Terrible fear of hearing voices etc

[Paulac]

Hi, haven't posted anything before, scared of hearing the answers but panicking really bad right now!! My anxiety has been fine for a couple of years,but last few weeks Iv been having panic attacks so regularly. The unwanted horrible thoughts have been causing most of the panic attacks, now Iv got this terrible fear that I'm going to start hearing voices, I'm absolutey petrified of these thoughts n I just have a picture in my mind of me hearing voices n screaming n covering my ears to make them stop I cannot get this picture out if my head. Don't even wana post this cus I'm so scared of the replies maybe saying its possible. Sorry if this post sounds strange or doesn't make too much sense, in just calming down from a panic attack and still feel abit wierd n shaky. Thanks alot.
Paulac

[Mark13]

Firstly Paulac, welcome to the forum, although I'm sorry you're feeling so bad you had to seek us out.

I understand your fear, but it sounds like panic disorder and the only voices in your head are your own internal monolgue just like everyone else. Hearing voices is rare and only occurs with psychotic illnesses.

I don't know your history, obviously, but from what you've said here you've nothing to worry about, apart from dealing with your anxiety / panic attacks.

You may want to see your Doc, to enquire about medication or counselling (CBT).

Thing is, don't worry, you are very unlikely to start hearing voices, and even less so if you get your anxiety treated. Basically you don't hear voices with anxiety disorder, and that appears to be what you have.

[Pinktel]

Whatever our anxieties I am sure all of us on this forum can relate to what you say. It doesn't matter what you are scared of, hearing voices, feeling trapped in a supermarket, driving, sitting in a dentists chair, feeling you are going to go mad and lose your mind.... The list of what can scare us witless is probably as long as your arm, some people have REALLY imaginative fears, like not being able to turn right ever, talking to people with facial hair. The human mind is incredible and will do a fabulous job of coming up with something of concern once we put the wheels in motion.
You can't change reality. You can't make yourself hear voices and suffer psychosis. You have a neurosis. Totally different thing. But anxiety is a powerful emotion, it can make you feel as if you are losing your mind. You have a fear of hearing voices, you become anxious, you feel strange because of the anxiety, that makes think "oh no, I feel a bit weird as well now, perhaps that is another sign I may begin to hear voices??" and so the cycle is complete....
However hard you panic, obsess and worry you will not be able to make yourself hear things because you have nothing wrong with you, that us the reality. You can't change reality through anxiety. You may imagine yourself hearing voices but that is NOT the same thing.
Also, beware the powerful imagery you are playing nicely in your mind's eye. Recognise it as something that is only serving to reinforce your fear. Imagining yourself holding your ears nd screaming is a very powerful picture, we all have our own versions I am sure, but remember it is just your imagination being totally unhelpful.
Hope this has helped you a bit. Fear of psychosis is a horrid one to have but very common.

[Paulac]

Thanks very much for your reply, Iv had anxiety and panic attacks for about 8 years on and off was on citalopram for ages but stopped when I fell pregnant with my last baby, she's now 3 months n I havnt been back in them because u honestly have been doing fine, prob could have been a few things that have caused it to start again but my over active mind is telling me that's it's not my anxiety back and I'm on a slow road to a serious mental illness, it's a horrible thing to live with, also is the constant butterflies in your stomach part of this??

---------- Post added at 22:37 ---------- Previous post was at 22:34 ----------

Pinktel thank u so much for ur reply, it's amazing how relieved u can feel hearing all that.

[Mark13]

but my over active mind is telling me that's it's not my anxiety back and I'm on a slow road to a serious mental illness, it's a horrible thing to live with, also is the constant butterflies in your stomach part of this??
Obviously I'm no Doctor, but from what you say, it's anxiety as you've had it before, and it can be quite disabling, it ranges from a minor annoyance to very serious, most of the folk here have it impacting on their lives quite considerably.

Yes, the butterflies in the stomach feeling is almost constant for me too.

[Laurenita]

Me too, like it's unbearable to the extent of a night I scare myself SO MUCH. My citalopram has causes tinitus and I echo certain noises in my head, which is terrifying. I have to check with people that they've heard the same as me, a lot of the time. Do you get scared of a night? All my other anxieties seemed to have disappeared, but this one remains and it's HORRIBLE :(

[Pinktel]

Constant butterflies is TOTALLY part of it!!! That's the main reason you know it is anxiety, people can have it endlessly for days, weeks even longer...
You are not on a slow road to madness. People having psychosis don't worry about hearing voices, they think that is entirely reasonable. The fact that you are worried about it is how you can tell you have a neurosis instead. It is no different than being petrified of any of the other things people on these forums suffer from, it's just hard because you have no respite from your own mind, unlike somebody for example that was scared of driving can avoid cars. Clearly you can't avoid your own thoughts and mind!!!
But therapy and treatment should take the same form.
Seeing a doctor and also a psychotherapist would settle your fears a little and teach you the tools to begin to analyse you anxieties and disprove them one by one. It is hard but very empowering.

