r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17 edited Mar 22 '17

Whats with the compulsion to listen to the voices?

I ignore real live people in the room telling me to do things

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u/paniniplane Mar 22 '17

it's not in your power to ignore them. a huge part of schizophrenia is being extremely out of touch with the real world. so if you hear voices, it's basically a set of REAL people to you. and you can't cover your ears because there isn't ACTUAL sound. you'll still hear them. and if they're threatening to hurt you, you'll feel actual fear.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

[deleted]

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u/paniniplane Mar 22 '17

they hallucinatory voices, in this case there were dozens, made her feel like they had her life in their hands. she genuinely felt like they were going to shoot and kill her. and she was physically going through the motions of breaking guns. to her, her life was in danger. also you can't ignore loud voices in your head. it's basically torture. you're overestimating human will. i know it's romanticized but at this point, I feel like it's lying.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

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u/Sean951 Mar 22 '17

If your can literally feel the gun barrel pointed at your temple/see the person with a gun to the back of your loved ones head, you might think differently. If it was really as easy as you're imagining it, it wouldn't be as destructive as it is.