Stigma about voice hearing could increase need for clinical care

What is it about?

Voice hearing experiences, or auditory verbal hallucinations, occur in healthy individuals as well as in individuals who need clinical care, but news media depict voice hearing primarily as a symptom of mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. This paper explores whether, and how, public perception of an exaggerated association between voice hearing and mental illness might influence individuals’ need for clinical care. The literature reviewed suggests that stigma could affect need for care through many interrelated pathways.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Stigma has the potential to affect voice hearers even before a diagnosis is assigned or warranted, by virtue of implicit misunderstandings about voice hearing that permeate society, and that are perpetuated by the media.