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A proposal to establish a Scottish Hearing Voices Network National Office and Support Service

2008-09-04T13:46:00Z

Page created 01/0872008

A proposal to establish a Scottish Hearing Voices Network National Office and Support Service

You can click on the red coloured headings and this will take you straight to the section of the report you want to read, otherwise please continue reading

1. Introduction:

2. Issues and Needs

3. Responses

4. The National Support Service:

1. Introduction

This is a proposal to establish a national office for the Scottish Hearing Voices Network (SHVN) that has been drafted by members of the SHVN Steering Group and the coordinator of INTERVOICE. It is based on thinking and work carried out by the SHVN over the last few years.

The objective of this plan is to identify the means of establishing a strong presence of hearing voices initiatives throughout Scotland supported by a national SHVN office.

This consultation will assist the SHVN to strengthen this plan that will then be be used to negotiate with funding bodies

The 3 month consultation process will start on the 5th July 2008.

2. Issues and needs:

2.1 People who hear voices, like other groups with specific needs and issues can be regarded as a community of interest, not defined by their location on a map, by profession or by socio-economic status. Voice hearers are scattered all over the country, and come from many walks of life. The definition comes out of their specific issue or need arising from hearing voices, making them a broad-based "community of interest".

2.2 People who hear voices experience social exclusion and marginalisation through issues such as their medical diagnoses, behaviour and in some case the consequences of their social and economic position. For instance periodic incapacitation leads to unemployment, low income status and social exclusion. The consequences of social exclusion are in themselves damaging to self esteem and bad for mental health

2.3 Voice hearers who are overwhelmed by their voices are often surrounded by professionals, who protect, make judgements and decisions about their lives leading in some cases to passivity and loss of self-direction

2.4 Many voice hearers do not talk leading to invisibility and isolation from other ´Voice Hearers’.

2.5 There is a social stigma attached to hearing voices, arising from the lack of knowledge and understanding by the wider community of voice hearing. This lack of knowledge leads to mistrust and to further isolation for some voice hearers.

3. Responses

3.1 Our work will be positioned outside of psychiatry:

1. Public meetings, conferences and self-help groups are held as much as possible in non-medical settings

2. We will organise as a network not as a hierarchical organisation.

3.2 We will develop, support and establish self help groups: Because self help groups have been one of the most successful ways to open up discussion about hearing voices, we believe a safe place to talk about voices is important in a society that stigmatises the experience and that has resulted in many voice hearers have to keep silent about their experiences.

3.3 Self help groups can reduce the isolation that people feel and it can be very helpful to talk to other people who share your experience. In England there are over 150 self help groups where voice hearers meet regularly to share their experiences and to learn more about how to cope with their voices. Self-help groups “ideally” meet in the community, led by voice hearers

4. The National Office and Support Service:

These are our aims and objectives for the support service:

Our Aims:

1. Bring together people who hear voices

2. Increase involvement of people who hear voices in the Scottish Hearing Voices Network

3. Improve the quality of life of people who hear voices

4. Address the isolation and withdrawal of people who hear voices

5. Build a sense of community (based on the common interests of people who hear voices)

6. Support individual people who hear voices

7. Support existing self help groups and the development of new groups

Our Objectives:

What will we do?

1. Involve voice hearers across Scotland in the work of the SHVN

2. Help self help groups and local networks to become better organised

3. Establish an interactive website to allow people to share coping strategies, stories, etc.

4. Hold an annual conference

5. Employ 2 workers (1 expert by experience and 1 expert by profession)

6. Provide training and support to self help group facilitators and to other people working with voice hearers

How will we do this?

1. By producing a business plan to enable SHVN to apply for funding for a national office and workers to provide organising support for the network

2. Build skills and capacity for participation and involvement by individual voice hearers including through this consultation

Why do we need a national office?

1.To increase the support to individual voice hearers throughout Scotland, including quantity and quality of mutual support available

2.To reduce the isolation of voice hearers in remote areas

3.To establish support structures to assist local groups to be set up and establish themselves and to support existing and new self help groups:

What will the national office do?

This project intends to develop a National Office for the SHVN staffed by two workers providing a support service to complement and to extend the work of the network

We will seek to help people better understand and cope with their voice hearing experiences by developing new ways for people to participate and work together as experts of experience.

This project will marry the best of “traditional” and “virtual” community development methods and techniques to enable the strengthening and expansion of the SHVN

We believe that by harnessing both the power of traditional community work and by using the internet we can reach more people who hear voices in need of support and further enhance the work of the SHVN by strengthening the self help and peer support groups that operate in Scotland.

The project will help extend the reach and increase the effectiveness of the organisation in delivering low-cost support services. This will be achieved by developing ways of working that emphasise collaboration, mutual support and the sharing of ideas and resources.

Specifically we aim to do the following:

Participation: Establishing an on-line community to provide additional support and information to members between meetings, thereby increasing member participation and strengthening the links between existing self help and peer support groups

Support: Increasing the level and quality of support provided by groups by providing mentoring and training to group facilitators. Mentoring will enable the skills and knowledge of experienced facilitators to be passed on to new facilitators

Development: Providing the means to develop further self help groups (including on-line groups) in areas where no such support exists, particularly in rural communities, by helping to draw together isolated voice hearers and supporting mental health workers

We will undertake the following:

Community based work will include:

Increasing the level of support available from the national office to the membership by employing two workers (ideally one expert by experience and one expert by profession)

Supporting, establishing and further developing self-help groups across Scotland

Increasing the membership of the Network and providing services such as a regular newsletter, information services, publications

Training services:
For Self Help Group facilitators and providing for their ongoing mentoring and support
For training trainers

Mentoring

Outreach services

Holding an Annual National Conference

Establishing a Recovery Consultancy Service

Establishing an Experience Focus Counselling Service

On-line work will include:

Develop of an on-line community centred on the SHVN which includes the following:

Peer to peer on-line telephony (e.g. Skype, MSN etc.), to enable no cost/low cost regular one-to-one “mentoring” support for group facilitators and members of the groups;

On-line conference calls to enable ongoing support between members of real time support groups
– and
to assist in the development of new groups by bringing together potential members to discuss and plan establishing new groups

Instant chat-rooms to provide moderated live text based discussions between memberships of different self help groups and between self help group members, workers and carers

Establish a national on-line forum to provide a means of developing support to individuals and other groups concerned with supporting individuals who hear voices

Increase the knowledge base of the groups and increasing the potential for interactivity between the local groups and the Network national office via on-line information sharing

The establishment of ”My Voices” recovery blogs, a service enabling members to use to keep an on-line diary of their recovery experiences that they can share with their friends and supporters

The establishment of an accessible website providing the opportunity for a single point of entry to the above services

<center></center>

Key words:

Facilitating;

Non-hierarchical;

Underpinning;

Encouraging diversity and pluralism

A Person centred structure looking like this:

<center> People who hear voices (working towards empowerment & recovery)

Self help groups

Local Networks

Scottish HVN National Office and Support Service

INTERVOICE</center>

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<center></center>

What do you think of our proposal?

