I hear voices in my head, but I’m fine - Eleanor Longden | Comment is Free

Eleanor Longden started hearing voices when she was 18. She was drugged and hospitalised, then told she was schizophrenic.
A psychiatrist even told her she would have been better off with cancer, because it would have been easier to cure. Most people assume mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. But, she argues, mental illness is not random, it is a response to traumas we have been through in the past.

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[dyrefate]

I also have schizophrenia and believe that my symptoms are meaningful messages. Like Eleanor, I don't take medication and still hear voices and have other symptoms but they are generally not debilitating. I'm able to work, go to school, have a social life, and pursue my interests.

[PennyDreadful]

PTSD can also cause voice hearing in some cases.

[chasemichealbrown]

I have a loved one who is now in a condition nearly identical to the one this amazing woman found herself in. Her courage is truly inspiring. By turning perception on its head, I believe she may offer a solution to this hopeless & helpless situation, instead of depending on cold, overpaid, apathetic, condescending "doctors". If the voices are going to stay (its been almost 10 years now), it just may be best to see them as helpers, rather than things that must be hated & destroyed. Hope springs eternal.

[Jussaynoh]

Brilliant. Psychiatry has been an outright disaster for so many of us.

[FintanMcNamee]

She may hear voices, But I can't hear her, Volume is way too low.

[Thinkgreatmanifestations]

I here voices ever since I opened my first eye and they tell me they love me so much and to meditate

[manabouthouse]

A very interesting alternative perspective. My wife has Bipolar 1 with voices when in psychosis, she tells me the voices are from people she knows, some negative and some positive.

[AndreaRodriguez-ixil]

I hear voices in my head too. It is awful cause the are always attacking me in my head and outside on the street, at the bus, supermarket etc. They make you feel as there were a social mobbing with People around laughing about me or even saying bad things like slandering. At the same time I see some people that look at me as They could recognize me doing gestures with their hands or feet or legs. I don't know what they mean. I think this is reall happening and no hallucinations. Before hearing voices there was this old woman on the bus
Laughing loud as she saw me and saying something like " she would be soon ashes".
At the time I kept hearing bad things about a poor woman who has been filmed and exposed by others somewhere, people
were just having fun with that all over the city of Salzburg....

[thijsjong]

The volume is low. With the volume turned uo I could barely hear it.

Onto the topic. Schizofrenia is a condition with multiple possible symptoms. What I take from this story is that she was hearing voices and that caused a lot of fear and anxiety. This anxiety causes the condition to spin out of control unless you get a grip on it. This isnt simple. First you have to accept the situation as it is. The voices are not going to go away just because you want them to. The more you fight them the more disturbing they get. And then other symptoms come up such as delusions, paranoia etc.
Fear and stigma dont help.

I wish more people like her would step up with recovery and coping stories. And be more elaborate about what helped them to deal with it.

I dont have voices myself but I know some people who do.

[kaitlinwhite]

I give u all the props in the world for this!!- for identifying & SPEAKING on what the medical world around u is REALLY doing.., for coming on here & making a video about what happened to u. Something similar happened to me.. & I think you're very brave. & Should be very proud of yourself& know...YOU HAVE A HUUGE PURPOSE HERE IN THIS LIFETIME!- U R A NATURAL BORN ADVOCATE..& ADVISOR, .. FOR PPL WHO ARE VICTIMIZED OVER THE SAME STRUGGLES, UVE ENDURED AS WELL. I HAVE MUCH RESPECT FOR YOU& WHAT YOU'RE ALL ABOUT. PPL LISTEN TO U. SO SPEAK YOUR STORY..WHENEVER U CAN. U NEVER KNOW WHO U MIGHT HELP.. THANK U FOR BEING U. ✌👀🤔😨🤐🤷
❤🌠✌⭐😉

[MoneyMadeMagic]

I love hearing this Eleanor. Thank you for your continued input into the world of mental health.

[jason-h-Poet]

I no longer take medication and find writing poetry helpful as well as other things. I also think Eleanor Londgen is an inspiration. I think people that hear voices are still mis understood i also believe that voice hearing can occur for many different reason.

[pamelacook]

I got helpat trauma recovery institute! Alot of my voices left when i got better! But they wont ever leave completely!

[j.z.]

You are me with more ambition, please continue sharing your story. You have conquered the naysayer's and manifested your authentic self. You matter to me and help me so much.

[scottward]

As one who also experienced the torments of psych meds to address the whispered support systems in my head. Thank you, thank you.

[SaccidanandaSadasiva]

7 years of schizophrenia and counting...

[ShyanTheLegend]

guess what. i DONT hear voices. want to know why? because the volume is too damn low to hear anything

[MobiusCoin]

I hear voices in my head! They council me, they understand, they talk to me.

[jong]

I agree with this woman i get intrusive images and music playing in my mind all day i got told it was OCD but after researching ocd for nearly a year i dont believe my symptoms match as i dont get anxiety at all.

[scarletpeoni]

What is the actual definition of 'voices in your head' When I was younger I would often hear my name being called when nobody had called it. I would hear strange voices falling asleep and was told it was normal and some people have this at night. That stopped.

 I went on courses to learn to speak telepathically to animals(yes its a real thing called animal communication) you don't 'hear' voices but your certainly process words and images. When these things are proven to not be the imagination ie. Photo of a dog in the USA is handed to animal communication student in the UK and the student is asked to communicate with the dog to find out where he has injured himself(photo pre injury) and 'hears' information. Student feeds this back to the owner, owner agrees. Descriptive factual things like ' He injured his paw' ' He hates water' NOT ' your dog loves you'

So I do wonder with people diagnosed with these things, what the Eleanor is describing is what many people would call their 'higher self' or 'spirit guide' unless the person is causing harm to themselves or others, why is it even recognised as an 'illness'. Just because there is one standard way of processing information, does not make it the only way, just the only way known on a mass level.