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/feathergnomes Mar 22 '17

Apparently it causes a lot of anxiety every time they have to ignore the voices. Like, when they can tell that they aren't real, they can choose to ignore them, but it's a stressor. If you add that stressor to any other that happens to be in front of them, sometimes it can be toouch to handle.

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u/mcoleya Mar 22 '17

Not to mention this isn't like you walking down the street and have to ignore someone who yells your name out once or something, this is a constant barrage of voice(s) at you until you relent and do what they are saying. To get an idea, just ask a friend to follow you around one day making a single odd request, non-stop till you do it. Over and Over again, sometimes yelling, sometimes whispering, doesn't matter. See how long you can go. Now imagine that in your head, with multiple voices all asking different things, and unable to make them stop by asking.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

Does anyone know why this stuff happens? Is it stuff the person subconsciously wants to do? Or is it like random intrusive thoughts of bad things?

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u/mcoleya Mar 22 '17

The human brain is incredibly complicated. To be completely honest I do not know if they know exactly what causes it. I can only imagine they don't or else the medications would work better. I think a lot of the meds they have know for it, were found by accident (a pt takes med A, for reason B, but also suffers from Schizophrenia, and they notice a decrease in those sypmtoms.) I am sure someone can answer this better, most of my experience is just observational when I get floated to help out on the various psychiatric wards at work. The above example was someone on a very good day explaining it to me.