VALIDATING THE EXPERIENCE OF HEARING VOICES

I encountered a young man, around 12 years old during a consultation who was having the experience of hearing voices. it appears that most prior 'treatment' involved simply suppressing by psychotropic drugs or ignoring the experience. During my brief time, I sought to journey with him, to build a connection where he would feel that he was safe to share his experience. He discussed with me hearing two voices, one male, and one female. And as he began to relate his past experiences and the recent loss of a relative, it began to be very obvious that these voices filled a need in his life. The grief issues had never been processed and information was concealed from him. he had been very close to this relative. Therefore, it was obvious that he needed to hear from this relative in some way, to know that things were "ok". And that is exactly what the young man told me, that this voice was that relative. The other represented another emotional need. I was pleased that I was able to journey with this person and come to a level of breakthrough and discovery but saddened that no one had ever thought of doing this before.

Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.,B.C.S.A.,DAPA
batushkad@yahoo.com