We welcome your comments and views about this consultative document, which is primarily for people who hear voices from Scotland.

We would be grateful if you would let us know whether you hear voices or if you know or work with someone who hears voices and whereabouts you are from (you don´t need to be specific eg. you can just tell use what what region you are from).

Please indicate in your response if you would be happy for us to contact you.

If you would like to give your views confidentially, require any further information about the Scottish Hearing Voices Network or if we can asist in any other way, you can contact us here
or write to us at SHVN, 216 - 220 Hilltown, Dundee, DD3 7AU

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HVN-USA Training Days with Mike Smith and Marion Aslan, 18th - 19th August 2008

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SAVE THE DATE!

Day one:

Monday August 18, 2008

9am to 3pm

SOAR Case Management

The Hearing Voices Network-USA Presents:

The THRIVE© Approach to
Mental Wellness

Time
Healing
Resilience
Interdependence
Vivacity
Emancipation

Building resilience and finding your future

Many people experience severe psychic distress at some point in their life - 1 in 4 of us in the course of a year according to statistics, and at the time it can be totally devastating. Quite apart from the distress this causes to the individual and their loved ones, some people report feeling misunderstood and even frightened by a society which often focuses on illness, deficits, losses and stigmatization. Many myths and misconceptions still abound regarding psychic distress - not only those held by the general public, but ironically sometimes by those working within mental health systems.

Very often the emphasis is on mental ill health rather than wellness, problems rather than skills, symptoms rather than resilience and despite the concept of recovery being recognized, helping agencies remain predominantly singularly medical in approach and more target driven than people orientated. Sometimes workers feel disempowered, lack confidence or don?t fully understand what it is that nurtures recovery.

The THRIVE© approach takes a more positive stance. Devised by Mike Smith, a nurse of 25 years experience and former Director of Nursing in North Birmingham, UK, and Marion Aslan, a teacher and former user of mental health services who has worked in the learning disabilities and mental health voluntary sector for the last 30 years, we have drawn on our experiences of what keeps people maintained within the system and what works in the moving on process, whereby people thrive and find their future. Taking the underpinning elements of Time, Healing, Resilience, Interdependence, Vivacity and Emancipation this book accompanies the individual on their journey to recovery and beyond, instills hope and optimism for a positive future, and enables the person to chart their own course.

?This book fills a gap, where psychiatry more and more fails to see that mental health problems are a reaction to problems in life and not only, if at all, symptoms of an illness. The THRIVE Approach focuses on the person?s own potential and their capabilities to find solutions for their problems. Using this process, it is about framing your understanding of your experiences?.

--Marius Romme, Professor Emeritus of Social Psychiatry

Facilitated by Dr. Mike Smith

Mike is a psychiatric nurse with over 20 years experience working with psychosis and self injury. Mike

was the winner of the Bethlem & Maudsley 750th anniversary award for advancing mental health care and the overall nurse of the year in 1997.

 

Location: Mendota Mental Health Conference Center, Madison WI.

Free to consumers of mental health Services

$ 50.00 per day for professionals

Sliding scale for the underfunded workers-just come!

For more information contact Jenny Branks 446-0104, jennybranks@hotmail.com

For more information about Mike Smith and his team check out: www.crazydiamond.org.uk

For information about SOAR & HVN-USA check out: www.hvn-usa.org 

_______________________________________________________________________

DAY 2 SAVE THE DATE!

Tuesday August 19, 2008

9am to 3pm 

SOAR Case Management & the Hearing Voices Network-USA 

Present:

Working With Voices/First Aid in Psychosis

This one day workshop will consider the current beliefs about who hears voices and will deconstruct some of the predominant belief systems of voice hearing as a disorder. The workshop will then consider newer views and the importance of these views when working with people troubled by the voices that they hear. The workshop will use tools such as the Maastricht interview and the victim to victor workbook. The final session of the day will be around psychiatric first aid, what to do to help a voice hearer distressed by their experiences in the short term and the longer term. This will include identifying the real problems and complaints in broader psychotic experiences, normalising the experiences and finding a context. Distraction techniques, cognitive methods and physical methods of coping with psychotic experiences will be discussed and also the evidence of how they help and who they help. If people wish we can also consider the theory behind voice dialogues

Facilitated by Dr. Mike Smith

Mike is the author of many publications in mental health including the workbooks working with voices, working with self-harm, 

working with survivors of sexual abuse and more recently psychiatric first aid in psychosis. 

Mike is known for his research in the process of recovery in psychosis and more latterly for his work enabling professionals to be more helpful in their responses to voice hearer?s requests for help. Mike was awarded the Bethlem & Maudsley 750th anniversary prize for the advancement of mental health care in 1997 for his work with voice hearers.Location: Mendota Mental Health Conference Center, Madison WI.

$ 50.00 per day for professionals

Sliding scale for the underfunded workers-just come!

Free to consumers of mental health Services

Location: Mendota Mental Health Conference Center

For more information contact Jenny Branks 446-0104, jennybranks@hotmail.com

For more information about Mike Smith and his team check out: www.crazydiamond.org.uk

For information about SOAR & HVN-USA check out: www.hvn-usa.org

Mendota Mental Health Institute
301 Troy Drive, Madison, WI 53704
Phone: (608) 301-1000 Fax: (608) 301-1358

HOW TO GET TO MENDOTA

Mendota Mental Health Institute is located at the north edge of Madison on Lake Mendota. Take Interstate 90/94 to highway 30 into Madison. From highway 30 exit to highway 113 north toward the Dane County airport. Stay on highway 113 to Troy Drive or Knutson Drive (look for the tall smoke stack).

About the Scottish Hearing Voices Network

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Page created 14/07/2008

Introduction
The Scottish Hearing Voices Network (SHVN) was established in April 2001, by members of Hearing Voices groups throughout Scotland.

Aims and objectives
The Network aims to:

Relieve the suffering and distress of people who are voice hearers, vision seers and/or have related extraordinary experiences.

Promoting the development of hearing voices support groups in Scotland.

To provide mutual support

The advancement of education through training and research

Organisation SHVN is a registered charity (Charity Number: SC 033276) and is managed by a committee of people who hear voices and other supporters.

