Professor Marius Romme and Dr Sandra Escher
Accepting and making sense of hearing voices
19 October 2011, 5.30-6.30pm
Penthouse Suite, Collingwood College, Durham University
Prof. Dr. Marius Romme: In this lecture I will explain: the core concept of the new approach towards hearing voices, the outline of its beginning and development, the main results of our research and the consequence for the traditional psychosis concept.
Dr. Sandra Escher: In children as in adults, auditory hallucinations, or hearing voices, is generally seen as a sign of psychopathology. In psychiatry, hearing voices is often interpreted as a symptom of an illness, perhaps a life-long one, which has no relationship to the individual’s life history. However, contemporary research challenges these assumptions. A group of 80 children, both patients and non-patients, were interviewed at baseline and three times at yearly intervals thereafter. The rate of voice discontinuation over the three-year period was 60%. In 85% of children there were trauma or problematic circumstances at the onset of voice hearing, suggesting a relationship between the onset of the voice hearing and life events.
All welcome.