hearing voices
Phantom sounds perceived
Hearing voices refers to the experience of perceiving speech or sounds without an external source—auditory hallucinations.
The phrase most often appears in psychiatric contexts: She started hearing voices in her twenties.
While associated with schizophrenia and other mental illness, hearing voices can also occur with grief, sleep deprivation, or extreme stress.
Some who hear voices consider the experience spiritual rather than pathological.
Perceived sounds without stimulus
- delusionsFirmly held false beliefs
- hallucinatePerceive without stimulus
- antipsychoticsDrugs treating severe mental disorders
- psychiatricOf mental health treatment
mental illness · reality distortion · thought disorder · delirium · mania · bipolar disorder · schizoaffective · clozapine
Sense of unease about motives
- distrustAbsence of confidence
- surveillanceSystematic observation of subjects
- eavesdroppingSecretly listening to others
- whisperingBreathy, near-silent speech
conspiracy · persecution · threat · fear · anxiety · bugging · wiretap · secrecy
Moral self-reproach
- moralityRight and wrong principles
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- moral compassInner ethical guidance system
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
remorse · discernment · principles · duty · accountability · temptation · guidance · warning
Speaking to oneself mentally
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- thoughtsMental reflections
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
- reflectionReturned light or thought
contemplation · subvocalization · pondering · reasoning · monologue · meditation · mindfulness · deliberation
Liquor or apparitions
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- prophecyForetelling of future events
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
- shamanismMediation between worlds
medium · channeling · possession · revelation · visions · calling · messages · guidance
auditory hallucinations
Perceived sounds without stimulus
- delusionsFirmly held false beliefs
- hallucinatePerceive without stimulus
- antipsychoticsDrugs treating severe mental disorders
psychiatric · mental illness · reality distortion · thought disorder · delirium · mania · bipolar disorder · schizoaffective · clozapine · inpatient treatment
suspicion
Sense of unease about motives
- distrustAbsence of confidence
- surveillanceSystematic observation of subjects
- eavesdroppingSecretly listening to others
whispering · conspiracy · persecution · threat · fear · anxiety · bugging · wiretap · secrecy · spy
guilt
Moral self-reproach
- moralityRight and wrong principles
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- moral compassInner ethical guidance system
judgment · remorse · discernment · principles · duty · accountability · temptation · guidance · warning · righteousness
self-talk
Speaking to oneself mentally
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- thoughtsMental reflections
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
reflection · contemplation · subvocalization · pondering · reasoning · monologue · meditation · mindfulness · deliberation · self-reflection
spirits
Liquor or apparitions
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- prophecyForetelling of future events
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
shamanism · medium · channeling · possession · revelation · visions · calling · messages · guidance · supernatural
- Hallucinationsvisual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucination, auditory hallucination, seeing things
- mental symptomsanxiety, depression, paranoia, hallucination, delusion
- phantom soundswhispers, ringing, buzzing, humming, tinnitus
- fetal developmentkicking, movement, hiccups, thumb sucking, swallowing
- ear symptomsearache, ear pain, tinnitus, ear discharge, ear pressure
- mental illnessschizophrenia, mental illness, psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression
hearing voicestotal silence
silence · soundlessness · inner silence · deafness · tinnitus
hearing, voices, hear, voice, heard, hears, hearer, hearers, overhear