Transcript Identifying Trauma to Understand Hearing Voices

Identifying Trauma to
Understand Hearing Voices
Peter Bullimore
The focus of helping at this stage should be the
reduction of anxiety through anxiety
management techniques.
Medication may be useful at this time in
helping to reduce anxiety.
Help must be given with full recognition and
acceptance of the actual voice hearing
experience of the person.
The next step is to seek possible ways of gaining
control over the voices.
It is important to foster a sense of security by
showing amongst other things,
emotional involvement and by taking careful
note of events and their timings.
Contact with other voice hearers during this
phase can be valuable in reassuring people
that they are not alone.
In due course one should try to bring some
fundamental order to the person’s daily
routine.
It is important for friends and family to be
supportive rather than critical at this stage.
When the initial anxiety and confusion has
been reduced or temporarily suspended it is
possible to concentrate on organising the
voices and the hearer’s relationship with them.
During this stage detailed attention is paid to
such issues as;
•
Analysis of the possible significance of the voices to
the hearer with the regard to both past and present.
This can be done through an exploration of the
hearer’s history.
•
The meaning of the voices in the person’s daily life.
•
The influence of the family’s attitude to the voices.
•
•
Accompanying symptoms of dissociation or
emotional repression.
And/or any symptoms suggesting a delayed
development of the self.
•
•
•
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Particular circumstances under which the voices
are heard.
What they have to say.
The nature of any triggers and accompanying
perceptions.
Attention will be paid to the social position of
the person, her or his degree of dependence, the
necessary social provisions, and the available
opportunities to develop and present a full
identity as someone who hears voices.
HOUSING
BEING BELIEVED
“JOB”
SELF-CONFIDENCE
SELF-ESTEEM
SELF-BELIEF
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•
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In this phase, the focus is primarily on
expanding knowledge and developing the
personality through the use of various
therapies.
This is the period when people have begun to
learn to live in balance with their voices, the
voices are seen as being a part of the person.
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The relationship with the voices is more
reasonable, they have a more positive
influence and become less controlling, but
people can choose to follow their advice if
they want to.
In this phase people are less anxious about
their voices.
‘What this research shows is that we must accept that the
voices exist.
We must also accept that we cannot change the voices. They
are not curable, just as you cannot cure left-handednesshuman variations are not open to cure- only to coping.
Therefore to assist people to cope we should not give them
therapy that does not work.
We should let people decide for themselves what helps or
not.
It takes time for people to accept that hearing voices is
something that belongs to them.’
Marius Romme
Trauma is a cognitive fog, it stops the person
thinking that the trauma has stopped, because
it’s 100% remembered, fogging stops a person
becoming an adult because it becomes a fear to
stop you seeing the person to tell them what
they did was wrong
If you dare not look you cannot see, if you
cannot see you cannot think the trauma is in a
freeze frame it hasn’t stopped for them they are
waiting for it to happen again (Infantism)
But you know ( the worker) it has stopped
Irrational logic and rational logic come from infancy.
People are brainwashed into fear
A lot of infants deal with trauma with denial, experiences
recurring shows that trauma is not totally over we eliminate
the trauma / fear
to a level to what the person needs to continue in life
As long as we repress traumatic memories we remain in the
trauma
Fear
Is the master emotion
Frozen Terror Stops Emotional Development
Letters to your inner child.
Aim To communicate with the child you were and to support and comfort him or her.
1. Think of an incident or a time as a child when you were unhappy. This does not have to be
during the time you were abused. Write a letter to yourself as the child you were then from the
adult you are now. Try to make contact with him or her. Tell the child you are an adult who will
listen and believe and will try to understand what is happening. Write your letter in simple
language, the sort of language a child could understand. If you had a nickname as a child you
may want to use it in your letter.
Dear__________________________
2. Write a reply to yourself as you are now from this child. Try to remember how you felt as a child
and what you would have liked from an adult. You may want to write about how you were
feeling, what was happening to you, the things you didn’t understand.
Dear __________________________
3. Continue writing letters to and from yourself as a child so the adult part of yourself is able to
support and accept the child you were and the child feels comforted.
As an adult you could try to explain to the child how she or he was not to blame for the abuse
and did not deserve to be abused. The adult may be able to help the child understand his or her
moods, feelings and behaviours. As you continue writing letters you may be able to get closer to
the child who felt unloved and alone and offer the child love and support. You can help the child
realize he or she is no longer alone. Comforting the child could take some time, so keep
returning the this letter-writing exercise over the following months.
Examples
Maya’s Letters
Dear Little Maya,
I am so sorry for all the bad things that happened. None of them were your fault and
you didn’t deserve to be treated like that. I am sorry that I didn’t like you before and
thought you were a nuisance. That was wrong of me and I will try to make up for it
now. When I look at your photograph I see a beautiful tiny child with lovely brown eyes
and dimples cheeks. I just want to pick you up and hold you, take care of you, have fun
with you. We will do all of these things together. We will walk hand in hand and I will
show you how lovable you are and always were.
