Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Recent reviews on auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) advocate a qualitative and interdisciplinary research that not only is limited to single descriptive features, but also involves contextual issues and co-occurring psychopathology. In this study of mainly readmitted patients with the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision , diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and experiencing AVH, we performed a qualitative, phenomenologically oriented interview study. The focus was on the beginning of hallucinatory experiences, time to disclosure of the symptom, and the context surrounding the disclosure. We found that on average the patients experiencing AVH for 6.5 years before disclosing the symptom to a psychiatrist. Moreover, the term “voices” was typically appropriated by the patient during his contact with a psychiatric treatment facility. None of the patients considered themselves as being psychotic or severely mentally ill. The AVH in the majority of the patients was associated with other pathological subjective experiences. The significance of these findings is briefly discussed in relation to the concept of insight, diagnosis of psychosis, and early detection.

Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia, Part II

“…The mean temporal interval between the first emergence of anomalous experiences and a full articulation of AVH was 6.5 years. Thus, in 10 of our cases, the hallucinatory experiences began in childhood or adolescence (Yttri et al, 2020). This finding is concordant with the results of the birth-cohort studies reporting that hallucinations at ages 11 and 14, respectively, were highly predictive of adult nonaffective psychosis (Cannon et al, 2002;Welham et al, 2009).…”

“…Before we proceed with the presentation of the specific results of the study, we will briefly summarize the findings reported previously from the same sample ( Yttri et al, 2020 ). The most striking result was a long delay between the beginning of AVHs and their disclosure to the psychiatric personnel.…”

“…The methodology is described in Yttri et al (2020) . In brief, we recruited 20 patients (mean age, 32 years: range, 18–53 years; eight men) who all suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.…”

“…In a previous report, we have described the mode of onset of AVHs and their duration before disclosure and associated psychopathology in 20 mainly readmitted patients suffering from schizophrenia ( Yttri et al, 2020 ).…”

Disordered Selfhood in Schizophrenia and the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience: Accumulated Evidence and Experience

“…Other psychopathological domains inspired by self-disorder research comprise investigations into the nature of insight into illness in schizophrenia [51], the condition of double bookkeeping [52], and disorders of introspection [53]. Currently, a work is in progress concerning the phenomenology of auditory verbal hallucinations and their potential route in the instability of selfhood [54]. On a theoretical level, we have proposed that psychiatric classification should not only be based on a common sense symptomatic description of disorders, but should also crucially include considerations about the nature of the basic structures of subjectivity [55].…”