7 year old daughter hearing voices

[shadetree66]

My daughter is hearing voices. She has mentioned this off and on since she was 3. (It used to be she "had a friend in her head"). I figured it was probably an imaginary friend since she doesn't have any siblings who still live at home. Today I asked her whose voice it was. She said that it was just "the girl's" voice. Sometimes it tells her to do bad things (like give in to peer pressure--climb the small storage shed, eg.) Now she says if it tells her to do something bad she can put it down the chute and get a new person who looks the same. Sometimes the voice will comfort her during a test. She is the one who "makes the dreams". When I asked her to give me an example of something she says (since she talks all the time when no one else is talking) my dh told me to be quiet. After several seconds, she chuckled and said, "Deer Tracks are not available to the phone. You're insane". We have finally ascertained that the voice is coming from within her head--not as if someone is talking to her from outside her head. My dh is really quite bright--she does well in school, so it does not appear to be affecting her academically. She is well-liked and is extrememly well behaved. This does not seem to be affecting any other part of her life, but she says that it is annoying to her. Does this sound like a medical problem a psychological problem or what? Thank you for any help!

[Nancy191]

I am a health care professional and I work with psychiatric patients. I had the shock of my life when my 15 year old daughter ( who did have some irritability and anger issues) but behaved fine at school and got excellent grades told me that she had been hearing scary voices for at leat one year and a half. She had been seeing a psychiatrist for her irritability and anger and was on medication for 3 years. She had also been seeing a therapist for 3 years. She also told me that from about age 8 or 10 she had been hearing voices to get back at people if they did something that bothered her etc. In retrospect, I can see that her irritable angry behavior coincided with the voices. She was started on lithium as bipolar runs in the family and the voices went away. About 50% of bipolar pts hear voices but only about 20% are willing to speak up about it. By all means take your daughter seriously and take her to the doctor. I was very upset that  neither the psychiatrist, counselor, nor I detected the voices for a long time. My daughter was afraid to say anything because she thought people would think she was crazy and did not think anything could be done. Now she knows differently and feels better. She hopes she can help others with her problem. Guess what life is  more peaceful and home and school is even easier.

[Bashire]

All these people who hear voices will be wrongly diagnosed by drs as scitsophrinic or having other medical problems. Majority of the time it isn't  medical but a spiritual problem , I have niece who was hearing voices telling her to commit suicide which she tried to do with pills and a scarf around her neck. She was also having fits in-between all this , started with one a day to having 2 to 3 a day with head aches and not remembering anything after the fit the drs put her on pills which didnt help her . Her father is indian from a hindu family the mother has converted to Christianity, the father who is still a hindu told one of his collegues at work about her , who by the way is sikh , told him about a muslim healer which he went to thinking hocus pocus , the guy told him what it was , gave things to hang in his house prayed for the girl, and told him what it was , the mother was bringing spirits back from her church without her knowledge which were attacking her, now ever since that day the voices have stopped and the fits have disappeared, no medication , the other thing is when he went see this muslim guy he went on his own did not take his daughter with him , this guy has not met or seen his daughter and he has fixed the problem . Hope this helps it's not always a medical problem one should keep an open mind and try other avenues.

[specialmom]

Very helpful advice.  thanks for that.  

[mourined]

My 11 year old grandaughter is complaining of hearing voices, like yelling and a litte girl crying.  She is having a hard time at home with her mom and stepdad.  I think this is what is responsible for her hearing the voices.

Please help

[April2]

Did you guys also see this post in the doctor forum? Someone said hearing voices can be related to ocd. I had never heard that before. I find it very interesting.

A long time ago when I was a new Chrisian I began hearing "thoughts or voices" saying terrible things about God (seems silly now, I know but I was so scared!). It grieved me terribly because I loved God and wanted to please him. It also scared me because I thought I was going to go to hell! Let me tell you I was messed up for awhile. I went to a pastor and he told me it was demons and I needed to fight them. I wasn't sure if this was even more scary to believe that or that it was coming from me! I tried memorizing scriptures, etc. to drown out the voices, I prayed a lot. Finally, they subsided and I think I was just so exhausted at that point that I gave up and "gave it to God".

