When Spirit Calls: A Phenomenological Approach to Healthy Voice-Hearers

Author:

Luhrmann Tanya Marie1ORCID,Chen Xialing Ann2,Baumeister David3,Peters Emmanuelle34

Affiliation:

1. Department of Anthropology, Stanford University , USA

2. Department of Psychiatry , UCSF , USA

3. Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London , London , UK

4. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust , London SE5 , UK

Abstract

Abstract We present a mixed-methods study, from an anthropological perspective, of 22 healthy voice-hearers ie, people who report hearing voices but have no need for clinical care. They were interviewed using the Varieties Of Individual Voice-Experiences Scale (VOICES), a new scale assessing phenomenology, beliefs and relationships with voices, and their emotional and behavioral impact. Despite in many cases hearing voices daily, they report remarkably little distress, with almost all mentioning a positive impact on their life. Most interpreted their voices as spirits, and spoke of learning to understand, to manage, and even to train their experience of communicating with spirits productively. There was, however, considerable diversity in their voice experiences. Some described experiences they seemed to have discovered after starting a practice. Others described reaching for a practice to make sense of unusual experiences. This raises the possibility that cultural ideas about spirit communication may have two effects. On the one hand, they may help those who begin to hear voices involuntarily to interpret and manage their experience in a non-threatening way, through a meaning framework imposed on experiences. On the other hand, it also suggests that cultural ideas about spirit communication may lead some people to identify some thoughts as voices, and to come to feel that those thoughts are generated outside of themselves, through a meaning-framework shaping experiences. This should remind us that the culture-mind relationship is complex. There may be different kinds of phenomena described by individuals as “voices,” with practice and interpretation changing how these phenomena are experienced.

Funder

Stanford University

University of California, Los Angeles

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Psychiatry and Mental health

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1. Making Porosity More Porous;Svetovi: revija za etnologijo, antropologijo in folkloristiko;2024-07-29

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