I’ve been thinking about this. I’m currently hallucinating for the first time in months. And I had a very scary thought: what if I acknowledged a hallucination, and allowed myself to experience it, instead of trying my best to ignore it. Would this cause me to detach from reality and set back my recovery? Thoughts?
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Not sure. I had acknowledged my hallucinations and had endless conversations going on 24/7 (in dreams too) for months… But this was when I already was delusional. It’s hard to say for me whether this delusion came before the hallucinations, or whether it was the other way around. At times we’d be ‘on good terms’, only temporarily so but still. Nevertheless, whether we’d be on good or bad terms, eventually the endless conversation was wearing me down and keeping me from sleeping and pursuing 'the things I wanted to, for it demanded so much attention. So that would be my main worry: getting trapped in such a cycle again. There are (anecdotal) stories of people acknowledging their voices with success, like in the Hearing Voices Movement approach. For me, if I were to hallucinate again, there’d be a few groundrules that would be absolute:
- I decide when we speak to each other, and when not.
- We do not make ‘ontological’ claims about what the voices are: they are either a product of my mind, or we suspend judgment on this. No sneaky suggestions towards anything other than this.
- We do not make threats (this relates to the above, if you think about it).
- Any other rules I may come to think of are up to me to decide and me only
I suppose that, were voices to play by such rules or something like them, I could live with them and it would most likely be better than struggling with them. But really, break the rules once and I’ll medicate the ■■■■ out of them little bastards.
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I’ve never seen much of a need to separate reality and unreality. I’d rather know the difference, of course, so I can get help, but I tend to act as though they’re one and the same.
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The latest therapy my doc gave me is this:
Can my doc hear my voices? No!
Do i hear my voices? Yes
So do the voices excist? For me yes!
I have to tell myself that the voices may be there, so accept them in stead of fight them!
Every day i have to give my voices the time to talk to me (for about 10 minutes or so)
When you look at youtube a film from Eleandor Longden you will see what this therapy did with her and her voices, they became friendly (after a while)
Maybe this will help you!?
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@JayJay I think that this advice is not good.
I will never agree to talk to voices, on the contrary I strive to get rid of them, to hear no voices.
In my opinion you should strive to get rid of voices.
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For me, acknowledging the voices only makes them worse. Except one time, when they were being really loud. I shouted, “SHUT UP!!!” And they quieted right down! But in general, I don’t interact with them. I did learn that if I can stay calm when they’re happening, and focus on changing them, I can make them nice and friendly. Then they’re much easier to tune out.
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When they were active, I did acknowledge my one voice and he seemed to get slowly worse and worse if I did acknowledge him.
I began to be delusional as well.
I seem to have a constant daily monologue going with my voices. The basic conversation has come down to who wins and who loses as well as who is the biggest loser, me or them. It is an ongoing struggle and I’m trying not to acknowledge them as much lately. When I ignore them sometimes they’ll pipe up and say something mean or irritating to get my attention. They haven’t been nice to me most of my life except for when I first started getting psychosis, but some can be somewhat kind while others really like to rub in what a loser I am. Hopefully they will back off one day.
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I always treat my voices with care and compassion even if they are mean and I tried the Eleanor longden approach and I had a break through with one of them!
It’s so worth doing this!
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I just read a transcript of the TED talk with Eleanor Longden. I’ve read about showing compassion to the voices before, I try to do that but it’s hard sometimes. It almost feels painful, but I’m going to attempt to do this instead of being negative towards them to rid them from my mind.
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This therapy is worth trying. How long did you did this kind of therapy? I mean, how quick did you saw difference in the kindness of your voices? May i ask what the message that your voices had before and after you used this therapy?
when my hallucinations were louder i would talk to them all day it was like i was stuck in a loop because i would think something bad or weird than they’d have a reaction to it than i would have to explain over and over and get angry and argue with them
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Literally the same night for me, I think the voice was surprised because usually I turn on the tv and ignore them and never interacted with them if I could help it,
But I was like you know what, I’m going to talk to you! And it went better than I could of ever hoped for, best bit is I haven’t had the voice for like two days! I’ve had others mind but I’m trying the same approach 
And before it was calling me a stupid bitch, etc. After it was saying that it was just trying to help me and that it was lonely!
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I tell my voices off on a regular basis. Any time they try to bargain they demand things they and I know I can’t do in exchange for silence I know they won’t give me.
Mine aren’t permitted to talk, but they can write to me. This morning we held a vote to decide whether or not I should stay with my girlfriend. It wasn’t just a cop-out, I trust them to want what is best for me because they are me too, just at different levels of consciousness. Anyway, I am now single again. 
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The long pointy-chinned alien with the sideways mouth appeared on my shower curtain while I was on the toilet doing my business, and it sided up near me and said to me, "You’ve been awafer too long."
Naturally this made us both laugh, and then it left- can’t say that I blamed it.
I do. I have an internal voice that will occasionally talk to me. Not al the time. Sometimes I respond. Sometimes I don’t. But I do talk to my delusional audience all the time. I talk to them in the hopes that they empathize with my painful past. I try to explain my feelings. I don’t know if they ‘get’ what I am saying or not but I try. They don’t give me feedback. It is a one way conversation. My inner voice gives me feedback sometimes though.
I’m not going to acknowledge any hallucination. I prefer to ignore it even if it causes me distress. I like to remind myself they aren’t real and it is the illness/my brain playing tricks on me. I can’t afford to dip into a delusional state again.
Huh, I’d say it’s worth a try,
Don’t think that would take you off the ball seeing you already have a grip.
Beats the stress of denying them.
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