I came across some articles that talk about auditory pareidolia, when noise is misinterpreted into speech. I think this is what I have because whenever there is certain background noise like the jets on in my hot tub, I hear voices that seem like they are coming from the sound. Plus I feel mentally well and I don’t have any delusions except I used to think the voices were real people.
The following is from http://nautil.us/blog/why-we-hear-voices-in-random-noise
Commenters detail their experiences, often believing they are symptomatic of mental illness. For example, one commenter writes: “I thought I was going crazy. When my air conditioner is on, I wake up and hear light conversations. I would go to the window to see if anyone was outside, or I would turn the air conditioner off [and] it would stop. Sometimes it sounds like a radio.”
Another, more at-ease commenter writes about her similar experience of hearing voices from the sound of central air control: “I would hear faint voices—whispering, conversing, singing, or chanting! It sounded like a crowded room, full of people at a party in a distant room somewhere in the building. After a while I came to enjoy the sound, as they seemed to be enjoying themselves at the ‘party,’ and it helped lull me to sleep at night.”
These examples of auditory pareidolia might make you wonder what the sonic characteristics of natural speech are, and moreover, how the sound of an air conditioner—or any other noise-making object—could possibly resemble speech. At one point scientists were generally in agreement that the waveform characteristics essential for perceiving speech sounds were largely understood. That changed when a single study showed that speech could be perceived in sounds that did not contain any of these acoustic properties.
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Also, voice hearers are more capable of understanding sine wave speech in which speech is converted into sine waves and most normal people can’t detect speech from it. I listened to some sine wave speech and I could understand some of the words in it. You can read more about this at https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/09/12/mentally-well-voice-hearers-have-a-heightened-ability-to-detect-real-speech/
The only thing that makes me think it could be sz is that I do have negative symptoms but these could actually just be bad habits or side effects of my invega sustenna injection. Does anyone else think they have auditory pareidolia?
It’s your meds that are keeping you from being delusional. These drugs are not prescribed lightly, or at least, not in the doses that we need in order for them to help us.
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I don’t know. I think the fact that you can have full on conversations with these voices means that it is sz. How are your voices now are they still faint, can you make out what they are saying?
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I didn’t have delusions when the illness began and I wasn’t on meds. Except I believed the voices were spirits but I don’t think this was a sz induced delusion. I didn’t have any other delusions.
They have been getting louder each day and I can make out 50-75% of what they are saying now. Yes, the fact I can have conversations with them is concerning. I’ve noticed sometimes I can control what they are saying by what I am thinking.
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Also, all you have is these people’s word. For all you know, you’re speaking to someone in a longterm mental hospital. Hell, these people could be liars. If you must, then discuss it with your pdoc, but don’t stop your meds or anything like that.
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Not sure who you are referring to that could be in a longterm mental hospital or who the liars are. Are you talking about the people in the article who gave comment on their auditory pareidolia? I don’t plan on going off meds.
If a mentally healthy person heard voices, they’d immediately understand that they originated in their own heads. Same thing with thoughts. The only people who think that thoughts and hallucinations originate anywhere but in their minds are those with psychosis. Or rather, let me put it this way: Whether or not the auditory stimulus is wholly the product of your mind, or wholly the product of some outside force, the song remains the same. Believing that you’re some sort of medium who talks to spirits is a delusion, end of story.
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Yes. They could be ill too, or just trying to seem “edgy” or whatever.
That’s bullshiit, why are they getting louder? They should have stopped when you got home! I know, I copped the same thing that I they were always talking about my thoughts whatever I was thinking at the time. Saying that, they also talked a lot without me influencing them with my thoughts another reason I think mine were real. They created this huge story that I was the center of. It was like somebody was doing it to play a trick on me.
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I disagree with you that mentally well people can’t think the voices were real. I think it’s just a product of being naive. I think anyone who heard voices could think they are real. I believed in spirits before the psychosis so that led me to believe I was hearing spirits when the voices came especially because they were intelligent. I admit it was a delusion and I no longer believe in it but don’t say I’m a lunatic for believing in it back then. If I didn’t have any other delusions can’t you see that this was a delusion based on circumstance. My version of the illness doesn’t give me delusions I’ve never thought I was a famous actor or that my thoughts were being read or that somebody or the government was out to get me. My illness is different from most people with sz and anything I say none of you will believe me.
My care team says I’m not their typical patient because when most people start hearing voices they are so caught up in their own world of delusions that they don’t even realize these are symptoms.
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Did you ever try asking your voice a question. Something factual to make sure they are not real. Something like what’s the population of Utah? And if you google it and they are correct they will be real, if they are wrong they will be not real. Voices shouldn’t have any knowledge outside of your head so they shouldn’t know it technically. Iv always wanted to try that, can you try it now while I’m here??
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I think they are getting louder because there must have been something wrong with my Invega Sustenna injection and I think it was a dud. I’ve had another shot that was a dud once and I don’t know if it’s because the shot was administered wrong, the shot was faulty, or my body is just developing a tolerance to it. Mine talk independently of my thoughts sometimes and the things they say are so mean that sometimes I believe it can’t be originating from my mind. But most of the time they just have cookie cutter phrases on whatever I’m thinking about at the moment. Were they just telling you a story or did you have a delusion of a huge story?
are they usually critical of what and how you think? my bad if u explained earlier…sorta just skimmed through. maymbe there is more to it, i sorta have same issues but not that much…
EDIT: not as much as you*
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Last night I tried asking them math problems I didn’t know the answer to with a calculator up. They were wrong 100% of the time. They aren’t real spirits because otherwise they would probably have supernatural knowledge and be able to do any math problem.
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Yes they comment and criticize every thought and action I have. Maybe that’s indicative of sz.
They were telling me a story, I only listened. My whole sz is because of what they were telling me, I had no other delusions whatsoever.they started off by telling me I had to join the IRA to spare me from hearing voices which I thought was so crazy but I instantly thought it was real because of how lifelike they were.
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Wish I woulda tried the maths problem when all of this started. My thinking at the start was because i thought they were real I thought ‘hey they can transmit voices to people’s heads’ so I instantly rationalized it and it became the norm to me that bad people could make you hear voices. I didn’t want to act scared by it.
So you don’t get delusions directly from the illness either. It just based on the circumstances of what you are hearing that can make you delusional. It’s not like the illness itself just caused you to out of the blue have delusions from your D2 receptors. The voices are saying crazy stuff and that makes you have a false belief. I don’t get delusions from what they are saying because I think the voices are liars. I used to believe them when they said they were going to kill me and my family but after they threatened that a million times with no results I determined they were bluffing.
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