Dr.Eleanor Longden started hearing voices when she was a student. At first they were harmless and narrated whatever she did. But they became increasingly antagonistic and dictatorial, and made her life a nightmare. She was hospitalised, drugged and labelled schizophrenic.
Eleanor went on to earn a master’s in psychology and demonstrate that the voices in her head were “a sane reaction to insane circumstances.” She is now Postdoctoral Service User Research Manager at Psychosis Research Unit.
Her 2013 TED talk on voice hearing was named by the Guardian newspaper as one of the ‘20 Online Talks That Could Change Your Life’ and in its first year online it was viewed 2.5m times and translated into 33 languages.
Psychiatry traditionally refers to hearing voices as ‘auditory hallucinations’ but research shows that there are many explanations for hearing voices. If you want to connect with others who hear voices check out the Hearing Voices Network UK.
Find out more about Eleanor Longden in her book Learning From The Voices In My Head.