You're right, the brain is a mysterious thing. I'd like to check it out, though, and see if there really is a link to ocd and hearing voices. It's certainly something to think of.

[LalaLalaLala]

I also used to hear voices when I was little.  It would be a male voice and a female voice arguing - usually "yes" "no" - it was really annoying and used to give me headaches.  Always seemed to happen when I was alone - cleaning my room, reading, trying to sleep.

I sometimes also saw thick lines and thin lines rolling away from me and the voices would say "thick " "thin" or "rough" "smooth".  I was an imaginative child - and a lonely and sometimes unhappy child but these voices were real.

I grew out of it. Other than my conscience I now hear no voices. I still suffer from migraine with visual aura though and often wonder if it was connected.

I mentioned it to my older sister a couple of years ago and she said that she suffered something similar with the addition of a "little man dangling on a string".

The brain is a strange thing!

[tl001]

I used to hear voices when I was little...sounded like conversations but when I listened closely I could never actually make out the words.  I never told anyone and eventually I outgrew it (or maybe learned to ignore it)

Yesterday my daughter asked me if your conscience can really talk to you, because she hears voices in her head...voices that sound like arguing but she can't quite make out what they are saying.

I have no idea what is going on...

[Mon17]

My daughter just told me now the same thing. She is 9 now but she say that every time she is bored or doing something she doesn't want to that she hears people talking at the same time and she can't make out what they are saying. please help, th001 posted this 9 years ago. can someone help me to make any sense of this

[Cleveland Mom]

I wasn't thinking of schizophrenia, specifically.  There are other psychiatric conditions where psychosis become present at one time or another.  Mom stated that there are voices in this little girls head and that they are annoying to her.  Believing that there are voices in one's head seems distinct and separate from one having a vivid and active imagination, to me.  As you point out koukla29, this child's behavior sounds organized much more organized than what one would expect in a child experiencing auditory hallucinations.  Its not at all clear whats going on.

[Cleveland Mom]

It sounds like she may be experiencing auditory hallucinations.  Talk to her doctor.  The physician will likely refer her for a psychological evaluation.  Halluncinations can be caused by a delirium i.e. fever, infection, by drugs and drug withdrawl, by dementia, neurological problems and by psychiatric disorders.  I would take this seriously and talk her physician.  Best wishes...

[A_E_Van]

Inositol is a naturally occurring substance in food but can be supplemented.  It helps blood sugar issues.   There is research that shows it is incredibly helpful for depression, anxiety and OCD behaviors.    My naturopath said I needed it.  My depression and anxiety greatly improved.  I don't have OCD so can't comment there.  But I do believe so many of our health issues can be a result of bad biochemistry and genetics.   And can be treated naturally.  

[AngieChenoweth]

My ten year old has ADHD, OCD, ODD, Anxiety, and depression. She has been hearing voices for the past three years and her psychologist wasn't listening to me about it. He now believes us cause she actually tried to physically hurt her three year old brother. She has issues sleeping also. She is on medication for her ADHD and her sleeping issue but nothing else. Her father and I have problems sleeping at night cause we are worried that she is going to hurt one of us in the middle of the night. Is there any thing else that I can do to help her out with everything going on with all of this?

