The Varieties of Verbal Hallucinations

Dr Sam Wilkinson (Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Durham University) delivered a talk entitled "The Varieties of Verbal Hallucinations" as part of the Arts and Science Festival 2015.
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[@UtraVioletDreams]

I have them. I'm NOT schizophrenic nor did I ever had a psychoses. I'm mentally stable and I feel good about myself, I have friends and never feel alone. I can also talk to them, just as I can talk to any of you. I have had whole discussions with them. About lots of different topics. My voices are consistent in terms of how they sound and who they are. I hear 2, they never try to make me do anything negative or command me in any sort of way. It's almost like having two friends in my head... I've had this for years and still think it's weird and odd.

[@user-tq1xt2ct8s]

Do you hear them the way you hear your thoughts or the way you hear other people who are in a room with you?

[@chadblanchard1931]

...we're all on the spectrum of having multiple personalities ...when one is angry vs when one is sad can act totally differently per emotion ....so everyone has an internal dialogue with ones self/ God/ etc in everyday life ...in my opinion every different voice is attributed to a different emotion we have and how we react to them ....

[@eddiricosdunn195]

I am experiencing this also need help

[@pwoods2686able]

this is very helpful and i will need to watch it again because I experience hearing the voices all the time always commenting on everything that i do can't escape the voices .

[@headsandshoulders]

Wow i relate so much to these inner speech hallucinations

[@eyerealitymaterial]

I have this problem from 25 days..how can I talk to this doctor??

[@Welsh_Aussie]

Isn’t that just your inner dialogue if it’s soundless which 90% of people have?

[@srim2213]

Does medication help in anyway

[@riot.9]

This is disgusting - that everything abnormal is classified as sickness in academic community. Everything.

[@haileycaine7406]

As someone who has this illness I can attest… it feels like an illness. I’ve lost the ability to live a functioning life. That’s not healthy.

[@SSEBBlue]

I’ve dealt with it to the point of voices getting so commanding I wanted to scream and throw steel trays at work out of frustration. It is indeed an illness. I’ve had meltdowns because they just won’t shut up and leave me alone. On meds, delusions and hallucinations are indeed hardly existent. I’m glad there’s education on these subjects tbh, helps me process what’s happened

[@DannyD-lr5yg]

You’re missing the point. These things are only classified as sickness or disorder if they negatively impact the experiencer’s life. If someone hears voices and it has a neutral or positive effect on their life, and doesn’t cause any issues, then I agree that it’s not really an illness. On the other hand…to much of anything normal, or normal things in the wrong context, CAN be called sickness/abnormal. A great example is the disorder that, partly pardon the crassness, causes the person to orgasm constantly. Something that’s normal becomes distressing, painful, disruptive. People unalive themselves over that disorder.

[@Mrgraypr]

Many people's experiences of things seen as abnormal are caused by or cause eminence distress or discomfort. Academics need to continue to study and classify this phenomenon to help treat these people.