I have a question about schizophrenia.

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Does a person with schizophrenia truly hear voices in their head? And do those voices tell them what to do?

I knew someone who had schizophrenia and they became violent when not on their medication. They said they attacked their friend. Why would this happen? I read a story about a man who attacked his neighbour with an axe because he was off his meds and voices were telling him to attack the neighbours. It was just a sad story. The story was featured on a documentary.

I believe that for them to be hallucinations, the voices have to seem to come from outside their head. Nevertheless, if a person hears a loud voice in their head and is worried about other people hearing the voice in their head, that person can be considered delusional.

You wrote: "if a person hears a loud voice in their head and is worried about other people hearing the voice in their head, that person can be considered delusional"

That doesn't really answer my question. Obviously they are delusional if they hear voices (and P.S. I am not worried about other people hearing voices in their head!) I feel sad for anyone who has this condition though.

For someone who has schizophrenia or who has experience with someone who does, does a person really hear voices in their head-ie: do they hear voices when there is nobody around? I write stories.

I hear voices, although I have severe bipolar disorder, not schizophrenia. There are several disorders in which hearing voices is common.

I typically hear them when I'm in a manic state, and they they're usually brief, terse commands urging me to act upon negative impulses, e.g. "hit yourself", "just f***ing kill yourself", etc.. For me, it's not like a regular voice; I get the sensation that it's being spoken to me outside my head, but it doesn't have a particular sound. It's like somebody's said something to me, but I immediately receive it inside of my head without physically hearing it. It's hard to explain, but it's vividly distinct from my own thoughts...in fact, I didn't even know that it was technically "voices" until my psychiatrist told me that it was. They come in a lot of different forms, so there's no one particular way people hear them.

Additionally, not all voices are malevolent, nor do they give orders or commands. I've heard accounts from people who hear voices who say purely positive things, and even people who don't take medication because their voices don't negatively interfere with their daily living. It's different for a lot of people.

In my case, when I became psychotic when I was 14 (which was diagnosed as schizotypal disorder b/c the doctor wasn't sure if I was *fully* psychotic, though now we do so it may have been schizophrenia--bipolar disorder had been ruled out), I became dangerously violent and was looking at possible aggravated assault charges. However, I never heard voices (and hearing voices is not necessary for a schizophrenia diagnosis); instead, I had delusions, including thinking I was a totally different person, and the sense thoughts were being placed into my head as well as the sense of another that was present and expected me to go through with the violence.

The doctor also observed disorganized speech and inappropriate affect and that I had deteriorated over the previous year.

Thank you so much for your replies

On a side note, I wonder if some of these voices are from evil spirits wanting someone to harm themselves or others. I believe in God (I'm Christian) so no offence. When I read about the man who suddenly felt he had to butcher his neighbours, it seemed to me like he was possessed.


It might be a mental disorder or in some cases, could it be something else? In my belief system, if you get a bad feeling and feel there is an evil presence, you are to hold your arms in the sign of the cross and command the evil spirits to leave, in the name of Jesus Christ because the name of Jesus is all powerful and evil spirits will flee when they hear it.

Just my opinions, no offence.

It's purely a mental disorder. I mean, I'm also a Christian (albeit a super liberal one, theologically), but I put no stock whatsoever in the notion of spirits or possession. Medical science has comprehensively and conclusively studied hallucinations, and last I checked the DSM-IV, demons weren't included as symptoms. At least, that's my perspective.

I have always seen mental disorder as spiritual disorder. My wife is a caregiver. Her specialty is dementia patients. She adores caring for them. We have argued so many times about this question because she sees it as mental illness whereas I see it as a spiritual illness. I have schizophrenia myself though and have witnessed firsthand in myself my ability to turn it on and off. If I want to be insane I can be insane at a moments notice and my brain is happy to accommodate. My brain desires to lose itself in delusions. It is my will that keeps them at bay. It has been this way since I was a small child and it is for that reason that I see it as a spiritual sickness. Now I am sure somebody else can come in here with their dsm and see this as either a: some other sickeness entirely or B: a misinterpretation of the sickness however I will never be convinced fully I do not think. Just my opinion. BTW I am also Christian sir. In both the spiritual sense and the practical sense. In the latter sense I mean how could I have retained sanity as long as I have without a sense of eventual escape?