[Andrews90]

kids and people with IQ have some Psychological problems i myself have Bi-Polar Type 2, PTSD, Anxiety, Hyper vigilance, Severe Chronic depression, High Empathy (which with Bi-polar Creates Justice Syndrome) And i got an IQ between 136-142 And learn very easily tasks so this just extra info to consider have a Great day you all

[Boppy5173]

Hello everyone!!  I am diagnosed as depressed and have OCD..  I am 41 years old and I learned that having OCD is certainly not fun at all.  Although I didn't have any compulsions( except as a child I would always repeat myself cause I was afraid that if I didn't say the right thing people would be mad at me) I am currently on medication which is Wellbutrin xl and lexapro... I haven't had a depressed episode in years and the medication keeps it under control.. I currently have 2 kids, married and held the same job down for almost 15 years.. I just want to let anyone that needs help on here that with OCD I had really bad thoughts and the more I was afraid the stronger they would become... Anyone who has repetitive bad thoughts please try not to be afraid cause the more you fear the more power it has over you..if you act like the thought was no big deal ( even the worst thought possible) then it would go away... Do not fear thoughts everyone has bad thoughts, the difference is the ones that have these thought and dismiss them easily don't suffer from OCD...  I hoped this helped... Stay strong and do not fear...

[tamara123336]

Totally agree. Ocd is an anxiety disorder that involves intrusive thoughts ...these thought are like a voice that tells you to do things ,this can also coexist with depression or other disorders. My 6 year old has suffered with this for 2 years and only just been diagnosed. I slept have ocd and I've only recently been diagnosed myself, it is horrible to struggle but we are now both on medication that is helping...she is on  low dose of fluoxetine and me on clomiprimine

[ElaineWoolacott]

This makes interesting readinrg.  My just turned 4 yr old granddaughter told me that she too doesnt mean to be bad, she got very upset whilst telling me, we are very close.  She is a very bright little girl and very loving, been in nursery since 2.5 yrs old and loves it.  Starting school in Sept this year.  

She got quite upset when i collected her from nursery, i ask her every day "have you had a good day sweetheart" she knows this and is waiting for my question.  But this particular day, she told me "please dont ask about my day nanna, ive been a bit naughty (she started to cry) she said she doesnt want to be naughty but the bad dreams keep telling her to do the bad things.  She was very tearful saying "im eating all my dinner and lunch to make them go away, but they wont nanna"
Ive never seen her like this before but its the 2nd time she has said the bad dreams make her do stuff.  She does suffer with nightmares and wakes crying quite often.  The only change in her life is a new baby brother ages (5 months).  I dont like to see her like this?  Id be gratedul for any advice please.  Thanks x

[241064Cph]

Hi there,

My daughter is almost 5 and has just recently mentioned that she has words as **** and similar words in her head. She doesn't want to say them out loud when I ask her if she wants to say them instead of keeping it in her head. She said tonight that she had thoughts about strangling me, but only thoughts, she didn't wanted to do it. She does about 5 times a day a sound with her mouth that sounds cute like a little mouse. That started some months ago too.

She hasn't mentioned voices but just the words. She is very bright, outgoing, well spoken and talkative. There has recently (2 months ago) been an incident where a 12 year old boy has asked her to take off her pants and show him her vagina. Her father and I were very upset when we found out (she told us) and has talked to both our daughter, the boy and his parents and 2 psychologists.

She has had 1 months of holiday of from Kindergarten ie all of July, 2 weeks with her father and 3 weeks with me - and started Kindergarten again last week - with new, small kids - and the older ones have left and gone to school, so a change there as well.

The father and I divorced 2 years ago.

I feel there is a connection in her being bright, having had a stressful experience (with that boy) and us, her parents' divorce 2 years back and going back and forth between mum and dad (9 days with me, her mother and 5 days with her father), and her first week of Kindergarten with new kids - and the words in her head.

She has also mentioned today (she came back after 7 days with her father yesterday) that she wanted spending time with me only and not the kids and neighbours where we live whom she normally love being with as she is very social and extrovert.

I am thinking; peace, quite times eg in the nature, relaxing solo time with mum and dad - and maybe some of the things I can read about in here: tell her to ask the voices to go away and come back and only say nice things, avoid sugar, lots of good sleep, water, food.

