The experience of talking about hearing voices with family, friends, and others

Watkins, S. Craig; Gupta, Anjula; Sanderson, Chris

doi:10.1080/17522439.2019.1690561

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Once voice-hearing is disclosed, patients have reported a desire to discuss their experiences with mental health clinicians ( Coffey and Hewitt, 2008 ; Bogen-Johnston et al, 2019 ; Griffiths et al, 2019 ) and receive support in managing their voice-hearing ( Baker et al, 1997 ). Such conversations about these experiences could help patients explore their voices and potentially reduce their negative impact ( Romme et al, 2009 ; Watkins et al, 2020 ). Regarding young people, a cautious-but-curious investigation of the psychopathological and psychosocial context of their voice-hearing experience is recommended ( Maijer et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Attitudes to voices”: a survey exploring the factors influencing clinicians’ intention to assess distressing voices and attitudes towards working with young people who hear voices

et al. 2023

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IntroductionDue to the general psychopathological vulnerability of young people who hear distressing voices, research has stressed the importance for clinicians to assess this experience in youth. Nonetheless, the limited literature on the topic comes from studies with clinicians in adult health services and it primarily reports that clinicians do not feel confident in systematically assessing voice-hearing and doubt the appropriateness of doing so. We applied the Theory of Planned Behavior and identified clinicians’ job attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived subjective norms as putative predictors of their intent to assess voice-hearing in youth.MethodNine hundred and ninety-six clinicians from adult mental health services, 467 from Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) and Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services and 318 primary care clinicians across the UK completed an online survey. The survey gathered data on attitudes toward working with people who hear voices, stigmatizing beliefs, and self-perceived confidence in voice-related practices (screening for, discussing and providing psychoeducation material about voice-hearing). Responses from youth mental health clinicians were compared with professionals working in adult mental health and primary care settings. This study also aimed to identify what youth mental health clinicians believe about assessing distressing voices in adolescents and how beliefs predict assessment intention.ResultsCompared to other clinicians, EIP clinicians reported the most positive job attitudes toward working with young voice-hearers, the highest self-efficacy in voice-hearing practices, and similar levels of stigma. Job attitudes, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms explained a large part of the influences on clinician’s intention to assess voice-hearing across all service groups. In both CAMHS and EIP services, specific beliefs relating to the usefulness of assessing voice-hearing, and perceived social pressure from specialist mental health professionals regarding assessment practices predicted clinician intention.DiscussionClinicians’ intention to assess distressing voices in young people was moderately high, with attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control explaining a large part of its variance. Specifically in youth mental health services, promoting a working culture that encourages opening and engaging in discussions about voice-hearing between clinicians, and with young people, and introducing supportive assessment and psychoeducation material about voice-hearing could encourage conversations about voices.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Attitudes to voices”: a survey exploring the factors influencing clinicians’ intention to assess distressing voices and attitudes towards working with young people who hear voices

et al. 2023

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“…Hearing DTVs may be the most salient topic of conversation for a voice hearer. However, there are several barriers to disclosing the experience of voice hearing including concerns about upsetting others and fear of stigma and resultant shame (Bogen‐Johnston, de Visser, Strauss, Berry, & Hayward, 2017; Mawson, Berry, Murray, & Hayward, 2011; Watkins, Gupta, & Sanderson, 2019). This reduces the common ground for conversation topics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges and opportunities of social connection when hearing derogatory and threatening voices: A thematic analysis with patients experiencing psychosis

et al. 2020

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Objectives. Relationships with other people are important determinants of the course of psychosis, yet social isolation is common. This study sought to learn about the patient experience of being around other people when hearing derogatory and threatening voices (DTVs). Design. A qualitative interview study.Methods. Fifteen participants with experience of hearing DTVs in the context of nonaffective psychosis were recruited from NHS services. Data were obtained by semistructured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis.Results. Three themes were identified: (1) reasons why interacting with people is difficult when hearing DTVs; (2) the relationship between social connection and DTVs; and (3) factors which enable voice hearers to connect with others. A further ten subthemes are outlined as reasons why hearing DTVs led to lower social connection, including difficulties during conversations (e.g., the concentration required is hard), negative expectations of interactions (e.g., fearing negative judgement from others), and difficulties sharing experiences of voices (e.g., people will be hurt or upset if I tell them about the voices). Isolation was a common response to hearing DTVs but also a time of vulnerability for hearing voices. Managing the challenges of interacting with people led to some improvements in DTVs.Conclusions. There are understandable reasons why hearing DTVs leads to lower social connection. Yet isolating oneself can also be a time of vulnerability for DTVs. SocialThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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The experience of talking about hearing voices with family, friends, and others

Cited by 2 publications

References 20 publications

“Attitudes to voices”: a survey exploring the factors influencing clinicians’ intention to assess distressing voices and attitudes towards working with young people who hear voices

“Attitudes to voices”: a survey exploring the factors influencing clinicians’ intention to assess distressing voices and attitudes towards working with young people who hear voices

The challenges and opportunities of social connection when hearing derogatory and threatening voices: A thematic analysis with patients experiencing psychosis

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