[Paulac]

Laurenita night is when my anxiety is at it's worst, Iv actually developed a dread of night time because during the day I'm distracted a lot if the time but night it's quiet n Iv time to over think, I seem sumone write before about putting headphones on n listening to music till u drift off.

---------- Post added at 23:01 ---------- Previous post was at 22:58 ----------

Thanks again pinktel, no doubt I shall be reading ur replies over and over again when I'm in a state of panic, helped alot:)

[Laurenita]

I think as well, because we're so worried and we're constantly looking out for something to hear, we either echo things in our head, or we hear certain sounds and think they're something else. Are you on any medication? It's lovely to know I'm not alone about this worry :)

[Mark13]

I just listen to my tinnitus :weep:

[Paulac]

I swear my mind just constantly looks for different things to panic about all day!! I started citalopram in 2009 stopped a year later wen I feel pregnant they honestly saved my life, went on them again wen baby was few months old but had to stop again February past wen I fell pregnant again, lol. Thought I was doing gr8 but 3 months after having my wee girl my old friend panics back again. I think ur mind just sticks to the things ur fear the most n play on them.

[Anxious_gal]

Hearing voices doesn't mean your crazy.
It's just a hallucination.
You know the "aura" that you get with a migraine, the flashing lights nn things that's a visual hallucination.
I think ear ringing is an auditory one, I get that too.

The most common time to get hallucinations is when your are starting to fall asleep or waking up.
I was in bed going to sleep, when I heard someone say a random name.
I knew it was just me lol just it freaked me out! Then I decided it was just my tinitus acting up n it just happened to sound like a name :)

I know it's normal, but it can be scary but it doesn't mean anything!
Seriously be glad you don't hear voices.
Every now again though it's normal.

Anxiety is a nurotic illness, you cannot "go crazy" from it :) even though it feels that way at times.

[Pinktel]

Paulac you have worked it out yourself very smartly.
Your brain looks for something to fear.

You have anxiety. Your limbic system is busy sending signals to your body to create feelings of anxiety to help you get out of whatever threatening situation you have got yourself into.

Oh but wait... Your mind scouts around trying to ascertain what the threat is, why have you ordered up this anxiety? It can see no man coming at you with a knife, no rabid dog about to pounce, therefore the mind turns to the body, there must be something physically wrong with you. That must be the scary object.

Your current fear of the day is hearing voices. Your mind latches onto that as "hearing voices is really bad, it must be avoided at all costs, I must remind Paulac at all times just how bad "hearing voices" would be". Powerfully reinforced with a strong picture in your minds eye of you actually "holding your ears and screaming because you are finally hearing voices".

A picture paints a thousand words. What a neat and clever way for your mind to keep you from forgetting how scary "hearing voices" would be. You don't even need to waste time describing what that would be like, it's all there in glorious technicolor, you can conjure it up in an instant.

Your brain would work the same whatever your fear. In a way, the actual fear is irrelevant.

What we have to learn and believe is that no matter how hard we panic, how good we get at anxiety, we can hospitalise ourselves, go to a&e, take to our beds, collapse thinking we are about to die, stop breathing, go mad etc etc etc, all of it is meaningless. We can have the best best go at panicking enormously and it doesn't matter, we will never be able to create the fear we have into a reality.

The only exception to this is when we fear panic attacks. Because of course we can certainly make that fear come true at the drop of a hat. However, this is still something that will be overcome as eventually you must learn panic attacks also cannot hurt you. You'd will always come down after one. Also, underlying them is usually a specific fear, for example not being able to breathe. The trick in this instance is to slowly teach yourself after each panic attack that nobody just stops breathing from pure panic. That doesn't happen in somebody with structurally sound lungs.

Think about it, we can't think things into being true, no matter how powerfully we believe them. If we could I would make damn sure I developed a morbid fear of winning the lottery:D

[starlight78]

Hi Paulac,

Psychosis and hearing voices is a huge part of my work and I can 99.9% assure you that you will not start to hear voices.
I'm not sure how old you are, but just for info the most common age to develop psychosis is around 18-21yrs. Pretty uncommon outside of this age, and almost unheard of t developing after 35. It affects around 1 - 3% of the population, and it's very treatable with medication. Around 80% of people that have psychosis will make a full recovery.

So even if you did hear voices, which sounds incredibly unlikely, it's treatable!!

Believe me I understand the 'finding things to panic about' thing though. I an literally panic about anything! X x