Contact details
Registered office: Scottish Hearing Voices Network, 216-220 Hilltown, DUNDEE, Tel: 01382 223023

Scottish Hearing Voices Groups July 2008

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Page created 14/07/2008

Hearing Voices Network Dundee
Dundee
Website: http://hearingvoicesnetwork.com
email: form mail here
HaVen, 216 - 220 Hilltown, Dundee, DD3 7AU
Contact: Pat Webster
Telephone: 01382 223023
Music Group, Befriending Service: 'Bridging the Gap', Writing Group, Self Help Groups, Card Making Group

Hearing Voices Network Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Inchkeith House Selfhelp Group (Fridays 2pm - 3pm)
137 Leith Walk
Stuart Hyde and Alisdair Gormly

"The Hive" Self Help Group (Tuesdays 2pm - 3pm)
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Tce.
Run by SAMH
Contact: Shona Ferguson
Telephone: 0131 537 6256

Cambridge Street's Group and 1-1 Clinic Group (Thursdays 3pm - 4pm)
Cambridge Street House 5, Cambridge Street
Contact: George Watson, Barbara Braner or Christine Hislop
Telephone: 0131 5378650

Fife Hearing Voices Network
Kirkcaldy
Website: here
email: From mail
Supported by NSF Scotland
Office 4, Fraser Buildings, Millie Street, Kirkcaldy, KY1 2NL
Tel: 01592 267771

Hearing Voices Network Glasgow
Glasgow
Website: here
email: hvngvoices@yahoo.com
In process of setting up self help group
Contact: Amanda
Telephone: 07806478574

Grampian Hearing Voices Network
Aberdeen
Website: http://www.hearingvoicesnetwork.com/
email: ghvnaberdeen@yahoo.co.uk

Self help group
Alford Centre Hearing voices Group, Alford Centre, Albyn Place, Aberdeen,
Contact Christine Brown
Telephone: 01224-557601

Shetland Hearing Voices Network
Self help group
Echoes Hearing Voices Group Shetland, Echoes, Shetland Link Up, 8 Commercial Street, Lerwick, Shetland, 2EI 0AN
Contact: Heather Slater
Telephone: 01595 693313h

Websites run by Local HVN Networks in Scotland

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Page created 10/07/2008

Dundee Hearing Voices Group (Scotland)
The Overall aim of The Hearing Voices Network Dundee is to create acceptance that hearing voices is a valid experience for which there are many explanations.

Fife Hearing Voices Network (Scotland)
Fife Hearing Voices Network is a service user led project. Members contribute to the project's running in many ways, from planning group programmes to actively taking part in the ongoing development of the project.

Glasgow Hearing Voices Network (Scotland)
Hearing Voices Network Glasgow is a support group for people who hear voices, for them to get together and give mutual support.

Grampian Hearing Voices Network (Scotland)
Helps promote and support voice hearers, their families, friends, carers and professionals.

Don't Panic if your child is hearing voices - It´s not the end of the world

2008-07-05T20:31:00Z

Page updated 04/07/2008

You can download the print version here

Information about Children and Young People who Hear Voices for Parents and Carers

by Sandra Escher

Dr. Sandra Escher is from the Netherlands, she is an expert on the issue of children who hear voices and has spent the last fifteen years talking to children who hear voices and to their parents and carers. Sandra has carried out the most detailed and thorough research into the phenomenon in the world to date. In this article she offers a new perspective on what the voices may represent and how you can help your child cope if they are hearing voices.

Why we have written this information leaflet
Introduction
How do most parents react when their child talks about hearing voices?
“Normal” children and adults hear voices
Hearing voices and traumatic experiences
Voices as messengers
For many children voices disappear over time
The voices may stay but children can cope with them
Supporting your child
More information
A 10 point check-list
Further reading

Why we have written this information leaflet
We have written this information leaflet for parents and carers in the hope that it will enable you to develop a new and more empowering way of thinking about the your child's experiences and that it will help you in finding ways to assist your child in their emotional development and recovery from hearing overwhelming voices.

Unfortunately, there is very little practical advice available about children who hear voices that addresses your needs as parents and family members, this is a shame because you are the most important form of support to your child. So, we wanted you to know that there are some simple common sense things that you can do to help your child. We hope you will find the information helpful.

Introduction
First things first, From the research that we have carried out into the experience of adults and children who hear voices it has became apparent that:

To hear voices is in itself is a normal though unusual experience

However, it is possible that you can become ill as a result of hearing voices when you cannot cope with them

For most children (60%) the voices will disappear over time as the child develops and as they learn to cope with the life's problems (and the emotions and feelings involved with these problems) that led to the voices starting in the first place

How do most parents react when their child talks about hearing voices?
When you find out that your child hears voices it can be devastating. Some parents have said it “felt like my whole world had collapsed." This reaction is understandable, for as parents we are naturally very protective of our children and do not want to see them distressed, hurt or confused. However, there is a crucial question that needs to be asked about why we react in this way when we discover a child is hearing voices.

Our reactions are based on information we have picked up about the meaning of hearing voices. Mostly these are based on assumptions held by society, especially the widely held belief that to hear voices is the same as the mental illness “schizophrenia”.

The good news is that this belief is not correct. Whilst it is the case that hearing voices is apparent in about 60% of the persons who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is not the other way around! If you hear voices that does not mean you have schizophrenia.

There is an even more important issue that you may not be aware of: hearing voices in itself is normal - but – it is possible to become ill from hearing voices if you cannot cope with them. This means that it is coping with hearing voices that is the problem and not the voices in themselves.

Normal” children and adults hear voices
This little known fact is based on a lot of research. Several large scale population (epidemiological) studies have shown that about 4 % of the population hears voices. Of these 4% of the people who hear voices about 30% seek assistance from mental health services. Amongst children however, even more of the “normal” population hears voices (8%) and as with adults about 30% are referred to mental health services.

What this means is that there are apparently many more people who hear voices who do not require the support of mental health services then those that do. This is because they can cope with the voices and function well in in their everyday lives.

Unfortunately, most of the information that we have about the experience of hearing voices comes exclusively from research with patients; people who obviously cannot cope with the voices and needed help. These are people who feel that the voices made them feel powerless and who were overwhelmed by them. This is the case for research for adults and children who are hearing voices. However, in other articles on this site you can find out more about people who can cope with their voices or even have positive experiences.

Hearing voices and traumatic experiences
In our research we found that a common theme in both groups (adults and children) is the high percentage of traumatic experiences that have been found to have been the trigger for hearing voices. In adults around 75% began to hear voices in relationship to a trauma or situation that made them feel powerless.

Examples of the kinds of traumas that trigger voices include the death of a loved one, divorce, losing a job, failing an exam, but also longer lasting situations like being physically, emotionally or sexually abused. With children the percentage was even higher at 85%, with some traumas specifically related to childhood. These traumas might include being bullied by peers or teachers, or being unable to perform at a certain level at school, another commonly reported traumatic incident related to hearing voices is being admitted to a hospital for long periods because of a physical illness.

