Avatars Help Schizophrenics Gain Control of Voices In Their Heads

Zothecula writes "Imagine if there was a voice in your head that regularly threatened to harm you or your loved ones, or that even ordered you to do so yourself. Awful as that would be, such auditory hallucinations are one of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, with approximately one in four sufferers continuing to experience them even after taking anti-psychotic drugs. Fortunately, scientists have recently helped some schizophrenics gain control of their condition, by turning those voices into interactive avatars."

schizophrenics aren't violent

[Anonymous Coward]

People almost always hear the word "schizophrenia" mentioned when they hear of violence. Very few are actually violent. Studies have shown that about 5 percent schizophrenics are violent compared to 3 percent most other people.

To others who hear voices - they are all you!

[flandre]

This is something that I've done for a long time - I've acknowledged that each voice has its own personality and ways of interpreting the world, and as long as they are working together or making efforts to find common ground on a lot of issues, then you as a whole can function productively. I function well enough - I've even seen a psychiatrist and other mental health counselors, who have gone on to say that although having 'delusions'/hearing voices is unusual, the schizophrenia may be a misdiagnosis since it's usually disabling. It's only a mental disease if it causes harm to you or others.

Re:Why Harm?

[flandre]

I believe that certain people who are in pain, who feel they have been wronged, or are vengeful for past events, angry at the unfairness of their lives or are otherwise suffering from clinical depression, feel inclined to inflict this pain outwards as a coping mechanism. By far it's not the right direction, and I think that those neurotransmitters which give us our various moods and emotions are partially involved in the way that the voices interact with and direct you.

I'm not a violence-prone person, so they never tell me to hurt people, but they do cheer me on when I'm successful in a project, collaborate on the best course of action when I am worried or someone I care about is troubled, berate me (...and endlessly, at that) when I make mistakes or when I'm depressed, and such.

Re:Do you know what also helps?

[mikael]

That would suggest that the problem is due to a lack of myelin sheathing over the neurons. Which would cause the meatware equivalent of electrical engineering "cross-talk".

Re:Why Harm?

[TapeCutter]

I've known two people who have had it in a bad way, both had adverse reactions to dope (a good indicator), neither was violent although their behavior sometimes made people very uncomfortable. One of them went missing a decade ago in the bush, they found his car but he is still missing. Both of them had a very difficult time trying to lead a normal life. One contracted it in his late teens, the other in her mid-thirties, for both of them the onset came at the same time as an emotional crisis (breaking up with someone they loved).

I myself have had auditory and visual hallucinations several times ( from staying awake for 3-4 days ) the auditory ones happen when it's quiet and it's always someone saying my name. It's kinda freaky and fascinating at the same time because it doesn't sound like "a voice in your head", it sounds like someone is in the room with you. I can't imagine how freaky it must be to have full blown conversations with it on a regular basis.

Re:More bullshit

[TapeCutter]

So when I gave my wife's friend (whom I didn't know was schizophrenic) a half a joint to calm her down because she was upset, according to you she was acting when she went wandering around my yard pulling her hair out because she was planning to kill someone? Schizophrenia has both genetic and environmental causes, you have a much greater chance of having it if a relative has it, for example if your twin has it you chances of having it are 40%, However it normally doesn't appear until after puberty and it's onset is usually associated with an emotional crisis, such as a divorce. The woman mentioned above "didn't have it" until she was in her mid-thirties.

BTW: Your OBSERVABLE lack of empathy and anger about this could be some sort a mental illness, I'd get that checked out if I were you.

Re:Why Harm?

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting as AC because I was diagnosed with schizophrenia a couple of years ago and lived with it long before I knew what it was.

Short answer: they don't.

These cases get more attention partially because the stories are more exciting and that's what grabs people's attention. You aren't going to see news articles about someone hallucinating about the sound of a window sliding closed, but you will hear about someone who ran into a highly populated area and wrecked havoc because the voices told them so. Auditory hallucinations can be anything from nonverbal sounds to compliments to insults to orders to gibberish.

That said, there is a tendency for the the voices to be negative. From my own experience with the disorder and from talking with a few others who have dealt with it, I believe that the negativity is brought on from whatever incident or on-going circumstance brought on the disorder. My psychiatrist told me that there are some people born with a genetic predisposition towards the disease, but that most of the time, there needs to be a traumatic event for the symptoms of the disease to manifest. This was certainly true in my case and after a few years of looking back and learning to cope, I can see how much of what the voices told me are related to my personal trigger event.

So that's my $0.02, but it's not quite the same in any two people so YMMV.

If you're interested in the subject, my therapist recommended the book Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers [amazon.com] by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey. It's a little on the thick side, but it was incredibly helpful to me when I was coming to grips with my reality being turned on it's head.

Re:schizophrenics aren't violent

[Nidi62]

No, but the statistics he was referencing for his point weren't valid (5% schizo vs 3% of the general population) since schizophrenics make up less than 1% of the population, so comparing the 5% and 3% isn't valid.

That's not the comparison I am making: I am saying that if 5% of schizophrenics are violent, then if you see a schizophrenic they are more likely to be violent than your average person, even though there are more violent average people in terms of total numbers.