Hearing Voices movement

[Magical Realist]

I attended a lecture by proponents of this movement last Thurs and then Friday saw a film on it. I am attracted to it in that it is connected to Dr. Marius Romme's organization in the Netherlands that seeks to see voicehearers as not psychotic and in need of meds but as rather people gifted with certain extreme states that can help them become whole people. My own journey with voices has progressed from having them demonic and interferring to being like my children who only want attention and dialogue now and then. Unfortunately I learned rather quickly that this movement has a rather strong antimedication agenda that conflicts with my own experience. Testimonies given by bipolar survivors going totally off their meds and so experiencing extreme states that impair them greatly in their lives. I don't think I agree with that. Some meds are effective, especially when combined with recovery-based approaches. I'm also a firm believer in meds for depression, as this has been a lifesaver for me. But having seen the devastating effects of bipolar disorder on my mom for so many years, her commitment to psych wards, and the stability provided by a carefully monitored drug regimen, I can't get onboard with the anti-med anti-psych ward movement. Mental illness is NOT a myth, and sometimes our brains just don't work right. That's not necessarily a disempowering view. It's embracing one's limitations without shame while continuing the quest for wholeness thru support groups and therapy.

http://www.hearingvoicesusa.org/

[C C]

[...] Dr. Marius Romme's organization in the Netherlands that seeks to see voicehearers as not psychotic and in need of meds but as rather people gifted with certain extreme states that can help them become whole people. [...] Unfortunately I learned rather quickly that this movement has a rather strong antimedication agenda that conflicts with my own experience. [...] I don't think I agree with that. Some meds are effective, especially when combined with recovery-based approaches. I'm also a firm believer in meds for depression, as this has been a lifesaver for me. [...] Mental illness is NOT a myth, and sometimes our brains just don't work right. That's not necessarily a disempowering view. It's embracing one's limitations without shame while continuing the quest for wholeness thru support groups and therapy.

Kind of an expected progression. On basis of the "snake pit" stereotypical horrors and other sensationalized items bandied about during that era, society puts an end to the easily accessed mental health care of the old days. "Sorry, sir. You can't be admitted now unless you actually try to harm others or yourself. Feeling like you're too erratic to competently take care of yourself or fearing that you might do something bad isn't sufficient; you're not qualified for self-diagnosis." Causing indifferent jails to become transitional caretakers for the now homeless mentally ill as they get crammed full with the untreated and unreliably medicated after their more minor offenses and violations.

Next step just start declaring that there's no such thing as mental illness, as if that's going to make the legal consequences better for those "psychology-liberated" folks if / when they get arrested for _x_ mega-event. "No, s/he wasn't out of her mind when s/he committed that crime; it was deliberate. Mental illness is a myth; these are just gifted people finally getting to explore and express their 'special' personalities and unique tendencies in an uninhibited and non-subdued manner."

[stryder]

I'm not so sure about any spirituality movement in regards to "hearing voices", to me that would seem extremely nonsensical and even cult like.

There is a number of potentials for the posed phenomena, one is down to a neurological connection creating a repetitive effect like Tinnitus, the other is something far more nefarious and involves study groups misusing human subjects without any regard to the scientific method. (Since the true method would attempt to consider the ethical complicities of such operations)

Ideally in a fair world there would actually be a Government backed unit to deal with the misuse of Radiofrequency technologies and an operation to hunt down those groups responsible for ignoring the Nuremberg Code and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Unfortunately Governments have a habit of being the very perpetrators of such acts themselves which means they aren't particular likely to want to track down culprits that exist in their own office.

When someone hearing voices is abused and manipulated they might claim it to be "devil like" or demonic or some other religious trashtalk, however that junk is all about the persons suffering from the abuse being further from the truth than they can possibly get. In fact for the most part attacks are tailored to take a persons own perspectives and fears into account and morph it into their own personal nightmare, this is why stories of what occurs can shift dramatically person to person and makes it far more difficult to pin all the dots together to lead back to the Government funded researchers responsible.

The reason why I state Government funded is simple. The type of equipment used requires a vast knowledge of neurology, physics, radio communications, computer sciences amongst other things, That's not the average run of the mill stuff that a popular science reader is going to pick up from books and build in their garage as it's cross discipline. Such operations exist worldwide and are extremely well funded. They aren't legitimate operations like a University might undertake, since a university could lose prestige, grants and scholarships in general if they are caught participating this side of the fray.

The only other potential to Government misuse is cult groups, however Governments would likely quash such operations and just absorb any funding that such groups had accumulated.

The posed anger and violence that most people that hear voices tend to suffer from isn't something that is naturally occurrent, it's just they tend to be pissed that the system both can not and does not want to handle the problem correctly and would rather just bury the incidents with pharmacology rather than actually detective work.