I would say that hearing voices is mostly a reaction to a situation or a problem the child or young person cannot cope with.

It is a signal.

Voices as messengers
Another striking finding is that what the voices say often gives an indication of the problem that the child has.
An example:
The voices told an 8-year-old boy to blind himself. This frightened his mother. But when we discussed whether there was something in the life of the boy he could not face, she understood the voices message. The boy could not cope with the problematic marriage of his parents. He did not want to see it.

What we saw in our research is that if attention was given to the problems the child was facing, they will be able to establish a more constructive kind of relationship with the voices. As a result children become less afraid of their voices. When a child is able to consider the problems that are at the root of their distress and with the emotions and feelings involved, the voices stop being the child's only focus of attention.

For many children voices disappear over time
Recently I conducted a 3-year follow up study on 80 children who heard voices who were aged between 8 and 19 years of age. Half of this group of children were receiving mental health care because of their voices, however, the other half were not in care at all. I interviewed the children 4 times at yearly intervals. At the end of the research period 60% of the children I interviewed reported that the voices had disappeared.

Of course figures and statistics like this do not directly relate to you. But the overall message is that the chance that the voice might disappear is quite high.

We saw that the children's problems often stopped their development through the voice experience. However, if the problems were handled or their situation changed; for example because the child changed schools, the voices disappeared.

The voices may stay but children can cope with them
It is important that we appreciate that the the desire to make the voices disappear is a goal of the mental health care services and not necessarily that of the children themselves. There are some children who did not want to lose their voices. This is OK, for the most important thing is that the voices no longer remain at the centre of their attention. This is because as the relationship with the voices changed and became more positive, instead of hindering the child the voices start to take on an advisory role. If children find within themselves the resources to cope with their voices and the emotions involved with hearing them then they can lead happy and balanced lives.

Supporting your child
The most important element in the process of positively changing your child's relationship with their voice is the support they got from the family. Unfortunately, our research has shown that being in the mental health care system had no positive effect on the voices, although we did find that being referred to a psychotherapist who accepted the reality of the voices and were prepared to discuss their meaning with the child did have a positive influence on how the child coped with their voices.

We also saw that “normalising” the experience can help parents to deal with the voices – try not to think of it as a terrible disaster, but as a signal for something that is troubling your child and that can be resolved. On the other hand, if parents cannot accept that voice hearing in itself is normal, but believe the voices to be an illness and are afraid of the voices, then the child naturally picks up this feeling. Imagine for a moment if you were the child and were afraid of the voices and when you looked for support from your Mum and Dad you found that they were even even more afraid of the voices then you were. This would obviously put you under great pressure and probably mean that you would become reluctant about talking about your experiences at all.

There is a second problem,at if you are afraid of the voices then you can become obsessed with the fear of the voices alone and not what the voices mean. When you are distressed and anxious you cannot listen very well to the story your child tells about their experiences and may fail to pick up on the related problems and emotions that the voices represent.

In our experience what helps children the most is a systematic approach to understanding the voices. So to help we have developed an interview to help map the experience. This can be used as a way to understand the stress the child is under and then to work together to find solutions for the problems raised by the voice hearing experience..

More information
This information is just a brief introduction to a new way of thinking about children who hear voices that might help you to face the problems you have. If you want more information about the research, about the elements of the therapy that helped the children or you want a copy of the interview form we used to in our research to help you with your child please let us know.

Sandra Escher, MPhil, PhD.

<center>"What you can do if your child tells you they are hearing voices“
A 10 point check-list</center>

1. Try not to over react, although you will be understandably worried, work hard not to communicate your anxiety to your child.

2. Accept the reality of the voice experience for your child: Ask them about their voices, how long they have been hearing them, who or what they are, do they have names, what they say etc.

3. Let your child know that lots of children hear voices and mostly they go away after a while.

4. Even if the voices do not disappear your child can learn to live in harmony with his/her voices

5. It is important to breakdown your child's sense of isolation and differentness from other children. Your child is special, unusual perhaps, but normal.

6. Find out if your child has any difficulties or problems that they are finding very hard to cope with and work on trying to fix these problems. Think back to when the voices first started, what was happening to your child when they first heard voices? When did the voices arise for the first time? Was there anything unusual or stressful that might have occurred?

7. If you think you need outside help, find a therapist who is prepared to accept your child's experience and work with your child in a systematic way to understanding and cope with their voices better.

8. Be ready to listen to your child if they want to talk about their voices and use drawing, painting, acting and other creative ways to help them describe what is happening to them.

9. Get on with your lives and try not to let the voice experience become the centre of your child's life or your own.

10. Most children who live well with their voices have supportive families living around them who accept the experience as part of who their child is. You can do this too!

More articles about children and young people who hear voices here.

Further reading about children who hear voices from Sandra and other researchers
Sandra Escher , Marius Romme, Alex Buiks, Philippe Delespaul, Jim van Os (2002)., Formation of delusional ideation in adolescents hearing voices: A prospective study. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Neuropsychiatric Genetics, Volume 114, Issue 8 , Pages 913 - 920

S. Escher, M. Romme, A. Bunks & P. Delespaul, J Van Os; Independent course of childhood auditory hallucinations: a sequential 3-year follow-up study (2004), The British Journal of Psychiatry (2002) 181: s10-s18

Kotsopoulos, S., Kanigsberg, J., Cote, A., Fiedorowicz, C., Hallucinatory Experiences in Non psychotic Children, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, May 1987, 26 (3), 375–380

McGee, R., Williams, S. & Poulton, R. (2000) Hallucinations in non psychotic children (letter). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 12-13

Mertin P., Hartwig, S (2004) Auditory Hallucinations in Nonpsychotic Children: Diagnostic Considerations Child and Adolescent Mental Health, February 2004, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 9-14(6)

Pearson, D., Burrow, A., FitzGerald, C., Green, K., Lee, G., Wise, N. (2007) Auditory Hallucinations in Normal Child Populations Personality & Individual Differences, Aug. 2001, Special Issue, 31(3), 401 -407

Schreier, H. A., Hallucinations in Non psychotic Children: More Common Than We Think? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, May 1999, 38 (5), 623–625

Vickers, B., Garralda, E. (2000) Hallucinations in Nonpsychotic Children Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Sept. 2000, 39 (9), 1073

Normal people and hearing voices
Barret T.R and Etheridge J.B (1992) Verbal hallucinations in Normals I: People who hear voices Applied Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 6, pp. 379-387

Vanessa Beavan, John Read and Claire Cartwright (2006)Angels at our tables: A summary of the findings from a 3-year research project into New Zealanders’ Experiences of Hearing Voices, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Eaton W.W., Romanoski A., Anthony J.C., Nestadt G. (1991), Screening for psychosis in the general population with a self report interview, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, No. 179, pp 689 693

