Other Peoples Thoughts

[jmni]

There is one last reason why it's very important to have a therapist, which is just that it's important to have someone to talk to about what the experience of the voice/thoughts and what it is like for you. You can't really otherwise open up about it to random people, becuase of course most people do not understand. If you don't have someone to talk to about it, it will be a very weird and isolated experience.

 

[Deleted member 10686]

As soon as I get insurance sorted out, I will be looking for a therapist. Right now I can't get in to see one though, it's been months. Last time I tried to explain my experience with hearing thoughts, the last few times actually, it was boiled down to being trauma related and thrown to the side. I didn't like that because to be honest, this does have "psychotic" undertones, not saying I'm psychotic like dangerous, but psychotic like is a psychotic symptom, make sense?

 

[jmni]

Yes, it is very scary to consider that you could have a psychosis and it's disappointing to have it brushed off by a professional. When you go to therapy you can tell them that you want to talk about the hallucinations and how it makes you feel in addition to past trauma.

Depending on what city you are in there will be a different level of therapists and psychiatrists. In my case there are very few psychiatrist in this town, although there is a high number of therapists. But 40 minutes away in the next town there is a university with around a hundred psychiatrists who list their specialities. My suggestion would be to see a psychiatrist in a place like that. Someone who has a speciality with pure OCD, schizophrenia, ptsd, dementia and over all anything to do with hallucinations. Any psychiatrist with experience and a focus on hallucination related disorders would be most informed about medications that work, probably be better able to diagnose you, and could give you a good reference to a therapist.

 

[Deleted member 10686]

UPDATE: I saw my psychiatrist today. I love my pdoc. She has always been very understanding and helpful.

She described the thoughts in my head as having "the village people" in my head, and assured me I'm not the only one with them in my head. She called it "thought broadcasting" and even more accurate, I think, after reading more about it, "thought insertion" which is exactly what I'm experiencing. But she believes that it is highly having to do with stress level, since it started up again when I started school. She added more prazosin to my regimin to take during school time (I take prazosin for anxiety purposes) and she adjusted my Ritalin so I could focus better at school, since my focus has been off due to everything. She didn't want to add any new antipsychotics when it might just all be anxiety driven. So we will see how this helps. I laughed at the village people part . I just hope this helps. I really do. I hope it's all anxiety and not something more psychotic. She didn't seem to think it was, and I do trust her judgement.

 

[Ladyghosthunter]

Being an empath, I can't be around too many people all at once and going to flea markets bugs the living crap out of me. I can't stand being in crowds of people and it drives me nuts that I have to go to these places because most of them are superficial narcissists going to the University nearby. Then there come the parents and some of the others that have marinated in perfume, fake tans, and attitudes of complete snobbery that you just want to tell them, "Money doesn't buy manners, honey. Learn how to speak to others in a language other than ***hole." I get anxiety being "forced" to go to these places because of my diet and, so help me, grocery shopping really stinks. Concerts are starting to bother me...I guess when Dave Brockie died from GWAR (good friends), going to concerts destroyed it for me. Talking about his death hurts me and I don't think I'll ever get over it. I was to give him something when he came back to Lincoln, NE and cook dinner for the band but he died and he was expecting something from me. His last words to me after I told him about what I was going to give him (a GWARGOYLE) was **** YEAH!!!!!!!! I feel cheated..sorry, I'm crying. His death really hurts...

 

[Philippa]

I've had that experience many times as well. I experience negative thoughts about myself as being external and coming from others around me.

I have read that with some people it is common that the person will experience negative self talk as voices that sound like other people they know, so it can be very confusing and makes you think you can hear their thoughts...when it's more likely that you are thinking these things about yourself, but your internal dialogue is experienced as other voices besides you own.

I have learned to live with it, and concluded that it's a good thing to see the voices as a part of you and try and engage in dialogue with them....but it can be hard when they are saying nasty things about you.

A good practise to have is to remember that your thoughts have no power over you whatsoever, and they are subject to being challenged at all times. You can always speak back to them and correct them if they are saying things that are horrible or wrong.

It's worth checking out with a professional if you can find someone who works with this specifically. Just try not to be scared of them when you hear these different sounding voices. They can't hurt you, other than be mean...and they have no power over you.