Beliefs about hearing voices.
People who experience auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) vary in whether they believe their AVHs are self-generated or caused by external agents. It remains unclear whether these differences are influenced by the "intensity" of the voices, such as their frequency or volume, or other aspects of their phenomenology. We examined 35 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who experienced AVHs. Patients completed a detailed structured interview about their AVHs, including beliefs about their cause. In response, 20 (57.1%) reported that their AVHs were self-generated, 9 (25.7%) were uncertain, and 6 (17.1%) reported that their AVHs were caused by external agents. Several analytical approaches revealed little or no evidence for associations between either AVH intensity or phenomenology and beliefs about the AVH's cause; the evidence instead favoured the absence of these associations. Beliefs about the cause of AVHs are thus unlikely to be explained solely by the phenomenological qualities of the AVHs.
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia. Electronic address: michael.connors@mq.edu.au.
Michael H
MH
Connors
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia.
Serje
S
Robidoux
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia.
Robyn
R
Langdon
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia; Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia.
Max
M
Coltheart
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
Auditory verbal hallucination; Belief; Delusion; Hallucination; Insight; Phenomenology; Psychosis