So, I am told there are a very large number of people who hear voices, but do not otherwise have any of the seriously disabling symptoms of schizophrenia.
Possibilities that come to mind:
Spectrum condition. Non-pathological voice hearers have same relation to diagnosed schizophrenia as high-functioning posters to LessWrong have to the severe forms of autism.
Maybe not even the same thing at all, lke whatever causes schizophrenia just co-incidentally happens to have a symptom in common with some other, harmless thing.
(in the case of autism, the argument that the mild and severe forms share a causal factor is that parents with the mild form statistically tend to have children with the severe form, suggesting a heritable common factor. I have absolutely no idea if there in comparable evidence for voice-hearing).
Auditory hallucinations are just a symptom of schizophrenia, and a lot of things have symptoms in common. I would guess that occasionally generating an auditory hallucination is normal for a brain with hearing capabilities, whether in partially dreaming state, trying to predict and fill in the soundscape around it with imperfect data, or anticipating reality that manages to run ahead of the actual.
First a bit of background: radio hams have competitions where you win points for correctly receiving a radio message from the other participants. To win at this game, you’ve got to be good at hearing a weak, distant radio station that is almost obscured by the background static.
a phenomenon reported by radio operators—especially when using morse code—is that you copy down a message from the other guy, but are not 100% sure whetherv what you’ve heard is real or just hallucinatory. (You get to find out that it was real when the judge of the contest gives you the points for having correctly transcribed the message you were sent).
So that certainly exists. - but it’s unclear if voice hearing is that type of phenomenon, or something else.
So, I am told there are a very large number of people who hear voices, but do not otherwise have any of the seriously disabling symptoms of schizophrenia.
Possibilities that come to mind:
Spectrum condition. Non-pathological voice hearers have same relation to diagnosed schizophrenia as high-functioning posters to LessWrong have to the severe forms of autism.
Maybe not even the same thing at all, lke whatever causes schizophrenia just co-incidentally happens to have a symptom in common with some other, harmless thing.
(in the case of autism, the argument that the mild and severe forms share a causal factor is that parents with the mild form statistically tend to have children with the severe form, suggesting a heritable common factor. I have absolutely no idea if there in comparable evidence for voice-hearing).
Auditory hallucinations are just a symptom of schizophrenia, and a lot of things have symptoms in common. I would guess that occasionally generating an auditory hallucination is normal for a brain with hearing capabilities, whether in partially dreaming state, trying to predict and fill in the soundscape around it with imperfect data, or anticipating reality that manages to run ahead of the actual.
First a bit of background: radio hams have competitions where you win points for correctly receiving a radio message from the other participants. To win at this game, you’ve got to be good at hearing a weak, distant radio station that is almost obscured by the background static.
a phenomenon reported by radio operators—especially when using morse code—is that you copy down a message from the other guy, but are not 100% sure whetherv what you’ve heard is real or just hallucinatory. (You get to find out that it was real when the judge of the contest gives you the points for having correctly transcribed the message you were sent).
So that certainly exists. - but it’s unclear if voice hearing is that type of phenomenon, or something else.