What is it like to hear voices?
Think about what it would be like, if while you were reading this, someone started yelling at you right in your ear. Maybe they are nice things, or funny. But they also might be cruel, or critical.
Maybe they aren’t even words, but a wall of sound that makes the words you are trying to read hard to comprehend.
Hearing voices is a common feature of many psychiatric disorders, but if you’ve never heard them, it’s hard to empathise with what life is like.
This coming Wednesday is Hearing Voices Day, an international event that aims to break down some of the stigma, and develop empathy for people who’s heads might be slightly louder than the people around them.
Producer: Ninah Kopel
Speakers:
Douglas Holmes – Chairperson of the Hearing Voices Network in NSW
Fiona Orr – Director of International Activities in the Faculty of Health, Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing and PHD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney
Image: Karina Lamontagne on Flickr.
Other links
Hearing Voices Network NSW
Lifeline 13 11 14
