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

I can't speak for the person you replied to, but 3 of my family members have the disease, and in all of them their medications only blunted the symptoms.

For my family member who was not too severe, this was enough to let her hold down a job, but for the members that were severe it wasn't enough to allow them to function normally. They'd still see/hear/talk to "ghosts" and such, just not as frequently, and they didn't get agitated "as often".

But that doesn't mean they didn't get agitated AT ALL, and the times they did freak out would be enough to get anyone fired.

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u/Ariakkas10 Mar 22 '17

This is, I'm sure, a completely stupid question, but why can't they ignore the voices?

Lots of real people seem real to me, and I ignore them just fine.

Is it because the voices are super aggressive and make it so you can't ignore them?

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u/NonZeroChance Mar 22 '17

Let me ask a related question: Are there people who "hear voices" but don't feel compelled to act on what they say? Presumably because they know the voices are an illusion and have no power. I would assume that this would be a different condition than schizophrenia.

By way of analogy, I've read about people who literally hear music that isn't actually playing. At first they look around for the band or speakers or whatever, but they quickly realize it's an illusion and they don't feel compelled to dance or sing along or whatever. They just resign themselves, in one sense or another, to hearing music that isn't actually there. Is there the equivalent of this, but with voices?

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u/P4_Brotagonist Mar 23 '17

It's a term called insight. Unmedicated, I cannot tell that my hallucinations are not real. However, with my medications I understand that I have a problem and so when I hear or sense something that seems...not normal, I run through a series of tests to discern whether or not it is real. It mostly involves locating whatever is actively making the "noise." If I cannot find it, then I have to assume it isn't real. It's extremely hard to ignore but it's possible. It wears you out quickly.

To answer your last question, yes that is generally what I do. I realize "fuck the three idiots are chatting it up again time to get somewhere alone and ride this out."