You are not alone now.
I love you,
Big Maya
Dear Big Maya,
Thank you very much for your letter. It means everything to me to know you care
about me. I felt ugly and unwanted before. It is so lovely to be told I am beautiful and
that you want to be with me. I cannot believe it yet, though, so you will have to go
slowly as I am not used to trusting people.
Little Maya
TALKING TO A CHAIR
Aim To help you express your feelings to your abuser and to feel more empowered.
Sit on a chair and pick another chair to represent your abuser. Place this chair opposite you
at whatever feels the most comfortable distance. Imagine this chair is your abuser. You are
able to talk to your abuser but he or she is not able to speak back to you. Talk to your
abuser and tell him or her whatever you want to. Start by telling your abuser what he or
she has done to you and how it has affected your life. Be aware of how you are feeling. You
may experience one type of emotion most strongly – anger, love, fear, hate, upset, pity,
distaste – or many different emotions mixed together. Accept whatever feeling come up
and express these feelings to your abuser.
Make a note below of any feelings that came up when you were talking to your abuser.
ROLE PLAY CONFRONTATION
Aim To role-play a confrontation with your abuser as a way of feeling more
empowered in relation to him or her and of challenging negative reactions to
yourself.
Chair role-play
•Get two chairs, one to represent yourself and one to represent your abuser as you
did in the previous exercise . Place them at a comfortable distance apart.
•Sit in the chair that represents you and talk to your abuser. Say the things you
would like to say if you could.
•Swop chairs and talk back to yourself as if you are your abuser, using your abusers
reactions.
•Return to your own chair and reply to your abuser as yourself.
•Continue swapping chairs and confronting your abuser until you feel ready to
stop.
Remember you are in charge of this conversation and can stop it whenever you
want to.
Landmine
Lost Cherished
Pet
Bullied at
School
Fear
Irrational
Lost Favourite
Grandparent
The Trauma Triad
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What you did was wrong
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I am angry at you for doing it
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I am going to stop you doing it again
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Helps unlock frozen terror
3 Main Points to Remember Before Engagement
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Truth

Trust
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Consent
•Truth - What is really out there
•Trust - The Antidote
•Consent- Empowers
You have to be aware of your own fears and
traumas before working with another persons
experiences
Focus on bits they don’t want to see ask them to
explain in their own words
What You Need
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You need to know the persons trauma is over
Your task is to convey this fact from you to
them
(Without parenting or re-traumatising)
So a pre-requisite on your part is to believe it
yourself at least to believe that this is the
problem
Until cognitions start again ( the fog lifts)
It releases the cognitive traction this begins to
reduce painful memories, the person can see
they are 40yrs old not 4yrs old
Remember
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Do not Parent
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Parenting Keeps Kids Alive and Adults Insane
Three important questions
• How have you got here (what happened?)
• Who are you?
• What’s your biggest fear?
Bad sexual
experiences
Mum
Inability to
speak about
personal
problems
Rape & feeling that it
was deserved
Moving to
high
school
Not feeling safe
school was to big
start of bullying
amanda
Secondary Bully
Dad
No real relationship, never really
knew what a dad was
Hospital
admissions
Overdose & Liver
transplant
sam
Primary Bully
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Voice profiling looks at who the voices are
and how they influence you.
The purpose of profiling is to make it clearer
to yourself and others what exactly are the
natures of your experiences and how they
influence your life.
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You need to try and identify who the voices
are and how they affect you.
If you do not know who the voice/s are give it
a name maybe one that sums it up.
A voice profile is a representation of who
your significant voices are and how they
affect you.
•
•
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This helps in two ways. Firstly, when you can be
clear about the identity of the voice/s you tend to
feel more in control.
Secondly, if people want to help you they can
see from profiles what the real problems are and
when you need them most.
Remember profiles can change over time, for
many people there are many voices, only one or
two of them are usually problems, sometimes the
other voices can be helpful.
To start voice profiling use a I have just heard a
voice check list.
Time Place
Identity of What it
voice
said
How you What you
did
felt
Name of
voice
Gender
What the voice
The influence of the
normally says (content), voice, how it makes
any patterns i.e. time of me feel and what I
day, is it linked to my do in response to it.
feelings
Origins,
where it
comes from,
my
explanation
Voice intensity levels
0
1
2
3
4
5
5am 6am 7am 8am 9am 10am 11am 12am 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm 5pm 6pm 7pm 8pm 9pm 10pm 11pm 12pm 1am
Use the chart to identify the intensity of the voices simply draw a line
to represent the intensity (0 just a mumble, 5 very loud)
•Why is this information useful
•What do you notice about your voices and their intensity levels
•What is the best time of day for you to work on your voices
Thought stopping
This is a technique originally developed for
people with disabling obsessions. It is used to
try to control unwanted intrusive thoughts.
