“Psychics” Help Psychiatrists Understand the Voices of Psychosis

[Laura Borealis]

http://news.yale.edu/2016/09/27/psychics-help-psychiatrists-understand-voices-psychosis

I found this really interesting. It's a brief article about research being done at Yale on psychosis and the phenomenon of hearing voices. They're using clairaudient psychics, who also hear voices but are not mentally ill, as subjects to see what the differences are from psychotic people who hear voices.

As many as one in 25 people hear voices at any given time and up to 40% may report hearing a voice at some time in their lives. Most do not meet criteria for mental illness. But finding healthy people to study who hear voices has been difficult.

“Studying psychics through the lens of voice-hearing may give us important insights into why they are able to function so well without the need for psychiatric care,” Powers said.

It seems a major difference is the subject's personal agency and attitude toward the voices.

“These individuals have a much higher degree of control over the voices. They also have a greater willingness to engage with and view the voices as positive or neutral to their lives,’’ Corlett said. “We predict this population will teach us a lot about the neurobiology, cognitive psychology and eventually treatment of distressing voices.”

I wouldn't mind reading the actual research, it sounds fascinating. Of course it raises all kinds of questions for me... many of which I'm sure they don't address.

Curious to hear others' thoughts on the matter!

 

[AnemoneRosie]

Oh, cool! Hearing voices is my thing, although I've never been psychotic.

 

[GotH]

Interesting. I hear voices *in my head* when crystal scrying but I've only heard voices with my ears while in the shower when no one was around.

 

[celticnoodle]

Thank you, Laura for supplying the link to that. Very interesting!

Researchers say the approach may be unusual, but is justified by lack of progress in treating illnesses like schizophrenia.

“Our understanding of psychosis is limited, and we’ve made only incremental progress for the past 50 years,” Corlett said. “The research may be unusual, but big, intractable problems require creative and sometimes unorthodox solutions.”

This says a lot. Its refreshing to also know that the medical profession are beginning to seek alternative ways to understand and possibly treat health issues. We've come a long way in recent years with the medical associations beginning to pay more attention to and a bit more accepting of some ways to look at, learn about and again, treat health issues.

I can remember when most doctors thought acupuncture was too "woo-woo" and ridiculous. Now, they are seeing how helpful it can be. Perhaps with further studies on this particular subject will help those suffering from psychosis as well as seeing that not EVERYONE who hears voices is psychotic.

AnemoneRosie, hearing voices is one of my things too! and, no, I'm not psychotic either and never have been.

Interesting. I hear voices *in my head* when crystal scrying but I've only heard voices with my ears while in the shower when no one was around.

hearing with your ears, GotH, while in the shower is actually a very common thing. The running water acts as a conduit for spirits, somehow. The shower is where I actually do make a lot of contacts! Only for me, they actually appear IN the shower with me. Often a bit too crowded for me! Its also why when I do psychic medium readings in my home (or elsewhere if possible), I prefer to sit close to a water source and especially when the water can be running--like out of a faucet.

 

[seedcake]

This says a lot. Its refreshing to also know that the medical profession are beginning to seek alternative ways to understand and possibly treat health issues. We've come a long way in recent years with the medical associations beginning to pay more attention to and a bit more accepting of some ways to look at, learn about and again, treat health issues.

Still, in one place they can be accepting and trying to understand. I really hope it'll be a majority of doctors to think this way about such an issue. Unfortunately, I know psychiatrists and psychologists who would treat me like mentally ill.

hearing with your ears, GotH, while in the shower is actually a very common thing. The running water acts as a conduit for spirits, somehow. The shower is where I actually do make a lot of contacts! Only for me, they actually appear IN the shower with me. Often a bit too crowded for me! Its also why when I do psychic medium readings in my home (or elsewhere if possible), I prefer to sit close to a water source and especially when the water can be running--like out of a faucet.

