11–20 of 36 posts
> In Some Cultures...
So, what cultures provoke the no-so-nice voices. And what does that say about the culture in question?
Or maybe it's all just link bait.
Maybe.
Well, some obvious probable historic figures who may have had more supportive cultural backgrounds include - Abraham, whose voice first said kill your son, then changed its mind. - Joan of Arc - who gave surprisingly good military advice - presumably every "spirit guide" There must be more examples, but hard to think of them
http://lesswrong.com/lw/dr/generalizing_from_one_example/ Nice article on the differences between people's "style of thinking". It takes visual mental imagery as an example, and I can see auditory hallucinations being on a very similar spectrum (if you take away the stigma). In the visualization debate non-visual thinkers often report being able to visualize in a hypnagogic state (right before falling asleep), which…
This is an interesting article on a potentially interesting (but paywalled (anyone have a link?) study. > 20 patients with schizophrenia in San Mateo, California, One of the criteria for treatment (at least in the UK) would be "Does this interfere with your day to day life?" Friendly voices would tend to not meet that criteria. Modern treatment should include developing ways to live with the voices, rather than just…
Hearing voices in itself is not a symptom of an illness. Even in our culture some people cope really well with hearing voices. For example lonely old people may feel that they have company when they hear voices. Some facts: http://www.intervoiceonline.org/about-voices/essential-facts
It depends on how you define illness. Something can have no negative effects and still be wrong. Compare a missing small toe, perhaps. >Between 70 and 90 cent of people who hear voices do so following traumatic events. That sort of implies that things are not 100% okay in there.
But we have to be careful, because the tendency is to say that common variations (those we are accustomed to) are "right" and uncommon variations (those that surprise us) are "wrong", even when there's no sensible categorical difference between them.
Hearing voices in itself is not a symptom of an illness. Even in our culture some people cope really well with hearing voices. For example lonely old people may feel that they have company when they hear voices. Some facts: http://www.intervoiceonline.org/about-voices/essential-facts
It depends on how you define illness. Something can have no negative effects and still be wrong. Compare a missing small toe, perhaps. >Between 70 and 90 cent of people who hear voices do so following traumatic events. That sort of implies that things are not 100% okay in there.
There's a push from people who hear voices but who are not distressed or controlled by those voices to medicate as little as possible. It's a reasonable request, especially because we don't know a huge amount about hearing voices.
Fun fact: One charge against Socrates, the founder of western philosophy, for which he was put to death, was for hearing voices... that weren't Greek gods, but were 'other gods.' And talking about it. Preaching other gods being punishable by... death.
> In Some Cultures... Which would imply that in other cultures, this is not the case. And, based on the wording of this headline, would further suggest that such circumstances vary statistically (...or maybe just anecdotally) at the cultural level? So, what cultures provoke the no-so-nice voices. And what does that say about the culture in question? Or maybe it's all just link bait. Maybe.
> They found that people from the US tended to describe the voices as intrusive unreal thoughts they hated. In contrast, people from South India were more likely to describe them as providing useful guidance, and people from Ghana were more likely to think of them as morally good.
You are getting down-voted for not reading the article before commenting.
Hearing voices in itself is not a symptom of an illness. Even in our culture some people cope really well with hearing voices. For example lonely old people may feel that they have company when they hear voices. Some facts: http://www.intervoiceonline.org/about-voices/essential-facts
It depends on how you define illness. Something can have no negative effects and still be wrong. Compare a missing small toe, perhaps. >Between 70 and 90 cent of people who hear voices do so following traumatic events. That sort of implies that things are not 100% okay in there.
If there are no negative effects, what makes it wrong?
Compare a missing small toe, perhaps.
Or missing tonsils, or a missing appendix, or ....
To what extent do toes help with balance, say while walking or running?