A common symptom of schizophrenia is auditory hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations happen when you hear voices or noises that aren’t there. The sounds you hear may seem real, but they’re not. It’s essential to include noises that are not imitating human speech. In other words, “hearing voices” is too restrictive, albeit accurate in describing some auditory hallucinations.
During relapses of my paranoid schizophrenia, I have heard both voices and noises that were not real. Due to the stigma and misinformation strengthened by the entertainment media, many people have a scary image of someone with a mental illness acting on what imaginary voices tell them to do. None of the unreal “voices” I heard when struggling were commands to hurt someone. They were all “commentary” types, making fun of me and my past and present actions. They fit into the paranoid aspect of my symptoms. They were not a call to act in any way and mainly caused me to be passively afraid. As with all of my schizophrenia symptoms, the voices only threatened me, and no one else was in danger.
People often quip that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. This statement is absurd as everyone talks to themselves. Having said that, holding a one-sided conversation has been a reaction to my auditory hallucinations. In the context of my schizophrenia, the auditory hallucinations have been so scary that sometimes the only non-medical relief I could get was by defending myself verbally. The conversation is one-sided to someone else, but to me, at the time of such symptoms, it’s two-sided.
Other types of noises from nowhere have also plagued me. For example, during one lousy episode with schizophrenia, I heard knocking in the attic that I believed was timed with what I was thinking. Therefore, it was also a commentary and had a negative, scary effect on me. What’s more, our house at the time had no attic.
Some worthwhile relief I had from such hallucinations was through medication adjustments and therapy. I found that writing down what I was experiencing helped a great deal, even if what I was writing didn’t make much sense.
Suppose you are dealing with someone undergoing auditory hallucinations. In that case, trying to convince them they only hear such things because they are mad is a conversation going nowhere, and it will only feel to them like yet another negative “commentary.” The philosophy of the LEAP method we discussed in another post gives better advice. Try to get the person undergoing such hallucinations to relax and find you pleasant. Encourage them to share their experience. Listening to them puts you in no danger and can cause the struggling person to feel less alone and targeted. Convincing the person to seek treatment, or tell their psychiatrist about their current episode, is essential. Understand that someone isn’t dangerous just because they hear noises and voices that aren’t there. What they certainly are is afraid, and they need kind and patient treatment.