Lived Experience Forum

[greenpea]

@Georgie_Paulik@Tasharose I have one which I really like who I would like to keep around but when he is around I go crazy ... how can I keep him and not lose my mind?

[Georgie_Paulik]

Thanks @Tasharose and @Queenie for joining us and for sharing.

[Georgie_Paulik]

Many (though not all) of the voice hearers I work with hear their voices most of the waking day, and thus have found it hard to identify “triggers” (or “things that make the voices worse”) for their voices. However, when we look more closely we notice a pattern – perhaps they are louder/ more nasty/ less easy to ignore at certain times of the day, during certain activities, or when experiencing certain emotions. Common triggers include lack of sleep / tiredness, negative emotions (especially anxiety/stress), drugs, busy noisy places, and boredom. By doing things to reduce our triggers, we can often reduce voice frequency and/or impact of voices.

What have you found to be your triggers? What things have you done (and hopefully found helpful!) to reduce these triggers? 

[Lauz]

Welcome @Queenie and @Tasharose - great to have you with us. @Queenie thats really interesting, thank you for sharing. That does sound like it can get messy at times! @Tasharose good that you are here to learn and I hope you get something out of the night. Keep joining along 

[BlueBay]

@Georgie_Paulik
I get scared and worried to disclose this to my support team ie psych. It doesn't happen often only when triggered and traumatised or dissociating.

[Smashpea]

I hear alot of people whos voices have names and faces - mine don't - just black circles and I hear them from inside my head - when they have merged over half way and I'm actively trying to ignore them I start getting visuals where I see a like a small blackish orb like thing shooting around really fast behind me so I only catch them out of the corner of my eye - is there a reason they can manifest like that?

[Georgie_Paulik]

@BlueBay I'm sorry to hear that you feel you cannot tell your psychiatrist. That is such a barrier to finding more helpful ways to manage. Thank goodness for peer support (and hopefully, if you find the right one, psychology). 

[Leapy]

Iv been hearing voices since I was eighteen two males two females but I'm learning to live with them

[Smashpea]

If I catch them early enough I find that putting my headphones in and listening to music as loud as i can is quite helpful but often there is only a small window as they can go from 0-100 in seconds

[lanae976]

I've found that over the last few years by giving my voices "air time" where I will sit and talk with them (usually early evening when the rest of my family have gone to bed) they are less invasive of my daytime when I am trying to engage in other activities.  It took a bit of time to train them but it makes life easier.