voices

[davey]

does anyone else have what seems to be someone talking to them but seems so real like someone is standing next to you

[LucyR]

Hi, No I don't get this, I was, however asked this by my Psychiatrist and I just said no, are you sure its not just your thought process though? thats a different thing altogether.

[RLR]

Auditory hallucinations are extremely common and are very often caused by misinterpretation by the auditory process. Psychiatrists do indeed ask the question, but what they are actually trying to determine is whether the voices are directed at you as a person and that they are either influencing or commanding you to act in a manner contiguous to your own preferences. Do you understand the difference?

In other words, simply perceiving voices that are either singular or that associated with large crowds conversing, does not constitute a problem and again, the auditory process can often experience the equivalent of a visual illusion. The concern would actually be where voices are calling you by name or drawing your attention, parcing you out as uniquely chosen to listen, or alternatively directing your beliefs or actions.

So if you simply hear voices that are oblivious to you as a person otherwise, then it merely constitutes an illusion or misperception of sounds that the auditory process cannot clearly differentiate. Thoughts which are ruminative in nature can also seem to come from an external rather than internal source, momentarily confusing one's sensory status as to whether the voice was truly being received by the ear and not merely the repetitive engagement in ruminative thought.

You'll be fine.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)