Hearing voices
- Season: Season 3
- Posted On:
- Featuring: Sean Collins & Caroline Mazel-Carlton
Hearing voices: Mental illness or a gift? .
Episode Notes
It’s estimated that 1 in 10 of us hear voices, which may be a sign of mental illness. Or not. We examine the phenomena through Caroline Mazel-Carlton. She’s part of a movement of people who have come to find meaning in the experience of hearing voices (or seeing visions) and who learn to incorporate those experiences in their life. Many forgo use of some or all medications and are seeking wellness through peer-support networks and harm-reduction strategies.
Mazel-Carlton tells host Seán Collins that many of the voices she hears have a cautionary or protective role in her life and have reminded her to be more mindful of the aspects of her life the voices comment upon.
She serves on the board of the HEARING VOICES NETWORK—USA (@HVN_USA) and works at the Wildflower Alliance (@WildflwrAlliance) in western Massachusetts, a grassroots peer support, advocacy, and training organization with a focus on harm reduction and human rights. Her work includes training in suicide alternatives.
Earlier this year, Caroline Mazel-Carlton was profiled in a story in the New York Times reported by Daniel Bergner: Doctors gave her antipsychotics. She decided to live with her voices.
If you are thinking about harming yourself, HELP IS AVAILABLE. Call or text 988 and connect with someone today.
FURTHER READING
A comprehensive review of auditory verbal hallucinations: lifetime prevalence, correlates and mechanisms in healthy and clinical individuals. by S de Leede-Smith, E, Barkus Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. (2013)
CONTRIBUTORS
- Caroline Mazel-Carlton
- Seán Collins
KEYWORDS
- antipsychotic medications
- hearing voices
- avh
- peer-support
- hearing voices network usa
- harm reduction
- wildflower alliance
- auditory verbal hallucinations