what exactly is hearing voices?

[jexalexandra]

I have been so confused for a long time. So I wanted to know what exactly is hearing voices?

I don't think I hear voices, but I am also deaf so maybe I just don't know what it means.

There is a demon, he is in my head, and he tells me what to do, he will tell me to hurt myself, hurt other emotionally, and sometime even kill but i would never kill another person. He also talks to me, my head is like a conversation between me and him all the time.  

So what is this exactly?

Jess

[monkeyc]

you hear voices telling you to kill and hurt people and your pdoc sees you every 6 months?

Honestly I have to agree with rliz - please get a second opinion here.

[jexalexandra]

Thanks guys, I will try to talk but I don't know if I can.

My next appt with my dr is in December. He sees me every 6 months now. So the next one is in December.

rilz, i'll pm you soon. maybe i'll check it out.

[Lizz67]

I have to back up everything rliz has to say especially that it seems you're not getting good care. A better doctor would be able to develop a trusting relationship with you and would dig deeper than just the coursery "how's your sleep?"  "taking your meds?" etc.

And I don't mean to be scarey but one of my best friends acted on his voices' commands and killed his father.  And he is one of the most gentle and generous people I have ever known.  But when he was off his meds and hearing voices, it was terrible.

So I hope you'll seek out some different doctor, or support system.  Auditory halllucinations can be treated successfully.  Good luck.

[Amyjo101]

I would vote you need to start writing these things down so that you can give them to the doctor if your not willing to talk to him. It isn't something that can be ignored. It is my understanding that with bipolar you can have psychosis. My daughter sees things but she knows that it isn't real. I do not think she has ever heard things and voices and having someone talking to you and tell you to do stuff isn't something that can be looked at lightly. I really don't think you should ignore this.

There are delusions and hallucinations,,,

A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. In psychiatry, the definition is necessarily more precise and implies that the belief is pathological (the result of an illness or illness process). As a pathology it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information or certain effects of perception which would more properly be termed an apperception or illusion.

Delusions typically occur in the context of neurological or mental illness, although they are not tied to any particular disease and have been found to occur in the context of many pathological states (both physical and mental). However, they are of particular diagnostic importance in psychotic disorders and particularly in schizophrenia and mania in episodes of bipolar disorder.

A hallucination, in the broadest sense, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space. These definitions distinguish hallucinations from the related phenomena of dreaming, which does not involve consciousness; illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception; imagery, which does not mimic real perception and is under voluntary control; and pseudohallucination, which does not mimic real perception, but is not under voluntary control.[1] Hallucinations also differ from "delusional perceptions", in which a correctly sensed and interpreted genuine perception is given some additional (and typically bizarre) significance.

Hallucinations may occur in any sensory modality — visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, and thermoceptive.

A mild form of hallucination is known as a disturbance, and can occur in any of the senses above. These may be things like seeing movement in peripheral vision, or hearing faint noises and voices.

Hypnagogic hallucinations and hypnopompic hallucinations are considered normal phenomena. Hypnagogic hallucinations can occur as one is falling asleep and hypnopompic hallucinations occur when one is waking up. Hallucinations may also be associated with drug use (particularly deliriants), sleep deprivation, psychosis, neurological disorders, and delirium tremens.

[jexalexandra]

I should explain a bit more, I had been diagnosed with bipolar since I was 15, possibly had it in childhood but can't remember too much of my childhood. I had no traumatizing experiences so its not PTSD.

The voices encourages me to do things, and i would probably done it if I was not at my parent's home. I don't know why but I tend to hide my behaviour and thoughts from my parents, I tend to hide my urge to do crazy things. Of course I can't hide my manic and depression, as they can see my behaviour, well not really, sometime i think they are blind because they don't notice me very much if i am depressed, but anyway that another story. I am pretty sure that If i was not under my parent watch I would do whatever the voice tell me to do.

I also have very hard time to talk to pdoc, I don't like to talk about me, talk about whats going on in my head, i keep it very reserve to me, so its gonna be very hard for me to tell him this.

Fuzzz, I do what the voice tell me to do usually, the times I don't listen is when he asks me to kill someone. I just ingore him and hurt myself instead he is satisfied if i hurt myself instead. but that is rare tho, he usually tell me to hurt myself or other stuff.

rilz, like i said, i have a hard time talking about myself to my doc, so highly suspect i won't tell him anything about the voice. Usually it goes like this, the night before or whatever i will think ok i wil ltell him how i feel, i will tell him what i am thinking, but then by the time i get there its gone, and i just shut down and not say anything except answer his usual questions (how are you, your meds alright?, your moods ok? etc etc) so i don't think this is a choice for me.

[Fuzzz]

Sometimes I hear voices, but what I hear doesn't seem to be talking to me; it's more of a boring lecture going on in the background.  Often it sounds like my mother.  The sound of the voice always causes bored annoyance.  I have not tried to tune in and understand what the words are; I believe it's lectures that I've heard in the past or other uninteresting information.  Hearing voices can go along with psychosis, but the fact that you are questioning the voices and don't believe you must obey the voices suggests to me that you don't have psychosis.  According to the first article below, one diagnosis that can include hearing voices is depression.  The phenomenon seems to be closely associated with sexual or other physical abuse.  

Here are some interesting articles on the subject:  

http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/50/11/1467

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5346930.stm