’t live with them cause they come at the most inappropriate times.
That happens to me! I’m not sure if I should talk to someone about it or not but it’s really scaring me now. This visual and auditory too? Have you found a way to deal with it?
Kevin, Thank you for being brave enough to share your experience because it helps me know I’m not alone and takes away the power, at least for the moment. I started hearing audible voices at age 31, I am now 45 and I still struggle with it. At first the voices were very loud and when the voices realized I could hear them they started to whisper. I have 1 female and 2 males narrating everything I do, where I’m at who I’m with, what I’m eating and sometimes I’ll be watching TV or listening to the radio and I can hear what is said before they say it.
Like you I feel the worst part is that they are watching my every move, down to taking a shower, going number 2 and watching my every move. It leads to me feeling inferior and some day I don’t even want to leave the house. So much for privacy and it inhibits my self worth and confidence. One more thing I notice for me is that the voices are most actively chatty around my menstrual cycle.
It doesn’t matter how busy I am or how load I turn the music up they still haunt me. I have tried rebuking them in the name of Jesus, medication, strong Cristian’s lay hands on me, and prayer but nothing has worked. I get angry at God and wonder why I have this thorn in My side. I have even contemplated suicide, the only relief I get from them is sleeping.
There are days when I just want to pull out my hair, voluntarily look myself up or just plain give up. I’ve been to plenty of psychiatrist, therapist and even tried medication, to no avail! I will state the medication did get rid of the voices but the side effects outweighed the benefits. A friend of mine sent me a video of a gal that has a Ph.D. And lectures all over the world (not about voices), anyways one day at the end of her lecture she heard a voice say “she’s leaving the room” and she looked around and no one was in the room.
She brushed it off but again as she opened the door she heard “heard she’s opening the door” long story short she chose to accept them and use them as her guide. I don’t have the courage to make friends with my voices at least until I know they are either my own thought speaking out loud, hormonal or a shift in my brain along with evidence and facts to back it up. They are constantly annoying and increase my anxiety. I’ve prayed and asked God to remove them and to heal me – but that didn’t work either.
On the other hand I want to believe that they are a gift but I haven’t been able to wrap my brain around that. I losing hope and feeling more depressed by the day. Could it be the sins of my father? Curse? I feel like a mental defect and that I should of never been born. Sometimes I think someday I’ll be able to turn this around or see the silver lining in it and help others struggling.
Sometimes our mess can be our message. All I know is it feels comforting to know I’m not alone. Laurie
Laurie, Thank you for being so open. It really helps me understand what my daughter is going thru. What medication did you take…if you don’t mind my asking? I hear my daughter talking in her bedroom and I think she’s talking on the phone but she’s not…it’s to her voices. She has 2 that I know of, both male. She’s 41 and has been taking care of her disabled daughter for 20 years.
The voices started 1 1/2 years ago after she stopped taking methadone suddenly and without the supervision of her doctor. She had been taking 10mg daily for about 10 years then decided she didn’t want to take it any longer and just quit. I told her that was dangerous but she did it anyway. She went through pure hell for about a month or 6 weeks then it got easier but she still suffered a long time.
Then the voices started. She tried to hide them for about 6 months but she finally told me. She has been to her Dr but is too ashamed to admit she hears voices. She’s taking Prozac and it does help some but not with the voices. I would like to know what meds will stop them. Thank you for any help or advice!
I was taking geodon, the psychiatrist started me out on a low dose and gradually increased it. However I lost my appetite, lost 10 pounds, started to get insomnia and I was crawling out of my skin. All I can say is that I did a lot of therapy and research for the voices which helped but the voices won the battle.
By that I mean that I bet have completely ruined my life and distract me from doing even the simplest tasks. I hope you read the articles because that is what keeps me somewhat sane knowing I’m not alone. Also there are saints and famous people that experience audible voices as well and that’s probably the only thing that gives me hope.
Sorry to hear that your daughter is going through this and you might be feeling helpless but the best thing you can do for her is support her and continue professional help. Encourage her to reach out to others that hear voices and I say that because it helps take the power out of the torment and torture. Good luck and God bless! Laurie
Hi Laurie, I hope you are doing well. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I now more or less understand why a friend of mine is behaving as such and is having such a hard time because of it.
I knew her from 2 years ago and she seem to be doing well. Then one time she started to complain about people around her keeping on ‘talking bad’ about her and I thought it was true and kept on listening to her. Then one day I was walking with her and 2 girls walked passed us and she told me that those girls had just judged her when I couldn’t even hear the girl’s voices.
Then another day we were buying some soda and there was two guys there also then the same thing happened again. I told her to brush it off because maybe it’s just her over thinking. Recently she has been so stressed and I found out that she said a guy has been stalking her and hacking her phone and email and keep on saying out loud what she typed in her phone.
She even say they the guy hacked the CCTV of our residential apartment. Again I didn’t show that I believe her and asked her ‘really?’ Again and again because I don’t want her to develop that condition. She even said the guy lived next door but I contacted the guy and he is actually living in his own house in town and he hasn’t been contacting her or do anything with her since a year ago.
I’m actually very worried about her as it made her cry almost every night and stressed so much. I don’t know how I should tell her about it because she still think it really is a real voice. I also don’t know how long she has been bothered by those voices before we even met. Other than that everything is going well with her.
And I hope everything will go well with you too. Regards, Concerned friend.
Thank you for your kind words and blessings. I would encourage you to support your friend and help her get professional help. No one should have to struggle the torment of audible voices alone. You are a good friend to stand by her side. Did she ever experience trauma? Laurie
Same issue with my wife. Medication doesn’t work, doctors don’t help. I wonder if getting together with people with similar issues would help? Maybe united strength against the evil voices? Anyone in Newcastle Australia?
Doug, there is strength in numbers so I would be willing to be of support via e-mail (this site) I’ve been experiencing voices for 14 years and in the past I’ve been able to have purpose and quality of life helping others even with the voices. However the past 2 years have been hell and I’m trying to stay positive.
Some days are better than others. Hang in there and btw your a true gem for standing by your wife’s side! What a good quality to have in a husband not to mention good character, especially when she is struggling. Keep up the good work. Laurie
January 1st, 2004 I was awakened three separate times by a loud voice in my bedroom that said, “Bruce! You’re having a stroke!” I wish I would have taken action immediately and gone to the hospital the first time I heard the voice. When I did, later that day, I was admitted to the hospital with a stroke. It did permanent damage that affects my life still today. When the voice woke me up telling me I was having the stroke there was still time for “clot-busting” drugs to be effective and prevent permanent damage.
My 82 year old mother periodically insists there is a choir walking down our street or outside her window. They always stop singing at midnight. She insists she is not having auditory hallucinations. Her naturopath thinks that it is some kind of spiritual experience before death. I see spiritual experience is on your list. I will have to rethink this.
I’ve had this happen quite a few times and I don’t think it’s associated with death.
In 2009… I got into an accident. I can’t say if I was conscious or not but what I do remember were voices saying he isn’t ready as yet send him back he still has work to do. I don’t believe in Gods or spirits I summed it up as a result of head trauma. The thing which surprised me the most is the fact now that solving stuff no matter how complicated has become so easy for me… Whether it be formula based or not.
I literally went through the same thing, but I was in this bright space and I seen a hand and a voice saying it’s not your time yet, and I awoke. I was brought back to life. I was gone for like 10 seconds. The back of my head was slammed on metal with 250 pounds on me. I was only 7 years old then.
That’s so sad – bless you. So young to have such a bad experience.