Sence of eventual escape...Yep Yep Yep.

...but I wouldn't promote death or the afterlife, and to me heaven is the exact same place. To me, the struggle is also a form of heaven sadly, and some entities perceive their heaven completely differently.

being robbed of the struggle, can be hell for some: eg. Turning into a Royal. , which is a similar feeling too invalid.
Its a place without friendship, only aids. It is especially difficult for males.

A male's psyche is almost wholly dependent on providing: once that is removed, you will feel enslaved.
Eventual escape being the blanket that helps you in your prison.

Command hallucinations are relatively rare.

Sometimes what happens is the voices overtake the background noise and set up an atmosphere that is dark, cruel, and unforgiving. The schizophrenic assumes the voices to be real since he/she is hearing the voices with their own two ears and the voices are coming from outside the self (and generally sound normal). Only a crazy person would believe otherwise. If the voices sound demonic they might develop delusions of grandeur or psychic ability.

A wise schizophrenic who has been diagnosed will question their reality but never ignore it completely. To do so is equivalent to death. A wise schizophrenic will know that they are ill and lay down groundrules so as to never violate their core fundamental beliefs. Sometimes the alternate reality becomes too much to bear.

Thank you again for the replies.

That is interesting about not giving into the feeling and being able to control whether you lose control-not giving into the voices or the alternate reality. That means people have choices. Like if a person is feeling panicked; they can give into it or they can calm themselves down. Usually in the movies, someone slaps their face to snap them out of it.

If anyone has ever thrown up or fainted, sometime's you can't help it no matter how much you will something to stop but when it comes to personal choices, I wonder if some people just give into their panic (like in the case of a schizophrenic attack) instead of trying to control it (like what seeslivepeople did). If a person is really angry, they can give into their anger or they can try to calm themselves down. I've seen people who seemed to have an 'out of control' temper but were able to control themselves around some people.

Just my thoughts.

I am not schizophrenic or bi-polar, but I have had problems with anxiety. I am a Christian. However, I think we need to be careful to assume that people can turn these things on-and-off at will. Perhaps when the problem is at a controllable level, one can manage it. But, this is not to say that something can happen where in a quick decision, one goes over the edge.

Think about it like this: our bodies fight off bacteria all the time. Someone with an immune disorder is more prone to infection. They might be able, through proper self care, keep most infection at bay. But if the bacteria, even normally harmless ones, multiplies to a great degree, it will overwhelm the system and the person will get sick. This happens to people without an immune disorder, too, but those with an immune disorder have to take special care of themselves knowing they have a greater risk of infection. At the point of self-care, these people can choose whether or not to comply with an appropriate protocol. But that doesn't mean that following strict self-care practices will keep ALL infection at bay. Sometimes they just can't stay on top of it despite all their best efforts.

I had an extreme panic attack one time. Very bad. In this moment, I felt like I got to the edge of a cliff and looked over and saw a total nervous breakdown at the bottom. I got scared out of my panic attack and mentally ran away from that cliff (that was the last real panic attack I had.) I am grateful I "saw" the cliff. But if I mentally "slipped" at the edge, I would have "gone over" and had a breakdown. I don't consider that moment I was saved from a breakdown to be due to my own choice to stop the panic attack.

I think in some cases people can't control themselves but my point is that in many cases people can-they can calm themselves down; they don't have to give into the panic. You chose not to give into it because you chose too see the cliff. You could have figuratively jumped off but you chose not to-the fear brought you to your senses.

When people are hypnotized (during a show of some sort), some people are kicked off the stage right away and others aren't. Some are more susceptible it seems to being hypnotized and maybe it is because they want to be hypnotized so they give into the hypnotizer's suggestions. I've been hypnotized (they tried to anyway) but I just sat there and didn't go under. I was skeptical and didn't believe. I really didn't want to be under someone else's power.

