History
The Hearing Voices Movement originated in the Netherlands in the late 1980s through the collaboration of voice-hearer Patsy Hage, psychiatrist Marius Romme, and researcher Sandra Escher.[2][3][10] HVM was formally established in 1987 with the founding of the first national Hearing Voices Network in the Netherlands, Stichting Weerklank, following a meeting organized by Escher and Romme. In 1988, a group was formed in Manchester by voice-hearer Louise Pembroke and community worker Paul Baker.[11] After receiving media attention in 1990, this developed into a national UK network.[12]
Following this, more national networks were formed, including in Austria (1992), Finland and Japan (1996), Germany (1998), Palestine (2001), USA (2010), and Uganda (2012).[12][13] In 1997, the organisation Intervoice was established to support and connect hearing voices networks and initiatives worldwide.[14][15] In 2009, the first World Hearing Voices Congress was held in Maastricht, Netherlands.[16]
The Melbourne Hearing Voices Declaration was launched at the World Hearing Voices Congress in 2013. It promotes the hearing voices approach as a rights-based alternative within mental health care.[17] This was followed by the Thessaloniki Declaration in 2014.[18]
Hearing voices groups
Hearing voices groups are based on an ethos of self-help, mutual respect and empathy. They provide a safe space for people to share their experiences and to support one another. They are peer support groups, involving social support and belonging, not necessarily therapy or treatment. Groups offer an opportunity for people to accept and live with their experiences in a way that helps them regain some power over their lives. There are hundreds of hearing voices groups and networks across the world.[66][non-primary source needed] In 2014 there were more than 180 groups in the UK. These include groups for young people, people in prison, women and people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities.[67][68][69][70][25][71]
World Hearing Voices Congress
Intervoice hosts the annual World Hearing Voices Congress. In 2015 the 7th Congress was held in Madrid, Spain, the 2016 Congress will be held in Paris, France. Previous conferences have been held in Maastricht, Netherlands, (2009); Nottingham, England (2010), Savona, Italy (2011), Cardiff, Wales (2012); Melbourne, Australia (2013); Thessaloniki, Greece (2014); Madrid, Spain (2015).
Annual World Hearing Voices Day
This is held on 14 September and celebrates hearing voices as part of the diversity of human experience, It seeks to increase awareness of the fact that you can hear voices and be healthy. It also challenges the negative attitudes towards people who hear voices and the assumption that hearing voices, in itself, is a sign of mental illness.
Research
Intervoice has an international research committee, that commissions research, encourages and supports exchanges and visits between member countries, the translation and publication of books and other literature on the subject of hearing voices and other related extraordinary experiences.[72]
Pubmed Auditory Verbal Hallucinations
Healthy individuals develop different beliefs about the origins of the voices (from within myself in 41% vs. from others in 42% cases), 17% are uncertain if these voices are real or not [19] and others believe that they originate from guardian angels, source of deceased and ghosts. Indeed, while non-clinical voice-hearers more frequently endorsed external or non-specific spiritual explanations about the origins of the voices heard, clinical voice-hearers more frequently explained that the voices were other (living) people, God, demons/evils or implanted devices
What do we mean by ‘hearing voices’?
When we talk about ‘hearing voices’ we are referring to experiences where someone hears, sees or senses something that other people don’t. It can include:
Hearing someone speak when other people can’t
Hearing music, noises or sounds that other people can’t hear
Seeing something other people can’t see (often called having a ‘vision’)
Feeling something on, or under, your skin that is hard to explain and/or others might say has no physical cause
Smelling something other people can’t
Tasting something that others, eating or drinking the same substance, would not taste
Sensing someone else’s presence, when others cannot
Having people you can speak to that others cannot see or hear
This sections shares a few aspects of the experience of hearing voices, but is not intended to be comprehensive. We hope that it gives you some food for thought and, hopefully, signposts you to some useful resources.
Is there an evolution in epidemiology of hearing Voices in past 50 year?
AI-overzicht
Yes, there has been a significant evolution in the epidemiology of hearing voices (auditory verbal hallucinations, AVH) over the past 50 years. The primary shift has been away from a strict, purely pathological model—viewing voices exclusively as a symptom of schizophrenia or brain disease—toward a dimensional model, recognizing that voice-hearing occurs on a continuum across the general population, including in healthy individuals.
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Key aspects of this epidemiological evolution include:
Recognition of Non-Clinical Voice Hearing: Historically, voice hearing was tightly tethered to schizophrenia diagnosis. In the last few decades, research has established that 5% to 15% (and sometimes higher) of the general population may experience hallucinations without needing psychiatric care, often termed "healthy voice-hearers".
Increased Prevalence Data: Epidemiological studies in the past 50 years have shown that voice hearing is far more common than previously assumed, particularly in children and adolescents, with mean lifetime prevalence rates estimated around 9.6% across the lifespan.
Shift in Focus on Distress: Epidemiology has moved from simply counting "symptoms" to analyzing the context of the voices. Research now distinguishes between clinical voice-hearing (associated with high distress, lack of control, and negative content) and non-clinical voice-hearing (often controllable, less frequent, and benign or positive in content).
The Role of Trauma: There is now strong epidemiological evidence linking the experience of hearing voices to trauma, particularly childhood sexual abuse, rather than exclusively to genetic or biological factors, a connection that has gained prominence in studies over the last two decades.
Contextualization and Social Approaches: The rise of the Hearing Voices Movement (HVM), starting in the late 1980s, shifted the perspective from only treating voices as brain diseases to understanding them as meaningful experiences that can be managed, thereby fostering better coping strategies and reducing stigma.
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Evolution Summary
1970s–1980s: Primarily viewed as a core symptom of schizophrenia (pathological).
1990s–2000s: Emerging studies show non-clinical prevalence and importance of trauma.
2010s–Present: Broadly accepted as a dimensional experience (continuum model) and a transdiagnostic experience, with focus on voice-hearer perspectives.
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