Listening

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Listening

Listening to a loved one who hears voices can be the most simple yet powerful act. Acknowledging the emotions the person is experiencing and that the voices are real experiences and not figments of their imagination can be extremely validating.

You can find out more about talking about voices with others this section, of our website and specific suggestions for supporters are available here.

An excerpt from ‘Gail Hornstein on First-Person Narratives of Madness: An interview with Eric Maisel’.

READ

They have confided in you. It’s important that you believe what they tell you.

Elliot*

Be curious and try to get to know the voice(s) like any other ‘real’ person.

Adrian*

Let people talk about their voices at their own pace and don’t try to force the issue.

Rose*

If the voice-hearer tells you the content of the voices, ask the voice-hearer their opinion about what the voices are saying before you offer yours.

Farina*

Find out more

Read

Lucy Nichol (2018). Believing me is crucial: How to talk to somebody about hearing voices. Metro. A useful, easy-to-read article about how to respond to someone who’s hearing voices

National MIND also has some tips on how to support some who is hearing voices, which you can access here.

NEXT: NAVIGATING THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

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Listening to the person in distress

An excerpt from Gail Hornstein on First-Person Narratives of Madness: An interview with Eric Maisel, Psychology Today, 16 April 2016

EM: If you had a loved one in emotional or mental distress, what would you suggest that he or she do or try?

GH: First, I would ask if I could sit quietly with them so we could try together to get a better sense of what was going on. If the person is able to articulate what they need or what might help to ease their distress at that moment, I would try to do this, so long as it was feasible and did no harm to anyone else.

In the longer term, I would make sure that the person understood the full range of options available to them, and I’d point them toward resources that might be especially useful to their particular needs and challenges. Even the most seriously distressed people are able – far more than my training as a psychologist would have led me to believe – to articulate the meanings of their actions and feelings and to identify specific ways of reducing their distress, so long as they are in a supportive, non-judgmental context.

… What is truly essential is listening to the person in distress and crafting responses that actually help.