Hearing voices

About hearing voices

People understand and make sense of the voices they hear in various ways. Hearing voices can be understood as a ‘meaningful response to traumatic life events’ and a ‘normal reaction to abnormal events’.

The Hearing Voices Network describes voices as ‘similar to dreams, symbols of our unconscious minds’. This group believes that what voices say and do is a meaningful reflection of an individual’s life experiences and is understandable in the context of their lives. Other voice hearers may explain their experiences as religious, spiritual, or in terms of supernatural or alien powers. The nature of these explanations may be culturally specific.

How common is it?

Hearing a voice or sounds that other people cannot hear (voice hearing) is an experience 5% to 28% of people have at some point in their lives. Despite its frequency, there is considerable social stigma about this experience. Hearing voices does not mean that someone is unwell, psychotic, crazy or dangerous.

What can cause someone to hear voices?

There is no conclusive explanation of exactly what causes someone to experience voice hearing. Brain imaging has shown that when a voice hearer is hearing their voices, the same area is activated that responds when they actually hearing a voice out loud. A great amount of research has tried to find evidence that it is caused by specific illnesses with definite biological causes, often with a genetic basis, and which can be cured with medication. This search for evidence has been largely unsuccessful.

This failure has led to seeking other explanations for the experience of voice hearing. A lot of research in the field of psychology has pointed towards a causal relationship in terms of a natural response to traumatic events.  Voice hearing is often understood as a dissociative experience. This means the individual experiences detachment from their immediate surroundings and physical and emotional experiences, and is generally understood to be a survival mechanism. Many, but not all, voice hearers have reported that they first started to hear voices during a difficult time in their life.  We know that when people are placed in sensory deprivation rooms anyone will eventually start to hear voices.

However, it is unlikely that there is a single cause behind the experience. Sometimes drug use is implicated, but the causal route is unclear. An individual may start to use drugs because of their voice hearing, or to try to help them cope with a difficult period in their life which they respond to by hearing voices, rather than the drug causing their voice hearing.  It is possible people vary in the degree to which they are vulnerable to experiencing voice hearing in response to an interaction between their life events and their genetic make-up, but this explanation is not universally accepted.

While some voice hearers find medication helpful, others have found that being supported to come to an understanding of their voices in a way which makes sense to them is more helpful. This can lead to more effective coping strategies and change the power dynamic in the relationship they have with their voices.

Types of diagnosis

Information that looks into the myths of different diagnoses given to people who hear voices.

Aren’t different types of voices associated with different illnesses?

This myth gets repeated a lot but actually no, not if you read the latest research. Which diagnostic label an individual will be given often varies between doctors. Many voice hearers experience being given different diagnoses according to which doctor they see. Often doctors believe different characteristics of voice hearing indicate different diagnoses, for example, whether the individual hears voices inside or outside of their head, and whether their voices talk to them or about them.

A voice hearer may get a range of diagnoses, from schizophrenia to personality disorder. However, it is often argued that unlike in the rest of medicine, diagnostic labels in psychiatry fail to indicate which treatment will be effective, and say nothing useful in terms of what the individual’s long-term outcome will be in terms of their recovery.

There is currently no conclusive evidence of discreet illnesses with different biological causes and treatments. It is argued labels given by psychiatrists frequently communicate little about an individual’s personal experiences. Research shows that what diagnostic label someone has been given by psychiatry says nothing about their voices, and what type of voices someone hears says nothing about what diagnostic label they will have been given.

What can help?

Frequently, when a voice hearer first enters mental health services, the first thing they are offered is medication, usually antipsychotics. For some people medication helps reduce the frequency of their voices or quieten them down making them more manageable. Others find they tranquillise them into caring less about hearing voices, or help with sleep and anxiety. However, some individuals find the medication does not help at all or even makes their voices worse.

All medications have side effects, and some people may feel that the side effects they get from medication are worse than the experience of hearing voices they are intended to treat. It is good practice that the individual concerned should be given control of decisions around their medication and always be given high quality information about the benefits and risks of proposed medications in order to make their own informed choices. Some people believe this to be a human rights issue.

Many voice hearers (but not all) find different support groups, psychological interventions or therapy helpful. Hearing Voices Groups are safe spaces where voice hearers can come together and talk about their experiences. This sort of peer support often means sharing difficulties with people who understand them; learning coping strategies such as distraction and soothing techniques; learning to negotiate with their voices; making friends; and reducing the social isolation people often experience as a result of the stigma of illness.

Other interventions may also help. Many mental health professionals are trained to teach voice hearers strategies drawn from mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy which aim to increase the voice hearer’s capacity to cope with their experiences. More formal psychological therapy may help people understand why they hear voices, and help them to change the relationship they have with their voices in a way which gives them more control over their experiences, promoting feelings of empowerment and self-efficacy.

Supporting someone who is hearing voices

Hearing voices can be a very scary experience, but it can also be a scary or worrying experience if someone you care about hears voices, especially if you don’t know how best to help and offer support.

Firstly, it’s important to remember that to the person hearing voices, their experience is very real, and so you should accept this, even if you find it hard to understand. With this, try not to judge your loved one. For many people hearing voices, they are worried that people will think they are very unwell, therefore meaning they don’t want to talk about. So show understanding towards your loved one.

Educate yourself on hearing voices. Find out what it means, who can experience voice hearing and why. Take a look at our other pages on what hearing voices is.

Have a conversation with the person about what can cause them to hear voices. Are there particular experiences and situations that can make things worse? Then discuss things that can help them and try not to make assumptions based on what you think will help. It’s okay to suggest things, but give your loved one space to talk without sharing all of your own ideas. Offer your support and ask how you can help, if they want it.

Offer reassurance that they’re not alone. Lots of people hear voices, for many different reasons and they also have your support.

Suggest that they continue to talk about their experiences, whether it’s with you, a friend, a doctor, or other people who hear voices. And encourage them to seek treatment and support, if they want it. 

Finally, look after your own wellbeing so that you are in the best place to be able to support the person you care about. Supporting someone else can put a strain on your own wellbeing, so make sure you take time for you. You can find out more about wellbeing in our Wellbeing page.

Young People Hearing Voices

Information for parents and carers about what it’s like for a young person to hear voices, how you can help them, where you can access support and things that will help.

When someone hears voices it can be linked to a mental health condition, such as psychosis, bipolar disorder, or depression.

But if someone hears voices it is not always a sign that they have a mental health problem.

Hearing voices is much more common than people think. 

It can occur in lots of different situations including:

• Imaginary friends.
• Bereavement after losing someone close.
• Not sleeping properly for a very long time.
• As part of spiritual or religious experience.

Some young people hear voices as a normal part of their everyday life.  Some can find their voices funny, and some feel like the voice keeps them company or supports them.

For others, it can be upsetting and sometimes hard to manage. It can cause problems at school or college, difficulties with their mental health, and badly affect their relationships with family and friends.

If you are hearing voices and feel worried, it’s important to speak to someone about it. You can choose someone you trust such as a relative, a teacher or a good friend and tell them how you are feeling so that they can help you to get support.

There is lots of information all about hearing voices and where to find more help on the Understanding Voices website.

‘A Little Insight’ Young People who Hear Voices

In 2012, a group of 5 (aged 13 to 18) young people took part in an animation workshop to develop a short stigma-busting film about their experiences of hearing voices.

Laura: My voices and me

Read Laura’s story about living with voices and her journey that lead her to help others through talking about her mental health on Mind’s website.