Why Are the Voices Negative?

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As a therapist working with people with schizophrenia for over 30 years, I have found your points to be very true.Only once have I met a person whose voices told him jokes which he enjoyed.

I read on reddit where a guy with schizophrenia had taken the shamanic attitude towards the voices. They shifted drastically and went from extremely negative to joking and fun. He described them as going from evil spirits to spirit guides or like a joking sibling-like relationship.

I really wish things were different for my nephew and he held on a little longer. He lost his battle with schizophrenia 8/18/20. He would let me in on the nasty things he was dealing with constantly in his head; it was an emotional nightmare for me; the last 6 months of his life I was by his side until he died. I miss him so much. He's forever 21.

I really appreciate that you both share studies and your own experience and how careful you are to say "these are investigations" "these are my speculations"

I've always wondered why there aren't any hallucinations that say "Hey gorgeous, you're looking amazing today!" Wouldn't it be great to get positive affirmations every day?

Yeah my voices are usually always negative thanks for being a positive voice for this

Sending comfort and empathy to everyone sharing their experiences in the comments ❤️❤️

the more you listen to the voices, the more you focus on them, the more you react with fear the worse they get - they seem to me to be putting me to the test 24/7 - hope you all are well and do not let anything get you down

I was diagnosed schizophrenic 30 years ago. Over the years, I have realised that my negative voices (always in the "You" form) are me talking to myself. The more anxious or angry I am feeling, the more fearful or nasty these voices become. So I do some deep belly breathing, and either journal about my paranoia/anger or divert my attention to fun, happy, calming activities, or do both. Getting out amongst people, even if it's going shopping or going to a popular park with lots of dogs (I love dogs!) is a great mood enhancer. I hope this helps.

One reason for the difference between the 1930's and 1980's patients could be because of who was hospitalized in the 1930's versus the 1980's (if that study is in the USA). In the 1930's they hospitalized anybody with mental illness. By the 1980's someone would have to be a danger to themselves or others to be hospitalized. This means the 1980's patients would be more likely to hear "destructive" voices because people with calmer voices wouldn't be hospitalized. This might explain the difference.

Thanks for what you do! I do not have schizophrenia, but I was raised in an extremely religious community and therefore believed, as a child, that many physical and mental illnesses (especially things like psychosis and disassociative states) were caused by demon possession. Therefore mental illnesses were terrifying to me for a long time, even after I learned better. I've been trying to tear down the stigma in my mind so that I can fear less and understand more. :)

I'm not schizophrenic but I find this information fascinating, especially the idea that treating the symptoms/voices with medication may increase the suggestion of something being wrong, thus worsening those symptoms. After studying chronic pain patients for many years, there seems to be a similar issue with chronic pain. Perspective matters, and culture goes a long way in forming perspective.

I was bullied when I was younger, when I had my psychosis episode the voices were of the people that used to bully me. I am Black, living in Canada.

I was never diagnosed with schizophrenia but started having intrusive suicidal thoughts and ruminating thoughts and they were like very negative voices in my head putting me down from the moment I woke up to the moment I slept. All day. "What an idiot, you shouldn't have let her go, why did you do that? Fool." things like that, you know? I had already been to 15 psychiatrists and have taken lots of meds but nothing worked. To save my life I studied about Johns Hopkins Safety Guidelines on mushrooms (you know which) and did it on myself.. To my great surprise they told me "90% of your depression is in your gut". Damn. I went to more 15 doctors with different specialties, they had no clue.. It took me 4 months to figure it out but upon removing gluten and dairy for 30 days, the suicidal thoughts and ruminating thoughts (voices) stopped!! The gut brain connection is stronger than big pharma wants us to know. I was shocked, still am. Some months after that I started the best elimination diet there is, carnivore, and lots of other autoimmune symptoms got better too. I'm still figuring it out, using mushrooms to solve what 30 doctors couldn't, it's been quite a journey. Watch your diet!

My voice come when I'm stressed, so very frequently. However they sound like someone trying to invade my home. Yet sometimes they just sound like people around my house, like boys playing football or like my neighbours are right beside me and I can hear their conversation. I also have frightening ones where I'm being visited by people who scare me like enemies or scary people I've met in my life. I mostly however suffer from delusions and I think that this is the hardest part of my schizo affective disorder. I can know that the delusions aren't true yet still believe them. Idk how to explain it well. I still feel as if I'm gonna die, someone is always trying to kill me, my friends are robots it aliens and I'm living in a simulation. I believe people are constantly trying to control my thoughts and most days they succeed because I'm often depressed. I constant believe that the government is trying to get me to kill myself or they will kill me, like they want me to live in fear. It's difficult, I have no one who understands. I am a recluse most times, my friends don't understand and I can't force them to, so I feel alone. I don't even feel real most times, I need help but don't know if the help is actually helpful. This was a rant. I'm grateful for your channel. Without this channel, I'd probably killed myself a year ago.

I'm from South Africa and attend university, and one of the guest lecturers I had was an author and activist who also happened to be a spiritual healer. She spoke openly about the voices she hears, and how they both enrich her life but at times make her overwhelmed. She didn't see the voices as inherently negative, but rather a way in which her mind happens to work. I wonder if this acceptance of the hallucinations makes her, and thus also the voices, more 'at ease', lessening the negativity. This is just pure speculation.

I live in South Africa, and thought I would mention my take on the way hallucinations are seen in many African countries amongst the more traditional folk. It would be an indication of a calling to become a sangoma, which is a shaman, or medicine man/woman - this seems to be common amongst many ancient cultures across the world, and therefore more accepted. That would probably be why it would be more accepted. However, too many times older folk (esp women) that suffer from dementia are accused of witchcraft and are attacked and killed or if they are lucky driven away. Their odd behavior would bring on suspicion and they would then be blamed for any illness, death, drought or other bad things happening at the time.

It seems like most mental illness are easier to cope with when the person has acceptance and a positive or neutral outlook on symptoms. The stigma (internally and externally) is probably the biggest variable for coping with said mental illness (just my theory besides medicine and therapy). Thank you for sharing all of this! I was in DBT group for a year. People had a variety of mental illnesses like; MD, BP, BBD, PTSD,GAD, and maybe schizoaffective disorder's (but no one mentioned them). By the end of the year, everyone who had more self compassion noticed a huge drop in distressing symptoms. It was a closed small group so we were pretty open with one another. I wish there were more mental health communities so everyone could have a place where they feel understood and accepted!

Holy sh*t I just realised that I live with this since FOREVER ! As a person recently diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, I discover things like this everyday. Today is thanks to you, so thank you so much for your work !