A experiência de ouvir vozes: características, sentidos e estratégias

Abstract

With the emergence of the International Hearing Voices Movement, hearing voices that others do not, is now considered a human experience that, by itself, may not be considered a symptom of mental disorders. This new perspective on what the biomedical model calls "auditory hallucination" has been widely diffused throughout the world and now also in Brazil. This is a qualitative and descriptive study, an excerpt of a larger project called "Voices Hearers - new approaches in mental health", and aimed to understand the experience of hearing voices from the characteristics, the senses, and the strategies used by the voice hearers. The study was carried out at a CAPS type II in Pelotas / RS. The sample consisted of 16 voices hearers, with diagnoses of mental and behavioral disorders, who attended CAPS II and who had been participating in the voice hearers group. Data collection was performed in April 2018, through semi-structured interviews. The interview data were organized and discussed in three categories: characteristics of the voices; sense of voices; and strategies for dealing with voices. It was evidenced that the characteristics of the voices reported by the interviewees were mostly negative, and are very important predictors of the emotional reactions of the hearers to the experience. As for the senses, these seem to be constructed through the influence of the various discourses to which each one is exposed in its historical and social context throughout life, since they are clearly manifested in the content of the voices that the interviewees reported to listen. The characteristics of the voices and the senses attributed to them by the voice hearer, have shown a great influence on the relation that he / she will establish with his voices. This relationship will determine the type of strategy the hearer will use to cope with the experience, which may be more or less adaptive. The configuration that the experience of hearing voices has for each individual, enables different ways of life and relationship with voices.