Dimensions of coping with auditory hallucinations

Forty attenders at a depot medication clinic were interviewed about their experience of hearing voices. They were asked to say when they had last heard voices and whether they experienced their voices as unpleasant, pleasant or neutral. Using a checklist, they identified the coping strategies they used for their experience. They were also asked to say which strategies were most useful in dealing with a voice experienced as unpleasant and from where they had learned these strategies. Twenty-nine participants had experienced voices within the previous twelve months. Only one attender wasnot able to identify at least some ways of attempting to cope with them. Sixteen participants did not always experience their voices as unpleasant, and twelve reported more than one type. There were some significant differences in the ways participants dealt with pleasant and unpleasant voices. There appeared to be identifiable groups of coping strategies.