Feelgood, S. R. and Rantzen, A. J. Auditory and Visual Hallucinations in University Students Personality and Individual Differences, 1994, Vol. 17 (2): 293-296

Honig, A.; Romme. M.; Ensink, B.; Escher, S.; Pennings, M.; Devries, M.W. (1998): Auditory Hallucinations: A Comparison between Patients and Nonpatients. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186 (10), 646-651 Posey T.B. and Losch M.E. (1984), Auditory hallucinations of hearing voices in 375 normal subjects Imagination, Cognition and Personality, vol 3, no.2, pp. 99 113

Tien A.Y. (1991) Distributions of hallucinations in the population Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, No.26, pp. 287 292

John Watkins: Hearing voices - A Common Human Experience: published in 1998 by Hill of Content Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, ISBN 0-85572-288-6

J. Watkins; M. Romme; S. Escher (2003). Hearing voices: A common human experience. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 57, Issue 2 March 2003 , pages 157 - 159

Copyright 2008 Sandra Escher

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Scottish Hearing Voices National Office and Support Service Consultation: Background papers

2008-07-03T12:05:00Z

Page updated 10/07/2008

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Welcome to our consultation

We are planning to set up a national office to support the development of hearing voices groups throughout Scotland and we have written this proposal about what the office would do.

We would like to hear what voice hearers from Scotland think about our ideas. We know many voice hearers feel isolated and unsupported. We would therefore encourage voice hearers to complete the questionnaire, read our proposals and become members of our network. No one needs to feel alone in their experience of voice hearing. It's good to talk!

We would also like to hear from everyone who is concerned about people who hear voices.

If you make a response to our consultation we would be grateful if you would let us know whether you hear voices or if you know or work with someone who hears voices and whereabouts you are from (you don´t need to be specific eg. you can just tell use what what region or district).

We have put together a questionnaire for people who hear voices asking what kinds of support you would like to see us provide. You can complete it here.

There is also a "Hearing Voices Groups" questionnaire for self help groups and networks asking what kinds of support you would like to see us provide. You can complete it here.

If you would prefer to see a hard copy of the consultation document you can download it here.

You can also let us know your views by going to the "Have your say" section at the bottom of the page or by clicking here

Note: We have provided some information about the consultation process, other planning methods we are using and also information about the Scottish Hearing Voices Network and INTERVOICE here.

If you would like to become a member of the Scottish Hearing Voices Network please download the application form here.

Read our press release here

Print the "Complete the Questionnaire" poster here and display it for us.

Read the letter to supporting organisations here

We would like to give a big thank you to Awards For All in Scotland for their generous support in funding this consultation exercise and development project.
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<center>Scottish Hearing Voices National Office and Support Service Consultation: Background papers</center>

In this document we have provided some background information about the consultation process, other planning methods we are using and information about the Scottish Hearing Voices Network and INTERVOICE.

If you would prefer to see a hard copy of the consultation background paper you can download it here

You can also let us know your views by going to the "Have your say" section at the bottom of the page or by clicking here

1. The Consultation process

2. Planning Methods and Tools

3. Timetable

4. Appendix

1. The Consultation Process

1.1 The Scottish Network has received funding from the Awards For All Fund to help it put together a plan for the further development of hearing voices work in Scotland. This plan is to be developed by the SHVN with the on-going support of Paul Baker, the INTERVOICE Coordinator.

The Scottish Hearing Voices Network are using the services of Paul Baker to facilitate the process of writing and consulting people who hear voices about the plan.

1.2 How we will consult people about our plans

This proposal concerns how we will go about agreeing a plan to enable SHVN to apply for funding for a national office and paid workers to support the network, as well as how that work will be carried out.

This proposal will be open to consultation with all those people and groups interested in developing the support available to people who hear voices with a special focus on existing hearing voices groups and people who hear voices.

As part of the consultation process we will use the internet and other methods of contacting individual voice hearers and groups around the country. We will also use Skype (a free on-line telephone service) to link people and set up a web page to let people see and comment on the progress of the writing of the plan.

Following contact through Skype, e-mails, letter, texting and phone calls, we will then be organise visits to meet groups to discuss the proposed plan with Hearing voices Groups around the country.

2. Planning Methods

2. 1 As well as the consultation process outlined here there will be a planning process that will have the following components:

(i) A mapping exercise:

to determine the number and strength of hearing voices groups in Scotland (e.g. self-help groups):

to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses and support needs

to identify areas where no hearing voices work is being carried out - and - to determine whether support is available for the development of new hearing voices groups

to identify other hearing voices initiatives such as training provision, one to one work, anti-stigma work, emergency help and telephone support etc.

to identify key supporters amongst voice hearers, allied professionals and voluntary & statutory services
2.2 This task will help determine the level of need within Scotland for Voice hearing work, to establish the priorities for such work and to audit the level of support available.

(ii)An evaluation of the current status of the Scottish Hearing Voices Network
Including the steering group and other support functions carried out by the Network. This would include membership issues, formal status, current funding and other forms of support.This task will help identify the organisational and structural needs of the organisation and work needed to ensure it is prepared for the work required in carrying out the proposed Action Plan

(iii)Determine the availability of resources to fund and support a national office and workers to provide support services to an emergent national network of voice hearing initiatives.

(iv) Establish a 3 year work programme for the further development of the SHVN that will ensure the SHVN will be an effective:

Change Agent: e.g. by identifying gaps; developing innovative practice

Service Developer: e.g. promoting joint working, education and training

Capacity Builder: initiate, develop and sustain community initiatives around voice hearing

Access Facilitator: to services; community resources; overcoming language and cultural barriers.

2.3 It is critical to the success of this exercise that voice hearers are in control of the processes, including this consultation.
This will include:

Goal Setting;

Planning;

Implementation

2.4 This approach considers people who hear voices as the experts by experience and the people who work with them as experts by profession. Value is placed on the personal involvement of both voice-hearers and professionals. Seeing each other first as people, secondly as allies, and thirdly, as all having different but mutually valuable expertise to offer.

2.5 The exercise will adopt participatory approaches to development, based on principles of empowerment and the ownership of the development process. It will focus on how to engage people as citizens (rather than clients) in development, and how to make the resulting services more effective and responsive.

2.6 The Business Plan will be drawn up using community development principles as follows:

The appreciation and mobilisation of individual and community talents, skills and assets (rather than focusing on problems and needs)

It will be a community-driven development rather than developments driven by external agencies

2.7 We will utilise the internet to complement meetings and written reports.

3. Timetable

The work started with a visioning meeting with members of the SHVN and will be followed up by an action research programme that will lead to the development of an Action Plan. This Plan will then be subject to discussion, amendment and adoption by the SHVN.