I have booked a session with a therapist that I know and whom I took her to when her father and I divorced (she was 2,5 year old and devastated). The therapist is a 'sandplay' therapist where my daughter go and play in the sand with toys - and by doing that gets her emotions out and the therapist make her conclusions by 'the work' my daughter does. It has been really good and interesting enough my daughter asked if we could visit the lady with the toys and sand the other day not having been there for 6-9 months. I took it as a sign of that there emotions has been building up in her, especially after the incident with the boy.

I have also booked a session with a childrens therapist, only me and the therapist, to have a talk about what I can do to support my daughter.

I have resigned my job and gone down on half time 12 months ago, so I can pick her up from Kindergarten at 2pm as she gets too tired after 3pm as the noice is too much for her after 5-6 hours (very understandable!). She is as mentioned very social and has lots of good friends. I am so happy I did so, as it was also a priority for me to spend more time with my daughter.

Please comment, would be happy to hear some good tips and ideas to the voices in my lovely and beautiful daughters head.

[SukimaAi]

Hello here, I'm not english so it may come out weird but i'll try to express myself well... This kind of experience happened to me when I was a kid, but I heard voices not talking to me, they were talking to each others, it happened in my house and other people houses. Sometimes, when I went to my Grandma's house, I heard people talking in the kitchen and asking where I was and I could hear them walk to my chamber and says '' Oh she's here don't worry'' and go back. It freaked the hell out of me and I ran to my Grandma's chamber to sleep with her and my Gramps, keeping my eyes wide open until they shut up. I didn't only have auditory hallucination when I was young, sometime I would see people walking outside and disapear, I remember once, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a face between my feet and started to scream. It stopped when i grew older, I think it happened to me until I was around 15-16, when we moved out from that place... But sometimes I make weird dreams with this kind of stuff, like when i'm on the road or in odd places... I wonder if anyone could help me here ? I've always though it was weird so, and I forgot to tell my mom is a bit weird and believe in ghosts and stuff like that, I never believed in it and my real grandmother (because the grandmother i was talking before adopted my mom) died because she was in a secte .... Could it be trauma or something ?

[SukimaAi]

Hello here, I'm not english so it may come out weird but i'll try to express myself well... This kind of experience happened to me when I was a kid, but I heard voices not talking to me, they were talking to each others, it happened in my house and other people houses. Sometimes, when I went to my Grandma's house, I heard people talking in the kitchen and asking where I was and I could hear them walk to my chamber and says '' Oh she's here don't worry'' and go back. It freaked the hell out of me and I ran to my Grandma's chamber to sleep with her and my Gramps, keeping my eyes wide open until they shut up. I didn't only have auditory hallucination when I was young, sometime I would see people walking outside and disapear, I remember once, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a face between my feet and started to scream. It stopped when i grew older, I think it happened to me until I was around 15-16, when we moved out from that place... But sometimes I make weird dreams with this kind of stuff, like when i'm on the road or in odd places... I wonder if anyone could help me here ? I've always though it was weird so, and I forgot to tell my mom is a bit weird and believe in ghosts and stuff like that, I never believed in it and my real grandmother (because the grandmother i was talking before adopted my mom) died because she was in a secte .... Could it be trauma or something ?

[Jmr201306]

