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What You're Not Hearing About the Hearing Voices Movement by Susan Inman

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What You're Not Hearing About the Hearing Voices Movement by Susan Inman Reprinted by NSSS with permission. Originally posted: 08/29/2015 9:40 am EDT (www.huffingtonpost.ca) What You're not Hearing About the Hearing Voices Movement by Susan Inman ecently the Hearing Voices Movement should reject the diagnosis and just work R (HVM) has been receiving a lot of very through their emotional problems. As well, positive press in Canada. The Globe and Mail, Romme believes that "anti-psychotic CBC's Tapestry program and the University of medication prevents the emotional processing British Columbia's alumni magazine TREK have and therefore healing, of the meaning of the offered similar kinds of stories. The public voices." finds out about the long known but not well- publicized fact that lots of people who have These can be very dangerous messages for auditory hallucinations don't have mental people who are struggling to understand and illnesses. Then we learn about someone who accept that they have serious brain disorders benefitted from the supportive atmosphere that will require careful management. that the Hearing Voices Movement's Although the Hearing Voices Movement has programs offers. We hear that this program been around for over 25 years, there is no helps people better manage their voices. research attesting to its benefits for people How could anyone object to such a helpful with mental illnesses. And operating from the use of our very limited mental health belief that medications interfere with budgets? recovery can have negative consequences; ample research demonstrates that the longer Some of us need to object because, by failing the period of untreated psychosis is for to differentiate between the needs of people people, the worse their outcomes are. who actually have psychotic disorders and those who don't, HVM poses serious risks. At support groups for families of people with psychotic illnesses, I mainly see two kinds of Recent coverage of HVM hasn't made clear families. Some of our family members that HVM doesn't distinguish between these received appropriate education and two different populations. In fact, its founders treatment and are no longer psychotic, even believe that what psychiatry and the though they continue to struggle with other neuroscience community call brain disorders aspects of their illnesses. However, many of are just symptoms of emotional distress and the people who attend have family members what they call delusions are just unusual who resist treatment because they don't ideas. understand that they are ill. International research demonstrates that many people Dutch psychiatrist Dr. Marius Romme helped experiencing psychosis have anosognosia, a develop HVM in the 1980s. If you listen to this brain-based inability to understand that they presentation by him or read this article, it's are ill. A growing problem in Vancouver is that easy to believe that people who have been family support groups are receiving given psychiatric diagnoses like schizophrenia presentations from proponents of HVM who don't make clear the movement's theoretical standards of research it uses and its "self- assumptions. The presentations don't reveal serving anecdotal, rather than evidence-based how deep the anti-psychiatry and anti- accounts of psychosis." As well, he points out medication beliefs are of founder Marius that the document seems to rely on Romme and other leaders of HVM. anecdotes from people who hear voices but who don't use mental health services. In other Romme maintains that there is no scientific words, the experiences of people who aren't reason for thinking of schizophrenia as a brain being treated for mental illnesses are being disease. He might be surprised if he visited used to suggest treatments for people who do Google Scholar, searched under "brain" and have mental illnesses. "schizophrenia" and looked at even the first few pages of the more than one million The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health citations that could update him on advances Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently in his field. underwent two years of Congressional scrutiny because of concerns SAMHSA was Families are being encouraged through groups promoting non-medical and non-evidence like HVM to think of auditory hallucinations, based approaches to severe mental illnesses. delusions, disorganized thinking, impaired In June, Congress reintroduced the Helping functioning and other symptoms of severe Families in Mental Health Crisis Act which mental illnesses as just part of the human would ensure that mental health services use condition, not medical problems. Meanwhile, evidence based practices. they aren't being exposed to the larger context of these messages. Canada has psychiatrists who are actively working to educate the public about psychotic An alarming de-medicalized approach to disorders from a science and evidence-based psychotic disorders is being promoted perspective. In a new video created by the internationally through various groups. In the B.C. Schizophrenia Society, Dr. Diane U.K. these trends are apparent in a very Fredrikson, head of Vancouver's Early controversial monograph, "Understanding Psychosis Intervention program, provides Psychosis and Schizophrenia," put out by the essential information about these illnesses. British Psychological Society. Its attempts to And, although Dr Romme maintains that normalize psychosis have been vigorously psychiatry can't help people with criticized by numerous psychiatrists including schizophrenia, the film profiles Bryn Ditmars Dr. Ronald Pies, Editor in Chief Emeritus of whose illness included both auditory and Psychiatric Times, who writes that the visual hallucinations; with psychiatric care he monograph, "Trivializes the very real suffering has rebuilt an active and meaningful life. of those with psychosis." He also points out that the authors, by focusing on voice hearers, This is the kind of information that families ignore severe problems that need attention, looking to provide the best help need to like the well-documented cognitive losses that hear.□ can occur with schizophrenia. In looking at the research informing the British monograph's attempt to minimize the impact of psychosis, prominent psychologist Dr. James Coyne criticizes it for the poor .
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