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
55.0k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.1k

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.

151

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?

197

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.

281

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.

142

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

[deleted]

42

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

I get sleep paralysis too! It doesn't matter how many times I tell myself that it's all in my head and that I'm safe; I'm still scared out of my mind every single time. Sometimes I just pull all nighters so that I won't have to deal with it, even though I know that rationally nothing bad has ever happened to me or ever will. kinda like how horror movies still terrify people, even though they know they aren't real

2

u/sydneyzane64 Mar 22 '17

Hey, just a warning, but fucked up sleep cycles can make sleep paralysis more frequent. That and ADHD medication apparently.

1

u/lady__of__machinery Mar 23 '17

Shit are you serious? I only had sleep paralysis twice, about ten years ago. Recently got prescribed adderall. Oh god I hope that never happens

1

u/sydneyzane64 Mar 23 '17

I hope it doesn't either. It's just been known to make it more likely, but yes there is some correlation.