Timetable dates:

15th and 16th March 2008
Meetings with the SHVN steering group and members of the Dundee HVN and Aberdeen HVN to draw up ideas and to set the process in motion

31st March 2008
Paul writes up and sends out initial proposal as agreed at the meeting to the steering group members for agreement.

1st July 2008
The Outline proposal is sent out widely, ideally we would like to involve about 300 people.

It will be available in the following formats:
The document will be available as a paper document and sent to those who wish to see a hard copy.
It will be available as a word document and a pdf that can be sent as an attachment by email
A web page will be set up which will allow people to read the document and comment on-line and to see how the document is progressing>/p>

Paul will be available to discuss the document by email, instant chat and by phone and/or Skype*

Paul will also meet with groups as required:

Meeting in September (date to be decided)

The business plan will be adopted and launched at a special meeting of the SHVN

4. Appendix:

4.1 The Scottish Hearing Voices Network

The Scottish Hearing Voices Network was established in April 2001, by members of Hearing Voices groups throughout Scotland.

The Network aims to:

Relieve the suffering and distress of people who are voice hearers, vision seers and/or have related extraordinary experiences.

Promoting the development of hearing voices support groups in Scotland.

To provide mutual support

The advancement of education through training and research

4.2 INTERVOICE

The Scottish Network is a member of INTERVOICE, the International Network for training, education and research into Hearing Voices and hosted the 2006 INTERVOICE seminar in Dundee.

INTERVOICE is an international support group for hearing voices initiatives. There are currently 19 active national organisations in membership. INTERVOICE aims to:

show that hearing voices is a normal though unusual variation in human behaviour

show that the problem is not hearing voices but the inability to cope with the experience

educate society about the meaning of voices so as to reduce ignorance & anxiety and to ensure this innovatory approach on voice hearing is better known by voice hearers, families, professionals and the general public

demonstrate the wide variety of voice hearing experiences and their origins, and peoples' approaches to coping

increase the quality and quantity of mutual support available to all people and organisations involved in hearing voices work across the world

make our work more effective and develop more non-medical ways of helping voice hearers cope with their experience

4.3 SHVN meeting with Paul Baker on 15 and 16 March 2008

Present: Ann, Bill, Christine, Ian, Gavin, Mary, Pat, Richard and Paul

The meeting with Paul were very productive and he went away to produce a draft proposal for the objective of producing a business plan to enable SHVN to apply for funding for a national office and workers for the network. He will be sending this out to us shortly for our comments.

Paul had good ideas re use of the internet in addition to other methods of contacting individual voice hearers and groups around the country. The idea would be to use Skype to link people and to set up a web page to let people see the progress of the writing of the plan.

Following contact through Skype, e-mails, letter, texting and phone calls, Paul will be better placed to best organise visits to meet groups.

The initial draft proposal will include the following ideas re what is needed from the SHVN and these will be amended and added to as the process goes on.

Address isolation and withdrawal of voice hearers

Build a sense of community (of common interest)

Support individual voice hearers

Support the development of groups

An interactive website to allow people to share coping strategies, stories, etc.

An annual conference

To employ 2 workers (? 1 expert by experience and 1 expert by profession)

Training services

The meeting on the 16th with members of the HVN-D management committee went well and they were very positive re the development of SHVN. We will continue to work closely with them to ensure their needs from SHVN are met and that we are able to start supporting them rather than their continued of us. For example, they will additional funds through rent payments.

Hearing Voices: Easy to understand introduction to the issue of hearing voices

2008-06-22T18:09:00Z

Page updated 22/06/2008

An introduction to the work of the hearing voices movement. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Transcript and programme here

Spotlight is an English radio program for native and non-native English speakers.

The 15-minute program uses:

a vocabulary of about 1500 words

a speaking speed of about 90 words each minute (about half of the normal speaking speed).

short, simple sentences

Produced by Spotlight, a Christian broadcasting organisation.

INTERNATIONAL HEARING VOICES MOVEMENT Blog

2008-06-05T06:22:00Z

Check out our new blog

A gateway for all things to do with people who hear voices. News and views and a whole lot more..

It's Good To Talk: World Hearing Voices Day 2008, Sunday 14th September

2008-06-02T16:44:00Z

Page update 02/06/008

World Hearing Voices Day 2008 will see the third international celebration of the experience of hearing voices instigated by Louise Pembroke. We usually hold the day on the 14th September, this year that day is a Sunday.

Our international awareness day intends to combat the secrecy and stigma surrounding hearing voices. The aim is to celebrate voice hearing as part of the diversity of human experience and raise awareness of the fact that hearing voices, in and of itself, is not a sign of mental illness — indeed many people hear voices, such as painters, author’s, spiritual mediums and others are sought after, for their voice hearing capabilities.

Each year Hearing Voices Networks and Groups worldwide mark the occasion with an activity or event to:

Raise awareness of the phenomenon of hearing voices

Challenge negative attitudes towards people who hear voices

Challenge incorrect assumptions about voice hearing as a sign of an illness,

Raise awareness of the issues of stigma and discrimination faced by people diagnosed with a mental illness, and

Give voice to the call for dignity, liberty and self determination

Events held to commemorate the day (and in the days before and after) have included national conferences, seminars, local meetings, picnics in parks, information stalls and booths in town and city centres, celebratory parades, competitions, book readings, music shows, film screenings, dance events, voice hearing simulations, press conferences and press releases.

What will you be organising this year?

Let´s make it a BIG one!

Get in touch admin@intervoiceonline.org with your ideas and proposals.

Events planned for 2008

Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, UK
Bassetlaw area will be celebrating World Hearing Voices day on 15th September 2008 from 10.00 until 3.00 by having a drop in information giving taster of complimentary therapies, support and advice and refreshments all available at the Mind Day Centre, Hardy Street, Worksop, Notts. This event is open to anyone who hears voices, cares and supports someone who hears voices or just wants to pop along to find out information. If anyone wants further information they can contact Andrea Emmens on 01909 502068 or Liz Daniels on 01909 476075.

Let us know what you are planning for WHVD2008!

Talking back to the spirits: the voices and visions of Emanuel Swedenborg

2008-06-02T09:24:00Z

Page updated 02/06/2008

Talking back to the spirits: the voices and visions of Emanuel Swedenborg
History of the Human Sciences, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1-31 (2008)
Simon R. Jones and Charles Fernyhough

Simon has written an outline summary for INTERVOICE about his recently published paper on the findings the voices and visions of Emanuel Swedenborg:

Over 300 years ago, Emanuel Swedenborg, the famous mystic, scientist, inventor and theologian, experienced three decades of voices and visions. Swedenborg understood these voices to be from angels, devils, and other spirits, and built up a detailed model of the spiritual world based on this. In this paper we examine what Swedenborg experienced, and how these experiences were viewed by himself, his contemporaries, and 19th and 20th century psychiatry.

