So if you have read many of my posts you know that I have mainly positive voices. Ever since gaining my insight back, I told myself I would stop talking back to voices and giving them any attention. I made this decision at a time in my life when the voice was vicious and mean a large portion of the time.
Now though, after years of not talking back to them, they’ve calmed down and almost convinced me that they really are people in the afterlife or something being nice to me. They don’t take shots at my ego, or make fun of me, even when I’m thinking about thoughts that would have previously triggered the voice to say certain things.
So I’ve been talking back… not out loud but in my head. They seem reasonable. I don’t allow them to issue any commands or ask any questions, that’s a hard rule I don’t bend on. I also try to just talk to them at certain times of the day, and set the rest of the time off to myself.
It feels like I have this part of the illness under control, and it’s not inhibiting my life as far as I know. I’m not delusional, or paranoid, just trying to reconcile previous spiritual beliefs with what is happening to me in a rational context.
Should I stop talking back and ignore them totally again? Do you think talking back could trigger worse things? I think I honestly just get lonely and it’s nice to have someone to talk to. I go days without talking back but some days I do talk back and I get a kick out of some of the stuff they say to me.
IDK, I just feel like I might be playing with fire here. I wanted to be honest about it somewhere though. What I’m doing feels like it goes against the advice I give everybody else on this site.
I don’t hear voices. So it sounds like playing with fire to me.
I saw a documentary where a woman had only positive voices and talked to them and the documentary seemed to give the impression that it was working out for her. But who knows how that ended for her in the end.
I talk to my voices, but disconnect as soon as it starts being negative in any way. I also disconnect when it starts taking up to much of my day. Disconnections can be hard, but I’ve gotten better at this. I want to live in the “real” world more than the “dream” world but it does make my mundane life more entertaining.
I talked to my voices before, the personas are kinda stupid and uninteresting to me though. All that happened was they started talking faster and almost like they gained sentience. It felt like there was multiple people in my head all at once.
Since ive been on meds, theyve quieted down, almost no existant. I dont miss them at all.
I will say tho, they were pretty good for whenever i did creative writing.
I sometimes talk to my positive voices. I don’t let them control me, and I’m fully aware they’re not real.
But they do bring me comfort and give me good advice.
I don’t see any harm as long as you’re able to stay grounded
I don’t consider hallucinations to be delusions on their own. I’ve had both before, I know how dangerous talking back can be when you believe what voices say, but I don’t give the content of the voices any more attention than I do my dreams these days. I don’t find significance in things, I don’t look for coincidences, I don’t get obsessed, I’m just living my life and juggling this on the side. I don’t tell anybody IRL details about the voices. My goal is to just pass as normal.
I can kinda understand that if you’re lonely you’d want to talk to your voices. Maybe try to deal with the loneliness head-on.
I encourage you to seek interactions in real life instead. I was very isolated for 7 years, then I spent 2 years of hard work trying to establish community and friendships. Now I have people in my life who say positive things to me & lift my mood. It wasn’t easy to get to this point but it’s so worth it - there are nice people out there.
Would you consider volunteering or going to a meetup to meet new people?
I’ve been to meetups. I haven’t done a lot since moving because I’m dealing with the transition. I still talk to my brothers and my friends from Virginia but I don’t know a lot of people here in CA.
Haven’t talked back since the time I posted, it helps keep things quiet so it’s probably the best option.
I didn’t know you’d recently moved. I’d still encourage you to try to establish some new friendships when you have the strength - xmas is a very hard time for me as my family is abusive so I’m really depending on my meetup mates & they’re being really kind & supportive.