https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/information-sheets/coping-with-voices/
Many people with schizophrenia experience hearing voices or auditory hallucinations as psychiatrists call them. These voices are usually nasty or persecutory and can cause the sufferer enormous distress. Often the voices will be in the third person and will constantly criticise the sufferer but sometimes they may also give the person direct instructions in which case they are known as command hallucinations. (See our information sheet on Understanding Voices for more about voice hearing).
When I was an intern we had a patient with schizophraenia in the practice. He looked and sounded like Forest Gump except that he wore glasses. Borderline intellect. He was also an oddity amongst schizophraenia. For some reason, his voices were positive. He described them telling him to make his bed, be kind to others, work hard and always try harder to succeed. As a result, his psychiatrist actually didn't want to give him anti-psychotics. In this exceptional case, the voices were a benefit to him.
ReplyDeleteThen one day he came into the clinic in the panic and told the secretary he had to speak to me immediately. She offered another intern but he said no, it had to be me. So she put him on my schedule and I went in to see him. He was very agitated. He was a devout Chrisian and had been reading the Bible and found the part where it says that all the followers of Abraham had to be circumcized. He loved Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Did that mean he had to be circumcized?
I quickly explained that no, it only refers to Jews. Chrisians don't need to. He sighed in relief, thanked me and left quickly. I went back to my cubicle and my preceptor, who watched all appointments on video came over. "Um, did he ask what I thought he asked?"