Today is World Hearing Voices Day

14th September 2012

The International Community for Hearing Voices today celebrates a growing
awareness that voice hearing is part of the diversity of human experience and
that people can hear voices and be healthy.

World Hearing Voices Day has been celebrated since 2006 to challenge negative
attitudes towards people who hear voices, de-stigmatise the experience and
raise awareness of the issues facing the estimated 5% – 10% of women and men
and children who hear voices across the world.

INTERVOICE, the coordinating body of the hearing voices movement, an
influential world wide alliance of people who hear voices (aka auditory
hallucinations), professionals and family members this year also celebrates 25
years of sharing messages of hope and understanding that hearing overwhelming
voices are a resolvable and understandable experience.

As Marius Romme, the President of INTERVOICE recalls:

In 1987, I had no idea the impact that the discovery that accepting and making
sense of voices was a helpful alternative was going to have. Yet, after twenty
five years of work we have built a unique and formidable movement of voice
hearers and allies that has brought about a big change in the way hearing
voices are regarded and has found new ways of helping people overwhelmed by
their voices.”

The international awareness day intends to combat the secrecy and stigma
surrounding hearing voices. The aim is to celebrate voice hearing as part of
the diversity of human experience and raise awareness of the fact that hearing
voices, in and of itself, is not a sign of mental illness — indeed many people
hear voices, such as painters, author’s, spiritual mediums and others are
sought after, for their voice hearing capabilities.

It seeks to challenge the common misperception that all voice hearing is a
symptom of medical illness, while in fact many voice hearers are able to live
with their voices and even consider them a positive part of their lives.

The are now 27 countries with networks and initiatives working to promote
recovery, acceptance and education,providing opportunities for people who hear
voices to meet and talk, sharing view points and strategies to support each
other.

Instead of the traditional practice of ignoring the voices we:

Encourage people to talk and understand their voices

Raise awareness of the phenomenon of hearing voices in society

Challenge negative attitudes towards people who hear voices

Challenge incorrect assumptions about voice hearing as a sign of an illness,

Raise awareness of the issues of stigma and discrimination faced by people
diagnosed with a mental illness, and

Give voice to the call for dignity, liberty and self determination

For more information about our approach to hearing voices visit the INTERVOICE
site and activities taking place across the world to celebrate World Hearing
Voices Day go tohttp://www.intervoiceonline.org/news-events/2012-world-hearing-voices-day

Further information:

INTERVOICE www.intervoiceonline.org,
the International Network for training, education and research into Hearing
Voices, holds the sixth World Hearing Voices Day on 14th September 2012

2012 marks the 25th year since the hearing voices movement took its first
step, when in 1987, Dutch voice hearer Patsy Hage challenged Marius Romme, her psychiatrist, with her criticisms of his clinical approach to her voices. She
pointed out that rather than using voices only in order to make an illness
diagnosis it would be more useful if he helped her learn to cope with the
experience. He listened, acted and the rest is history. From this beginning
INTERVOICE, has grown into an international network with 27 participating
countries.

As psychiatrist, Prof. Marius Romme, the President of INTERVOICE recalls:

“In 1987, I had no idea the impact that the discovery that accepting and
making sense of voices was a helpful alternative was going to have. Yet, after
twenty years of work we have built a unique and formidable movement of voice
hearers and allies that has brought about a big change in the way hearing
voices are regarded and has found new ways of helping people overwhelmed by
their voices.”

The international awareness day intends to combat the secrecy and stigma
surrounding hearing voices. The aim is to celebrate voice hearing as part of the
diversity of human experience and raise awareness of the fact that hearing
voices, in and of itself, is not a sign of mental illness — indeed many people
hear voices, such as painters, author’s, spiritual mediums and others are
sought after, for their voice hearing capabilities.

Each year Hearing Voices Networks and Groups worldwide mark the occasion with
an activity or event to:

For a recent in depth article about our work published in the USA, in American
Scholar entitled “Living with Voices” go here http://theamericanscholar.org/living-with-voices/

Read more about the Hearing Voices Movement at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_Voices_Movement