Swedenborg himself famously said he was “well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and angels . . . and many will say that it is all fancy, others that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections. But by all this I am not deterred, for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt”. Many of those who met him agreed he was a sane man. However, many of his more distant contemporaries saw him as mad. 19th century psychiatrists diagnosed him as insane. 20th century psychiatry has labelled him as being schizophrenic or epileptic.

However, Swedenborg was able to carry on a fruitful and productive life, despite these voices and visions. We show how the idea of ‘hallucinations in the sane’ which appeared in the mid-1800s in France, has been resurrected in the work of Romme and Escher, and argue that Swedenborg can be seen as having ‘hallucinations without mental disorder’. We conclude by asking what we can learn from Swedenborg’s experiences and from those who experience voices and visions today.

Simon R Jones,
Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK, s.r.jones@durham.ac.uk

To view the abstract and for details on how to purchase and view the full article go here.

For more about Swedenborg and other notable pople who heard voices go here.

Listening to Experience: Opening Up Democratic Partnerships in Mental Health: An Open Letter and Petition

2008-05-28T19:56:00Z

Page updated 28/05/2008

Dr Ben Gray, academic and voice hearer has drafted a petition an open letter entitled 'Listening to Experience: Opening Up Democratic Partnerships in Mental Health', this initiative is intended to draw attention to the need to place the person with mental health problems and their experiences at the forefront of mental health care, ensure their human and medical rights and consider new and innovative methods for coping more insightfully with mental health problems.

If you would like to help with the drafting process or express your support contact us at admin@intervoiceonline.org. or make your views known in the comment box below.

This is the open letter:

"Having a mental health problem is a difficult and frightening experience. To complicate matters, people with mental health problems often experience discrimination, stigma and social exclusion, both by other people in society who do not understand mental illness and by professionals, such as psychiatrists, nurses and social workers, who require more patient-centred and appropriate training and education on key issues in mental health.

There is a reliance within mental health on the prescription of powerful antipsychotic and pharmaceutical medication, with little recourse to alternative and less invasive treatments. In some circumstances, medication can be forcibly administered to people with mental health problems against their wishes and consent.

More recently there has been a growth in research and psychiatric understanding, outlining alternative methods for coping with mental health problems, such as hearing voices. In this alternative and modern approach, symptoms such as hearing voices are discussed and related to peoples’ experiences, rather than discounted as delusions and falsehoods. The voice hearing experience is accepted so as to be listened to and discussed in relation to peoples’ histories and personal stories.

It is imperative that we take account of the experiences of people with mental health problems, so as to provide more patient-centred, humane, holistic, collaborative and human-rights based mental health care.

There are five chief recommendations in order to begin such a collaborative and listening process:

1.Alternative approaches to mental illness should be thoroughly covered in mental health training and education by professionals such as psychiatrists, nurses and social workers. The work of Romme and Escher and others involved in the hearing voices movement outlines such alternative and effective approaches to conventional interventions.

2.In order for professionals to engage, empathise and effectively collaborate with people with mental health problems in their practice there should be training and education programmes available to professionals that are run by people who have experienced mental health problems. Experience is often said to be the greatest teacher. Experience is expertise. Listening to the experiences of people with mental health problems will provide professionals from the health, social care and voluntary sectors with a broader and more empathetic perspective as well as opening up the pathway to more holistic and democratic care.

3.The use of advance agreements or advance directives with people who have mental health problems should be encouraged, so as to open up more democratic pathways of treatment and care in collaboration with mental health teams and consultant psychiatrists. The use of advance agreements enables the person with mental health issues, when they are stable and well, to stipulate their preferred method of treatment at a future date when considered unwell or mentally ill.

4.To ensure full collaboration as well as consistent and humane care a person who has experienced mental health problems should be appointed to all Mental Health Tribunals. This will ensure that the person with mental health problems is better represented legally and ethically by a peer.

5.A review of the efficacy, debilitating side-effects and alternatives to medical treatment should be conducted in order to begin to assess new and less invasive methods of helping people to cope more insightfully with mental illness.

The key aim is to place the person with mental health problems and their experiences at the forefront and centre of mental health care, ensure their human and medical rights, give them a democratic say in their care and consider new and innovative methods for coping more insightfully with mental illness."

Seeking volunteers for to explore the difference between Mental Health and Illness

2008-05-28T07:18:00Z

The BBC are producing a documentary that will form part of the next series of Horizon, the BBC’s flagship science series. The programme will engage with some of the issues surrounding mental illness in Britain today. In particular ther’re interested in the labelling and stigma that is associated with living with a disorder. The programme is inspired by the ground-breaking Rosenhan Experiment conducted in the early seventies. Dr. David Rosenhan sent a number of pseudo-patients into US Mental Hospitals, and illustrated that these institutions couldn’t distinguish between sanity and insanity. Psychiatry has moved on since this study but there are elements of it that are worth looking at again.

We are working in collaboration with Dr Peter Byrne, a Director of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a practicing Clinical Psychiatrist. Together we are planning to recreate some elements of this seminal study in an attempt to prompt the viewer to question the stereotypes linked with mental illness.

We are looking to draw together a group of volunteers who will work through a series of tests. Some of the group will have a history of mental illness and some will have no history of mental illness. The challenge for the viewer, and a panel of expert Psychiatrists and Psychologists, will be to work out who is who. It is by this process that we will get the wider public to question what they consider to be ‘normal’ and more importantly whether being mentally ill makes a person any different.

This is clearly a sensitive area but I believe passionately that we shouldn’t hide away from addressing the subject of mental illness just because of this. We are keen to ensure everyone finds the filming process a positive experience. All the participants will be carefully screened by an independent team and we will only consider people who pass this process.

This is an opportunity to show the real people and personalities behind the labels. The group of volunteers are essential to the programme, it will be through their experiences that we will illustrate how mental illness sits on continuum, running from healthy, everyday behaviour, to something that can become a serious problem. In the process they will dispel some myths: such as ‘people with mental illness are dangerous’ or ‘that the mentally ill cannot function in society’.

This is a challenging project but one that’s exciting to be involved in. We are currently seeking volunteers to take part in the programme, both as subjects and on the expert panel. If this is of interest to you, or you’d like to find out more, please contact us on the details below. There is no obligation to take part.

