One of our key objectives here at Hearing the Voice is to raise public awareness, combat stigma and discrimination, and challenge preconceived opinions about voice-hearing.
To this end, in collaboration with @Wellcometrust and @mosaicscience, @hearingvoice will be joining @MHChat for a special twitter chat designed to explore a wide range of questions relating to hearing voices and other unusual experiences.
These include:
- How accurate is the association between hearing voices and mental illness such as schizophrenia and psychosis?
- Can hearing voices be a positive experience?
- What is it like to hear voices? What kinds of bodily sensations, moods and emotions are associated with the experience?
- What is the relationship between our inner voice (i.e what psychologists call ‘inner speech’) and voice-hearing?
- Is there a link between hearing voices and memories of past trauma such as bullying, neglect and physical, emotional and sexual abuse?
- What happens in the brain when someone is hearing voices?
- How does the representation of voice-hearing vary across different historical, religious and cultural contexts?
- Is there a link between hearing voices and literary creativity?
- What kinds of sources of help and support are available for people who find their voices distressing?
Unfortunately, Hearing the Voice is unable to offer crisis support, but the ‘Looking for Support?’ page on our website offers useful information and resources for people who are experiencing disturbing and disruptive voices.
If you have a question about voice-hearing, please do join in the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #MHChat.
Date: Wednesday 21 January 2015
Time: 8pm GMT / 3pm EST
We look forward to hearing your views, experiences and insights relating to hearing voices and other unusual experiences.
More information about voice-hearing and Hearing the Voice research can be found at the links below.
Media coverage and related articles:
‘Inner voices – a series that examines the medical, spiritual and literary aspects of hearing voices’, The Guardian, August 2014
‘Hearing Voices in our heads is more common and less ‘crazy’ than we think’, The Metro, Tuesday 12 November 2013
‘Hearing the Voice’ by Charles Fernyhough, The Lancet, September 2014.
Multi-media
‘Voices in the Dark: An Audio Story’ – A podcast produced by Mosaic, the Wellcome Trust’s online science magazine.
BBC Academy Podcast: ‘How Writers Create Characters’
