My 11 year old son is hearing things

[brendeezy]

my son recently let me know that he hears voices and is scared.  his dad and I had an altercation and it got pretty scary.  it turned into a domestic dispute and the police were called.  I try my best not to allow this to happen in front of my children but unfortunately I can't always do that.  after the police left I apologized to my kids and they understood.  I have 2 girls and a boy.  My son is the middle child.  I thought he started hearing things after this situation.  He tells me that he thinks this has been happening since he was younger, around 5.  I guess that's as far back as he can remember, I'm not sure.  My son is a great kid.  He loves his dad and understands that his dad hasn't been ok for about 3 years now, since his father passed.  Anyways, he hears like whispering or sometimes people yelling.  But then when he goes and looks to see what's going on, nothing is there.  He says it happens when he's sleepy or wakes up from a deep sleep.  but then he said that it happened at school and that when he asked his friend if he heard that he said no.  

[medic19]

Of course Dr.Kennedy is right.  Since my eldest son and I have the same problem with hearing voices, I thought I would mention it since your care provider can also have his auditory processing checked while treating for the stressful experiences your child is having.  Both my son and I have an auditory recognition problem, which occurs mainly at certain tones.  How it was explained to us was that because some of the auditory signals to the brain are not functioning correctly, our brains try to "make sense" of what the signal is.  Our frame of mind shapes it from there, and typically it is interpretted as men speaking but we can't quite understand the words.  There have been times it sounds like distant yells or someone crying out. A stressed imagination can certainly put a negative spin on it.  However, we recognize for what it is, and adjust accordingly to the way our brains resourcefully try to compensate for our auditory problems by "filling in the blanks".  It certainly may not relate to your son, but, while seeking psychological support for his stress, it may be worth checking.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You should seek mental health evaluation for your son right away. Even without the particular symtoms you describe, the traumatic family events themselves invite urgent evaluation.

[brendeezy]

accidentally posted the rest of my story under pediatrics community