When you see people on stage acting like chickens, maybe a part of them wants to act out publically and here is there excuse to do it. So part of it is the hypnotizer's suggestion and part of it is the person wanting to be put under.

When a person is panicked, they can go overboard or they can calm down. Do some people just give into their attacks? Heavenly talked about being wise and not just giving in and seeslivepeople said he could give into his illness or he could choose not to give in.

Just some thoughts, not trying to offend anyone.

A person with meth psychosis might beg to differ. They can do their best to ignore the frightening alternate reality but at a certain point it becomes unbearable.

Of course, they could have prevented the problem by not taking meth in the first place.

It's just an analogy. A schizophrenic will have a meth-like psychosis without having done anything to trigger it. Often it is the environment itself that triggers the psychosis which to some extent is in their control, and to some extent isn't.

I guess I am saying that sometimes people get tired of fighting. And yes, it may be "giving in" but it is not because they necessarily *want* it, but that giving themselves over to it at that point seems better than continuing to fight.

We don't blame cancer patients who decide that it's time to stop treatment and just let the disease take it's toll. Usually, this comes after years of chemo and other therapy that eventually stopped making much difference. The disease became too strong. It is not the same as killing oneself when one gets a terminal diagnosis or just completely refusing treatment.

I don't think it's as simple as a choice of wanting to give in or not, that's all I mean.

People get worn down. Sometimes the problems become more than we can bear, and we can't do it alone. I think a lot of compassion is needed. We can't say, "You can choose not to be this way."

I have two kids. Let me tell you that I quickly learned how easy it is for a parent to harm his/her child. When a person gets extremely exhausted and is living in the nether world between sleep and consciousness, one can sometimes not be in complete control of their actions. If a kid acts up or pesters a parent while he/she is in that state, the parent could accidentally act out in frustration in a harmful way. I thank God I never did so, but I realized how easily it could happen.

That state of absolute exhaustion, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual is a dangerous place where one may act in ways that s/he might otherwise be able to control. When one fights and fights and fights a disease and has nothing else to give, is it so surprising one might "choose" to give in?

The question we really need to ask is how can we recognize when people are in that spot of being "on the edge" or in that state of exhaustion, ready to give up, and in the most need of outside support? How can we help get them through the crisis?

I agree; the problem often isn't just as simple as someone choosing, this is true.

With regards to your kids, you identify your feelings of feeling out of control and that is taking control. Perhaps you've lashed out and slapped your child and then regretted it later but one can learn. You can identify when you are feeling overwhelmed. Often taking a deep breathe helps to calm a person and sometimes simply moving into another room to count to ten helps. You know that out of control feeling-but it doesn't make you out of control. Some people give into that feeling; they make a choice. If you have lashed out, forgive yourself and learn ways to cope. I think, for the most part, anyone can learn to not just give in to panic or anger.

Haven't you met people who always seemed to unleash their stuff onto certain others? They don't control themselves; they choose not to, but they can control themselves because they don't lose it with everyone. It can be cathartic for a person to give in to anger or to a panic attack but I believe we must never stop fighting and we must never give in. You can get out your anger by screaming into a pillow. A person can choose when to lose it (when it is safe and you are not harming anyone).

I think in most cases, when it comes to behaviour, we do have a choice. Even when we are very stressed out or overwhelmed, with self-knowledge, we can recognize when things start to unravel. We can think, "Okay, I'm tired and moody. I'd better watch myself. I have a short fuse today". Going through the self-talk helps.

I think too often people give in to their emotions and they can behave very badly. And then they want to shower up and forget it happened but often it isn't that simple. People often unleash hateful words onto others-words that will harm for a life time-and I think that is a very bad habit.

It took courage for you to admit that sometimes you get overwhelmed being a parent; that is very healthy. But I don't think that a person accidentally acts out. Often they lash out. They probably don't intend to hurt the kid but they choose to lash out and give in to their anger and frustration. It is healthy to recognize that state and to have strategies; what do I do when my kid is pestering me? How do I handle this? I can take a deep breathe. I can self-talk to calm myself down. I can count to ten. I can go into another room until I can get a handle on my emotions.

Just my thoughts.