Christians Hearing Voices: Affirming Experience and Finding Meaning

John Swinton* (Corresponding Author)

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalBook/Film/Article reviewpeer-review

Abstract

Hearing voices is often seen as paradigmatic of many people’s conceptions of what ‘madness’ is – hearing things that are not there – and a primary reason why people who hear voices are often assumed to be ‘so different from the rest of us’. And yet, depending on which study one reads, between 5% and 15% of adults hear voices. This is a higher percentage of the population than of people diagnosed with schizophrenia (1%). So, whilst voice hearing is often highly stigmatised, it is in fact a remarkably common phenomenon which is not confined to those with any particular psychiatric diagnosis. One reason for the stigma around voice hearing is that it is often assumed to be nothing more than a meaningless symptom of some kind of underlying pathology. The fact that voices may be meaningful and voice hearing may be a significant source of value is often overlooked.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)98-99
Number of pages2
JournalJournal for the Study of Spirituality
Volume12
Issue number1
Early online date18 Mar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Mar 2022

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