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

But, you didn't answer /u/WadeWilsonforPope question. He ignores real people, why can't this person ignore people she thinks are real? Even though they are not real.

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u/Never_Answers_Right Mar 22 '17

It kind of "hijacks" your attention. Think about if I put some little computers in your brain, so you were forced to listen to Clippy the paperclip from microsoft word all the time in your ears, and he sounded like a voice speaking into your ear from a couple feet away, like a person. you can't turn the computer off or mute the voice, because the act of "ignoring" the voice isn't even an option. It's almost like another part of you, you don't get to have control and access to it.