Emerging perspectives from the hearing voices movement: implications for research and practice

Dirk Corstens, Eleanor Longden, Simon McCarthy-Jones, Rachel Waddingham, Neil Thomas, Dirk Corstens, Eleanor Longden, Simon McCarthy-Jones, Rachel Waddingham, Neil Thomas

Abstract

The international Hearing Voices Movement (HVM) is a prominent mental health service-user/survivor movement that promotes the needs and perspectives of experts by experience in the phenomenon of hearing voices (auditory verbal hallucinations). The main tenet of the HVM is the notion that hearing voices is a meaningful human experience, and in this article, we discuss the historical growth and influence of the HVM before considering the implications of its values for research and practice in relation to voice-hearing. Among other recommendations, we suggest that the involvement of voice-hearers in research and a greater use of narrative and qualitative approaches are essential. Challenges for implementing user-led research are identified, and avenues for future developments are discussed.

Keywords: auditory hallucinations; service-user involvement; social psychiatry.

© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

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