Perspective is an interesting thing isnt’t it.
When I read the headline, 1 in 5 children in Ireland hear voices, I thought, well there you go, if the numbers are that high, it proves that it is a common variation of human experience, rather than an exception.
Yet when I read the article, which instead is alarmed that so many children may be mentally ill.
The question that begs to be answered, is what percentage does there need to be of people hearing voices before it is accepted as a common human experience? 50 %? 80 %? 100 %?
HEARING VOICES NETWORK AOTEAROA NZ 
probably not going to be popular when i say 1 in 5 is still the exception, because 4 don’t hear voices, also are the stats for other countries similar. Until we know the cause how can we say anything about normal?. I hear what this website is trying to do, but sometimes this smile when your heart is breaking mentality wears a little thin when there is a voice behind you threatening your very exsistence….I mean what if we got to the other side and realized all these years we had been believing in a load of BS, wouldn’t we feel just a little bit foolish…Please believe me when i say i don’t wish any disrespect to the author..
martin.
LikeLike
Hi Martin , Thanks for your comments. I am not saying that hearing voices is easy. And yes often the voices can be very derogatory and say negative things. But what doesnt help is the stigma attached to hearing voices, and the way people become frightened of a person if they hear voices. If hearing voices was accepted as a way that some people perceive the world, then perhaps, just perhaps, they may receive more support and encouragement from family and friends.
Research has shown that often there is an emotional link between the voices and the voice hearer, albeit in a metaphorical way. If a person is surrounded by people who believe that hearing voices is evil, is a terrible experience, is something that should be hidden, that someone should be ashamed of, then it is no wonder that a person becomes introverted, ashamed, and feels bad for what they are experiencing.
We need to get rid of the fear around the experience, so people can stand up to their bad voices. Voices who tell them they are useless, just as society portrays the image of voice hearers as useless ill people.
The voices usually have some meaning in our lives, they may relate to our past, our present, our future, or our emotions. We need to learn how they are talking to us, and how we can navigate them to lead us to a peaceful resolution with our voices, and our lives inside and out.
LikeLike
This is why the understanding of what the voices are is so important.
I would say more so that the medical labeling of the many people that hear voices.
Then the end to labeling (which serves to holds a condition/illness in place) can happen.
The voices are just thoughts.
The emotions are the body reaction to those thoughts.
I am going to bet you will censor this: So as you can see in the above comment ” martin” does not want hearing voices to be common or normal when it is.
He has a victim mentality he is identified with his label ( which also makes him believe that he is “a victim” and he is ” ill” )he is totally overpowered and identified with the voices/thoughts and he in this misunderstanding of who he is empowering the thoughts and victim label)The voices cannot threaten your existence( that is a thought).
Nobody is explaining what the voices are( thoughts) or how to move your attention away from the voices( thoughts)emotions they generate and back to stillness and self mastery.
That was why i put a link to E Tolle as he teaches how to still the mind.
Breaking the pattern by way of attention and understanding of the reaction to the (thoughts and emotions)voices is key to healing.
The voices are just thoughts.Creating an emotional reaction in the body.
In many cases the dis-identification from the thought/emotion has already happened.
LikeLike
Yes, I see that sometimes it is because we have become disconnected from a past trauma, or emotion for survival reasons. Which is why we need to identify what we have in common with the voices and why they are present in our lives.
LikeLike
It is very sad for me that HVNZ are not ready to teach or allow people to understand that the voices are thoughts and that there are methods of mediation allowing them to start taking power from the thoughts (and the emotions they produce in the body) to heal.
Please know fighting ” bad thoughts” only energizes them.
By not fighting instead paying full attention to the voices( knowing they are just thoughts )without self identification with the thought(voices) and the emotions they create.
It is time to teach people what the voices are .
LikeLike
They are not thoughts. We can tell the difference. For some people it may be linked to their emotions. Which are not thoughts. To others they may be spiritual in nature, or linked to some past trauma. Thought is not really the right word
LikeLike