New Documentary on voice-hearing from Germany: Voice in the Head
Available from June 3, 2016 at 12:00 am to September 1, 2016 at 11:59 pm
About six to 15 percent of people hear at some time in their lives. Well over half of those who hear voices are mentally healthy and lead entirely unremarkable lives. But due to the stigma, few are willing to speak openly about their experiences.
Programme information
Listening to Voices: Creative Disruptions with the Hearing Voices Network is a research project that tries to understand how we can listen to voices that we find difficult, disruptive or challenging, whether these seem to come from inside or outside ourselves. It has been created by voice-hearers, academics and independent artists who are interested in asking why and how we silence voices in ourselves or others and how we might help increase understanding about the experience of hearing voices. Together we have created a companion to voice-hearing – Listen (If you Dare) – an interactive web version of the companion and a sound piece.
Check it out here.
NPR Show about Healing Voices
By STEVE KRASKE & LUKE X. MARTIN
Claiming patients who experience psychosis have a chemical imbalance is an easy and incomplete explanation to a complicated problem. Treating patients with medication doesn’t work for everyone, but other options do exist. Some are finding hope and better quality of life with a more holistic approach.
Guests:
Listen here
By Charles Fernyhough / Images by Olivia Howitt
12 May 2016
“I don’t know. It sounds daft, but sometimes he says things that are really funny.”
The speaker is Margaret, a woman in her seventies with a bright, open face and a gentle smile. She has come along today with her daughter, who is desperate for advice on helping her mother to cope with her frequent voices. There are around 20 of us in the room. Apart from a couple of clinical psychologists and a few of us from the academic team, everyone gathered here in a conference suite at Durham University on a cold, sparkling spring afternoon, is a voice-hearer. We are hosting the event with our special guest Jacqui Dillon, chair of the UK Hearing Voices Network and an old friend of our project.
“Yeah, mine say funny things, too.”
Before Margaret came into this room, she had never met another voice-hearer. Now she is surrounded by them. I see her deep in conversation with Julia, a writer of a similar age who has come to talk to us several times about her experiences. Two elderly ladies, sipping tea and chatting about the voices in their heads. Julia is an old hand, but Margaret is in entirely new territory. She looks radiant, transformed. I have the sense that a life could be changing in front of my eyes.
Groups like this come together around a starting assumption that voices are meaningful, and that they convey valuable emotional messages. The idea that voices can have profound human significance has deep roots, featuring, for example, in the psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s argument that hallucinations contain a “germ of meaning” which, if identified accurately, can mark the beginning of a process of healing. The idea is antithetical to the traditional biomedical view from psychiatry, which has tended to see voices as neural junk, meaningless glitches in the brain – yet many people are now finding solace in this approach.
Read more here!
Join us for ‘Mindfulness & Compassion for Extreme States’ with Rufus May and Elisabeth Svedholmer
Saturday, June 4th, 11am to 2pm,
@ C.G. JUNG FOUNDATION, ELEANOR BERTINE AUDITORIUM
28 East 39th Street, New York, NY 10016
Co-sponsored by Hearing Voices NYC and the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community
About this Workshop:
This workshop will look at different ways to use mindfulness and compassion based approaches with powerful states of mind. It will include: how mindfulness can help us as supporters, practical techniques that can be useful for strong mind states like mania and restlessness; Grounding and centering techniques; Compassionate communication styles Supporting people to develop a compassionate self.
Registration is required and space is limited. A limited number of number of free tickets will be provided to those with significant financial constraints. Please e-mail [email protected] if you are interested in a free ticket.
or
A new project is being started to establish an online discussion forum for people who hear voices and have always been able to cope well with them. Below is a letter written by the project staff (Marius Romme, Sandra Escher, Paul Baker, & Will Hall) seeking voice-hearers with supportive voices:
As you know the general population surveys have shown that in our society about 4% of people are hearing voices on a more a less regular basis. Most of these people hear voices that are supportive and inspiring and who function well with them.
Therefore there are about 250 million people across the world who have this experience and are not able to openly talk about it. This is because of the prevailing negative attitudes in society that regard this human experience as abnormal.
To date we have mainly focused on the people who hear voices and have become psychiatric patients. We have done this by assisting them to accept their voices as their reality, to make sense of the experience and to learn to live with their voices and their emotions.
This is important and necessary work but it has meant that we have neglected the largest group of voice hearers. The Hearing Voices Movement has learnt that hearing voices is a common human variation but society does not share this understanding. Therefore we think this is the time to influence society and that the most effective way to do this is by identifying the voice hearers who live well with their voices and to encourage them to speak out.
To realize this we need to begin a process that creates safe spaces for these people to share their experiences. Therefore we are looking for people who would be willing to participate in a private and moderated online forum, where members can adopt an avatar to protect their identity if they so wish.
We think the benefits of the forum for participants would be the opportunity:
We are asking for your help to identify people who hear voices, who we could invite to become members of this forum:
to share stories and experiences
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best wishes
Marius Romme & Sandra Escher (Research and correspondence )
Paul Baker (Moderator)
Will Hall (Consultant)
To find out more about the project, or to get involved as a promoter, you can contact Dr. Romme here:
a.romme.escher – at – gmail.com
Hearing Voices Network USA is happy to announce a new phone-in mutual support group for people who are currently facilitating Hearing Voices groups and for those interested in starting new Hearing Voices groups. This group is happening once-a-month via toll free conference call. Like other Hearing Voices groups, it’s a place to share our stories, challenges and victories, to gain new perspectives and connect with others who may have similar experiences.
When?
First Friday of each Month
3pm-4pm Eastern Time
Email Caroline White for more info: [email protected]
Rachel Waddingham is launching a series of online training courses on hearing voices, aimed specifically at people who live outside of the UK or find it difficult to fit full day courses into their busy lives. Each course consists of 4 x 1 week modules, videos and online access to a learning area. The first two courses will be:
Introductory offer: £24 (full) and £15 (concessions – including unwaged and minimum waged).
For more information about the each course and to book a place, please click on the above links. For Frequently Asked Questions about Rachel’s online courses, please visit the relevant section of her website Behind the Label.
The first online courses will start on 4 January 2016. Early booking is advised.