Email: Helen.crocombe@bbc.co.uk

Telephone: 020 8008 3978

Pat Bracken

2008-05-11T20:15:00Z

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Reflections on the making of "The Doctor Who Hears Voices" by Rufus May

2008-05-09T19:53:00Z

Paged updated 09/05/2008

Hearing Voices from the Television:

Reflections on the making of "The Doctor Who Hears Voices"

by Rufus May

When Leo Regan became interested in filming my work as a psychologist he warned me I would soon sick be of him, I didn’t know what he meant. Eighteen months later I now have a clearer idea! Leo always wanted to get underneath the skin of help-giving and often it was quite exhausting for everyone involved! It took over a year for Leo Regan to make the film about my work called The Doctor who hears voices. Leo has tried to show the humanity of working in alternative ways with voice hearing. The result is a film that is both challenging and realistic in its presentation of the dilemmas of giving people real choices about how to manage an episode of intense distress.

Over a million people watched it when it was broadcast in April in the U.K. on channel 4. Thousands of people are now down loading form several Internet sites. It has provoked a strong response from viewers. Many people have been inspired by the film, others more attached to a medical approach to distress have been outraged. I think the film is unusual in that it successfully managed to be a documentary about mental health that avoided the usual traps of being a freak show. Partly because the story shows that mental health problems are understandable and meaningful and also shows my vulnerability it crosses the typical boundaries between professional and ‘patient’. A few journalists were quite uncomfortable with this blurring of boundaries. The principle that there is an expertise of experience that can be as valuable as academic or professional expertise is quite new and a bit threatening to mainstream commentators. Never mind! Hopefully they will get use to the idea.

I am a psychologist in the NHS working with adults with mental health problems. I believe people are capable of recovering from all mental health problems if they get the right support. I myself had a psychotic episode when I was eighteen and recovered despite doctors telling me I had a lifelong condition called schizophrenia and that I would always need medication. I think originally Leo was interested in how my role as a ‘wounded healer’ might affect how I tried to help people.

With his camera in tow, Leo steadily shadowed me at both work and in my independent role giving talks and campaigning. Leo wanted his footage to be ‘real’ and not contrived. He went to a lot of effort to film me when I was worried and anxious as well as when I was confident and self-assured. On one occasion he even turned up at my house at three in the morning! The final film focuses on my relationship with Ruth who I decided to try and help outside of my NHS work. Ruth was a junior doctor who was suspended from her practice for having suicidal ideas. After the suspension she started to hear an aggressive voice for he first time telling her to kill herself. Coincidentally, she had approached me for advice just before she started to hear voices. She had stopped taking medication some time before. She could not approach her doctors for help with her voice hearing because she feared that she would definitely lose her medical career. 

I set about supporting Ruth non medically. My approach is strongly influenced both by my own recovery journey, holistic health approaches and the ideas of the hearing voices movement. It was important to give her lots of psychological and physical techniques to cope with her sleep problems, her voice hearing and her moods. I became the only person she could trust with what was really going on. Leo was very interested in her story and tried to film us working together on these issues but it was impossible because of her need for confidentiality and secrecy. As she put it “you cannot be a doctor and hear voices”. So instead we began to carefully document our meetings so that we could re-enact them with an actor. 

Even documenting the work added pressure to Ruth. For example, often after Leo had interviewed Ruth about how she was doing, I would find that she was extremely distressed the next day. On one occasion I banned Leo from meeting with Ruth for over a month. At that point I felt that we would have to keep Ruth out of the film entirely. In the end Ruth and I decided the pain of the film making was worth the gain of telling her story.

I was working totally against the grain of conventional wisdom. Most health professionals believe that when someone starts to hear voices or get paranoid, both of which Ruth was going through, you have to intervene with medication. If you don’t, conventional thinking argues, the person’s brain will deteriorate irreversibly. I firmly did not believe this but, at times, supporting Ruth through her crisis as she struggled with suicidal ideas and intense paranoia, I did question my rationale. I wondered whether my approach was making her worse not better. I knew if she did kill herself I could be held responsible. At the same time I saw an intelligent dedicated person who had been let down by a judgmental employment system, who I believed could recover and make a valuable contribution to society as a Doctor.

Ruth had been told she had a lifelong condition called Bipolar Disorder, that her brain was fundamentally different to other people, in other words she would always be inferior to others. I gave her a different model; firstly, that she could recover a good life. Secondly, that her distressing experiences were not the product of a faulty brain but meaningful communications. I suggested it might not be useful to see herself as having a medical condition called bipolar disorder or any other psychiatric label. I believed that all of her experiences including mood swings, critical thoughts, paranoia and voice hearing were understandable reactions to difficult life events. For example, a lot of her paranoia and voice hearing reflected the way her employers were treating her, as if she was a liability, by suspending her and refusing to trust in her ability to be a good doctor. I was suggesting that these so-called ‘symptoms’ were actually ‘messengers’ about past and present hostile environments and that it was fundamental not to blame herself and give up. Importantly Ruth needed to become confident in resisting the prejudice of her employers by lying to them about her mental health. She could not afford to tell them she was hearing voices. This was hard for Ruth as she is an honest person and she felt her integrity was being ripped apart. As we worked on deeper issues I encouraged her to express her emotions and address buried wounds in order to be released from demons of her past. At times she slipped deeper into paranoia and it was on these occasions that both of us had our faith tested in my approach. 

The film charts Ruth’s journey though these experiences and also gives us some insight into the more conventional psychiatric approach. Psychiatrist Trevor Turner, former Vice Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatry, outlines the importance of giving people in Ruth’s situation medication whether they want it or not because “miracles do occur”. If they don’t want to take medication most psychiatrists and nurses will choose to force people to take medication against their will. In the film Trevor gives a reassuring description of how nurses are trained to pateinets and forcibly inject them with medication “in the most comfortable and supportive way”.

I hope the film triggers a debate not just about the rights of health professionals to hear voices but also about the rights of people in crisis to a force free mental health service. Every week thousands of people are coerced into taking medication that they don’t want and this frequently does more harm than good. Without giving away the outcome of the film, Ruth and I attempted to work on her recovery in a force free way that honoured her right to have a drug free approach. We had to do this in an underground way. This is surely wrong. It is surely wrong that many psychiatrists do not see their patient’s ‘mad’ experiences as meaningful. It is surely wrong that they do not promote optimism and a belief in recovery. It is surely wrong that psychotropic drugs that impair functioning are seen as the first port of call and that patients have little choice over what goes in their bodies. It is surely wrong that many people who stop taking their medication feel they have to lie about this to their psychiatrists. We are supposed to live in a democracy but if you are being treated for a mental health problem in our society you are very often living in a totalitarian regime. 

The ‘real Ruth’ bravely decided to speak out about these kind of injustices by agreeing to have her story documented, hopefully the number of people speaking out about our society’s approach to mental health will continue to grow.

For more information see The Rufus May website