For some people there are a lot of similarities
between these kind of thoughts, voices and
persecutory feelings and so it was thought
that the technique might be useful.
FIRST SESSION – You raise your hand when the
voices start. The person with you then shouts,
“stop it”, until you drop your hand to indicate that
the voices have stopped. This is then repeated.
Counting the number of times “stop it” is
shouted before there is an effect can be a useful
barometer of progress as this usually decreases
with repeats of the exercise.
SECOND SESSION – Everything is the same apart
from now it is you that shouts, “stop it”, until the
voices go. You can try decreasing the volume of
your voice as you get more practised.
Practice between sessions before saying, “stop
it” in your head if in a public place.
THIRD SESSION – As before but you whisper
“stop it”, until the voices go.
FOURTH SESSION – As before but now you
practise just thinking “stop it”, until the voices
go.
Focussing
Focussing on your voices can have positive effects for a
number of reasons. Firstly, unless you know who your
voices are and what they are saying it is hard to
understand them and take some control. People who
hide or run from their voices end up with little peace.
Focussing on voices has been shown, for some people,
to reduce the frequency of and distress caused when
people hear voices. This approach has worked best for
people who can attribute elements of their voices to
how they themselves feel.
Focussing looks at your experience today and by knowing
more about that, things can be made less frightening
and your power over your voices can be increased.
FOCUSSING ON YOUR VOICES QUESTIONNAIRE
How many voices are you hearing now?
0
1
2
more than 3
Crowds
Are they separate or mumbling?
Separate
Mumbling
Do you know who the voices are?
Yes
No
Can you tell what they are saying?
Yes
No
Are the voices the same gender as yourself or different?
Same gender
Different
No gender
How loud or quiet are the voices? Compare them to someone speaking to you.
Whispering
Quiet
Normal
Loud
Shouting
How do they make you feel?
Nothing
Good
Bad
Special
Overwhelmed
Happy
Sad
Body
In my head
Other.............................................................
Can you communicate with the voices?
Yes
No
Powerful
Other..................................................................
How do you hear them?
Ears
Afraid
Telepathically
Sue Aged 21
I hear two voices
They are separate
I know who they are
I know what they say
One is male and one female
They shout and make me feel bad and sad
I hear them in my head
I cannot communicate with them
A Conversation between myself and Sue Aged 21
Me) So there are two voices, you describe as male and female and you know their
identities. Can you tell me who they are?
S) Mum & Dad
Me) They shout at you and this makes you feel bad & sad. Can you tell me what they
say?
S) At times we wish you had never been born
Me) Do you hear this constantly in your head?
S) Yes
Me) Do you believe what they say is true?
S) Yes because they said it
Me) Can you tell me when they said it?
S) When I was 16 years old
Me) Do you no why?
S) Yes
Me) Can you explain the circumstances?
S) I had stopped out until 4am with my new boyfriend and not told them
where I was
Me) Do your parents love you?
S) Yes
Me) Could they have been really worried?
S) I Guess so
Me) Did you ever apologise to them?
S) No
Me) Your parents said at times we wish you had never been born, not we wish you had
never been born.
Would you have been angry if you had been in their situation?
S) Guess so I would ground a child of mine if they stayed out that late
Me) Do you think you are feeling guilty still for not apologising?
S) I do feel guilty
Me) Do you think the voices might be trying to help with your guilt?
S) It makes sense
Me) Did you ever apologise to them?
S) No
Me) Your parents said at times we wish you had never been born, not we wish you had
never been born.
Would you have been angry if you had been in their situation?
S) Guess so I would ground a child of mine if they stayed out that late
Me) Do you think you are feeling guilty still for not apologising?
S) I do feel guilty
Me) Do you think the voices might be trying to help with your guilt?
S) It makes sense
A Critical Voice is a "self", that criticizes the person before
anyone else can.
The Critical Voice is extremely anxious, almost desperate,
for the person to succeed in the world and to be
accepted and liked by others.
The Critical Voice does not know when enough is
enough. It has a tendency to grow until it is out of
control and begins to undermine and to do real
damage. At this point, its original intent gets lost.
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Example:
Voice: ‘You are worthless, you would be better of
dead’.
The ultimate protector in a situation when the
primary self cannot cope. A reaction to life
stresses, when experiences are overwhelming,
in a vulnerable person.
Translated: ‘Don’t feel anymore, don’t be
anymore’.
Or: ‘Don’t live this life anymore, live a new life’.
KATIE
VOICES ARE GOD AND DEVIL
DEVIL SAYS GOD IS ONLY KEEPING YOU ALIVE TO BE TORMENTED
4 MAIN POINTS
1 SHE IS INVOLVED IN A CULT
2 VISITED DAD ON A FRIDAY THROUGH
LOYALTY BUT HE WAS ALWAYS DRUNK
3 VOICES
4 BAD SELF HARM
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www.hearing-voices.org