My 7 yr old couldn't go to sleep last night because she said she had a bad voice in her head and she started to cry.  I hugged her and told her it would be ok but she said it didn't feel ok to her.  I was pretty scared for her.  I asked her what the voice says and she said " look over here." I asked if she could see who was saying it or if the voice had a face and she said (without any hesitation) "it's an old lady with gray hair; shes dark.  she is wearing a pink shirt and gray skirt. She's looking at a tornado that is going into another state.  She talking to a younger lady who has our skin color.  She's wearing a light blue dress with polka dots and heels.  The other lady isn't wearing heels, she's wearing flip flops.  There is a small tree (bush) burning that the old lady sees.  But the ladies are watching the tornado go into the other state."  We talked a little more and she started to relax.  We got out an amethyst charm that she has and talked about it having the power to help with dreams.  I rubbed her feet and she said the bad voice was being replaced by a good voice with a field of flowers.   We laid there for a bit and she started to whimper, for lack of a better word, and said she could hear the voice again and it hurt her head.  She asked me to tell her a story,which I did and then watched some funny/sweet videos from our friends on their Facebook.  She fell asleep pretty quickly after that.  I'm a little concerned, to say the least.  She has mntioned voices twice  before after times when she's been inconsolably upset/angry/yelling.  I ask her after why she thought she was getting so upset and acting the way she was and she said the voices were telling her to do that. She doesn't cuss or get violent, just incredibly upset, crying, yelling which is extremely unusual for her.  Thinking I should talk with her pediatrician?

[chuckD1]

My 9 year old son just started hearing voices in his head, very distinct voices and loud screaming. I asked him what did the voices say, he said that the people standing next to him would die before he did and the people that are helping him would die after him. very scary.

concerned Dad

[cajungirl312]

This is very interesting to read. We are trying to help our 11 year old daughter who, we recently learned, hears voices, screeching, sees shadows and at times completely withdraws when the voices overcome her.  She has tried to hurt herself because the voices tell her too.  We have had full medical examinations, ER visits and psychotherapy.  All medical exams check out.  She takes a daily anti-psychotic, anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication.  We don't want her to take meds, but, without, she is a mess.  We work hard to ensure a good diet and balanced lifestyle.  Her symptoms do not match obvious diagnosis.  She has ZERO anger issues.  We are trying to be supportive.  She has anxiety and all of this culminates into depression.  Her faith is a strong support but, she is only 11.  She doesn't have enough life experience to know how to handle this.  I wonder if other parents have some suggestions of ways they have been able to comfort their children during serious episode, or inspirational stories/books that are age appropriate my daughter could read.  Thanks to those who may have suggestions.

[Sandman2]

   Sorry, didn't catch your initial post.   Yes, bullying could be the problem.  It is a or can be a serious issue.  I am sure that you have read about teenagers who have killed themselves because of it (it was allowed to go on too long).
   You definitely want to talk to your school about this.  They must do something about it or you have legal rights against them.  Most of the time, all it takes is the teacher or principal talking to the other child and telling them to knock it off.  If they don't, then they can up the level.  I have been in this position many times as a teacher and a principal.  There is no excuse for it to continue.

[ashleyjean913]

At least you are not alone, clearly. It is amazing to see how many people reached out and shared their own stories. I would not think schizoprenea or anything such just yet and would doubt all together...I think the suggestion of talking with souls/afterlife is a good possibility. Many people experience this. I have not heard voices or spoke with the dead but I have felt the presence of my deceased father in law and know on several occasions. It is very possible to communicate with them. Best of luck to you

[kikostott]

My daughter who is almost 9 years old has been having horrible night terrors where she is asleep or half asleep and runs thru the house in the dark crying and is terrified. 2 days ago she told me she is hearing sounds in her head...not voices. When she speaks they get high pitched. Today she heard it during school. She has been getting bullied by a girl at school and I wonder if that has something to do with it.  She says they r not evil or negative but has requested to see her doctor because she is so scared. What is this?

[rawfed]

I know this is an old thread, but I just came across it, so I'll answer for others that may come here.
Auditory Hallucinations are actually normal in children and teens.  It can be music, words, even garbled sounding words.  

In some cases high fevers can cause delirium and auditory or visual hallucinations.  Encephalitis and other diseases can also case this.

However, when the voices inside their heads are telling them to hurt themselves or hurt others, that is more likely something more serious than the normal childhood hearing voices.  This probably indicates a mental disorder.  Please have your children evaluated by a mental health professional if your child is hearing voices telling them to hurt themselves or anyone else before it's too late.