That's my thing too. When I hear water I always have the best ideas and often I can be lost in thoughts. I was wondering about it, especially when my faith has a huge taboo about toilets. But water is always stronger than anything

 

[DownUnderNZer]

What if those "institutionalized" that "hear voices" that are labelled as "Schizophrenic" or "Bi Polar" etc are just people (potential Mediums/Psychic) caught between the spirit world and our world.

Due to no proper protection and not knowing how to separate both - they have been caught and trapped in between both worlds with no point of return. Thus the "madness".

Just some another angle to consider...

DND

 

[danieljuk]

I think there is a difference between intuition / clairaudience and psychosis. I have experienced clairaudient voices and my imagination hearing things when really stressed out but psychosis is another thing. The voices tell them to do things to themselves and other people which are damaging and can be dangerous. They lose control and free will in their reacting to it, they lose a connection to reality.

I am not sure if spirits could cause that to us. I mean I know there is negative spirits and people get possessed and stuff but still would that be possession rather than a mental health issue like psychosis? Of course some people might think hearing any voices is a mental health issue or others, always from the spirit world.

But it's an interesting idea because psychics do seem to have control over it but I think we are still living in reality and in control of our free will if there is communication or voices to us. Surely getting to the root of why the person is hearing voices with schizophrenia would probably be a better technique but if psychics can help people deal with it, I hope it helps

 

[tarotlova]

What if those "institutionalized" that "hear voices" that are labelled as "Schizophrenic" or "Bi Polar" etc are just people (potential Mediums/Psychic) caught between the spirit world and our world.

Due to no proper protection and not knowing how to separate both - they have been caught and trapped in between both worlds with no point of return. Thus the "madness".

Just some another angle to consider...

DND

Do you know I have always wondered about this, my daughter who is Bi Polar and I had a discussion about this, she is in no way interested in Tarot and the like but can see spirits like her older sister could too when they were young, and we both see our beloved cat who passed last year. This got us talking about how people would of been locked away in the past for this sort of thing and how awful it must of been for them, what if a it is indeed a demon who tells them to hurt themselves and other people, I really hope this study will help shine a light on it. I was reading an article where they are looking at Indian people and Shamans who take care of people with "mental illness" and often they are Shamans in the making and how they are guided by a Shaman to help them with their "illness".

 

[Milfoil]

Hi, Daniel

I think there is a difference between intuition / clairaudience and psychosis. I have experienced clairaudient voices and my imagination hearing things when really stressed out but psychosis is another thing. The voices tell them to do things to themselves and other people which are damaging and can be dangerous. They lose control and free will in their reacting to it, they lose a connection to reality.

I think you are absolutely correct. From my limited experience of working with people who have repeated psychotic meltdowns year after year, there is way more going on than merely hearing voices.

The BIG difference between psychics and psychotics always comes down to proof. A psychic will be able to tell you things they could not have known ordinarily but which are true. A psychotic person will 'generally' be unable to tell you anything which can be proven and THAT can be a way to work with them. However, because of the 'stuck record' thing, they will rarely be able to make the effort to challenge their thought processes, preferring instead to fixate on how great a psychic or healer or whatever their particular ego wish is.

The drugs can work if they accept them and their own need to change but these drugs also can cause horrible side effects so no wonder they don't want to take them.

It's not easy and no matter how many 'ethnic' healers claim they can cure mental illness, if this were really the case and not merely one or two people who can respond to help, why is there still no cure?

 

[Disa]

All I can say is, it's about time.

I'm glad someone is looking at psychics as a way to help people with mental issues. I was afraid of my "abilities" my entire life because my biological dad was diagnosed as schitzophrenic. The thing is, I'm not so sure he was. He was very much into meditation and even lived in/on and Ashram for many, many years. When there is time to meditate, information will come. He lived a difficult life being switched from one med to another and I always wondered if the meds were actually necessary. If he'd had a greater understanding of things, maybe he would have been much better off.

Hopefully this will lead to people getting some help that's actually beneficial.