Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T13:18:26.539Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Persistent auditory hallucinations: coping mechanisms and implications for management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Ian R. H. Falloon  and
Ralph E. Talbot
Ian R. H. Falloon*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
Ralph E. Talbot
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Ian R. H. Falloon, Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California, 1934 Hospital Place, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The strategies used by 40 chronic schizophrenic out-patients with persistent auditory hallucinations to cope with the intrusive phenomena were explored. Frequent coping mechanisms included changes in activity, interpersonal contact, manipulations of physiological arousal, and attentional control. A high risk of suicide was noted.

Coping behaviour appeared somewhat independent of clinical and sociodemographic variables. Successful coping appeared to result from systematic application of widely used coping strategies. The implications for the clinical management of patients with persistent auditory hallucinations are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , May 1981 , pp. 329 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alford, G. S. & Turner, S. M. (1976). Stimulus interference and conditioned inhibition of auditory hallucinations. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 7, 155–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allyon, T. & Kandel, H. (1976). [I hear voices but there's no one there] a functional analysis of auditory hallucinations. In Case Studies in Behaviour Therapy (ed. Eysenck, H. J.), pp. 61–75. Routledge & Kegan Paul: Henley-on-Thames.Google Scholar
Alumbaugh, R. V. (1971). Use of behavior modification technique toward reduction of hallucinatory behavior: a case history. Psychological Record 21, 415–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) (third edn). APA: New York.Google Scholar
Anderson, L. T. & Alpert, M. (1974). Operant analysis of hallucination frequency in a hospitalized schizophrenic. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 5, 13–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucher, B. & Fabricatore, J. (1970). Use of patient-administered shock to suppress hallucinations. Behavior Therapy 1, 382–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erickson, G. D. & Gustafson, G. J. (1968). Controlling auditory hallucinations. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 19, 327–329.Google ScholarPubMed
Ferguson, S. M., Rayport, M. & Gardner, R. (1969). Similarities in mental content of psychotic states, spontaneous speech, dreams, and responses to electrical stimulation in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Psychosomatic Medicine 31, 479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finney, D. J., Latscha, R. & Bennett, B. M. (1963). Tables for Testing Significance in a 2 × 2 Contingency Table. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fischer, R. (1975). Cartography of inner space. In Hallucinations: Behavior, Experience and Theory (ed. Siegel, R. K. and West, L. J.). John Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Fisher, E. B. & Winkler, R. C. (1975). Self-control over intrusive experiences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 43, 911–916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flor-Henry, P. (1969). Schizophrenic-like reactions and affective psychosis associated with temporal lobe epilepsy: etiological factors. American Journal of Psychiatry 126, 400–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gould, L. N. (1948). Verbal hallucinations and activity of vocal musculature. American Journal of Psychiatry 105, 367–372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haynes, S. & Geddy, P. (1973). Suppression of psychotic hallucinations through time-out. Behavior Therapy 4, 123–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ihsan, , Al-Issa, (1976). Behavior therapy and hallucinations: a sociocultural approach. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice 13, 156–159.Google Scholar
Inouye, T. & Shimizu, A. (1970). The electromyographic study of verbal hallucination. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 151, 415–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, E. (1938). Progressive Relaxation. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.Google Scholar
Lewinsohn, P. M. (1970). An empirical test of several popular notions about hallucinations in schizophrenic patients. In Origin and Mechanisms of Hallucinations (ed. Keup, W.), pp. 401–403. Plenum Press: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lick, J. R. & Heffler, D. (1977). Relaxation training and attention placebo in the treatment of severe insomnia. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 45, 153–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linn, L. (1967). Clinical manifestations of psychiatric disorders. In Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (ed. Freedman, A. M. and Kaplan, H. I.), pp. 546–592. Williams and Wilkins: Baltimore.Google Scholar
McGuigan, F. J. (1966). Covert oral behavior and auditory hallucinations. Psychophysiology 3, 73–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meichenbaum, D. H. & Cameron, R. (1974). The clinical potential and pitfalls of modifying what clients say to themselves. In Self-Control: Power to the Person (ed. Mahoney, M. J. and Thoresen, C. E.). Brooks-Cole: Monterey, California.Google Scholar
Moser, A. J. (1974). Covert punishment of hallucinatory behavior in a psychotic male. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 5, 297–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nydegger, R. (1972). The elimination of hallucinatory and delusionl behavior by verbal conditioning and assertive training: a case study. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 3, 225–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, R. L., Liberman, R. P. & Baker, V. (1976). A problem in the behavioral assessment of the frequency of hallucinations. Unpublished report, Camarillo Neuropsychiatric Research Institute.Google Scholar
Paul, G. L. (1969). Chronic mental patient: current status – future directions. Psychological Bulletin 71, 81–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenthal, D. & Quinn, O. W. (1977). Quadruplet hallucinations. Archives of General Psychiatry 34, 817–827.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider, K. (1959). Clinical Psychopathology. Grune & Stratton: New York.Google Scholar
Slade, P. D. (1972). The effects of systemic desensitization on auditory hallucinations. Behavior, Research and Therapy 10, 85–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slade, P. D. (1974). The external control of auditory hallucinations: an information theory analysis. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 13, 73–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slater, E. & Beard, A. W. (1963). The schizophrenia-like psychosis of epilepsy. British Journal of Psychiatry 109, 95–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1975). Research Diagnostic Criteria. Psychopharmacology Bulletin 11, 22–25.Google ScholarPubMed
Stern, R. S. (1970). Treatment of a case of obsessional neurosis using thought-stopping technique. British Journal of Psychiatry 117, 441–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turner, S. M., Hersen, M. & Bellack, A. S. (1977). Effects of social disruption, stimulus, interference, and aversive conditioning on auditory hallucinations. Behavior Modification 1, 249–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, C. J., Nelson, C. J., Liberman, R. P., Aitchison, R. A., Lukoff, D., Elder, J. & Ferris, C. (1980). A review and critique of social skills training with schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenia Bulletin 6, 42–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weingartner, A. H. (1971). Self-administered aversive stimulation with hallucinating hospitalized schizophrenics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 36, 422–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, L. J. (ed.) (1962). A general theory of hallucinations and dreams. In Hallucinations, pp. 275–291. Grune & Stratton: New York.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1977). International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia. WHO: Geneva.Google Scholar