Comments on: Listening to the Silences

By: anon anon

anon anon — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:22:01 +0000

‘The book is beautifully written’ (television producer): ‘He pours water over many un-helpful myths and writes clearly in a way that will probably save someone’s life’ (con-tributor to a chat line). A carer wrote ‘First of all a warm thank you for making your re-markable book freely available…’, while from a voice-hearer there came ‘I want to say thanks for writing about your experience. I found it to be the only true version of what I feel happened to myself last year. I had been looking for books to read on the subject, but I found nothing useful until I came to your account’. The mother of a voice-hearer completes this brief snapshot as she wrote to an organisation that aims to support suf-ferers – ‘After reading Roy’s book, I was very impressed, and it has helped me to under-stand what is happening to my son at this very moment. He has always said that it is a spiritual thing, not a mental illness. He described it word for word like Roy. At the mo-ment he is in hospital on psychotic drugs which don’t seem to be helping…I need to help my son, and I think Roy’s experience could help me to advise and understand more of what my son is trying to tell me.’

By: Nick McDermott Community Mental Health Nurse an

Nick McDermott Community Mental Health Nurse an — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:21:05 +0000

One third of people who hear voices have a diagnosis of a psychotic mental illness, most often schizophrenia. They have received help from mental health services where such experiences have been predominantly viewed as biological in origin. Therefore the mainstay of treatment has been largely drug orientated. More recently, psychosocial models have been developed giving rise to some limited access to talking therapies, al-though still within a medical framework.
However, this leaves two thirds of voice hearers who cope well with their experiences or even view them as a positive and essential influence on their lives. They have not re-quired professional intervention and never come into contact with mental health services. The vast majority of these people do not view their experiences within biological or psychological frameworks. Research has shown that a significant factor in how well people cope with their voices, is the beliefs they hold about them.
Roy Vincent’s book, ‘Listening to the Silences’, reminds us that to try to impose psychiatric interpretations on the experiences of voice hearers is not essential and may even be counterproductive. Roy illustrates that the route to recovery may not always lie within the accepted psychiatric doctrine. He emphasizes the importance of finding meaning in voices and a personal understanding of their place within the context of a person’s life.
Roy firmly believes that voices are spiritual in origin and this book will open up new di-mensions and possibilities for those who share his perspective. However, those who do not subscribe to this view should not be deterred, as it is still highly relevant to all voice hearers, relatives and professionals alike. As well as a spiritual perspective, ‘Listening to the Silences’ provides valuable insights into the phenomenological experience of voice hearing; what it feels like, the behaviours, tricks and ploys of the voices, how they interact and impact on a person’s life and ways to deal with them on a day to day basis. For this reason it has the potential to greatly enhance empathy, providing the foundation to any supportive or helpful relationship.
This is not a textbook. It does not attempt to dissect and amalgamate human ex-perience for scientific scrutiny. This is a heartfelt unadulterated account of a personal odyssey. Even the casual reader will find this easily accessible and indeed ultimately absorbing. It is wonderfully written providing a fascinating glimpse into what is still one of Western society’s taboos and yet a reality for millions in the UK alone. I believe that ‘Listening to the Silences’ can raise the profile and acceptance of voice hearing; enabling those who struggle with the experience to overcome the isolation, lack of empathy and stigma which impedes their recovery.
Nick McDermott RMN, BSc (Hons)
Community Mental Health Nurse and former Honorary Lecturer on Psychosocial Interventions for Psychosis at the University of Manchester

By: Janice Savage, B.A., A.L.A. Ex-Librarian

Janice Savage, B.A., A.L.A. Ex-Librarian — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:20:04 +0000

This book is a lucid and compelling account of the non-self-induced physical, mental and spiritual suffering undergone by the Author for many years, and its eventual alleviation.
While deeply involved in the traumas such as invasion by occult ‘entities’, hearing voices and enduring harrowing schizophrenia, he was gradually able to stand aside from the condition and to utilise his active enquiring mind, first-class training as an engineer and experiences in the Second World War, to analyse and describe what had happened to him, and why.
While working through the lengthy recovery process, he became aware of the effects of natural phenomena such as electric currents, water flow, atmospheric pressure and the effect of the moon and planets on human beings, not in an astrological sense, but as actual, though unseen, forces. Also studied by him were man-made transmitters of radiation and the constituents and effects of prescribed medicinal drugs.
This book was written both as therapy for himself and as a means of sharing his experi-ences with others who might be similarly affected, offering encouragement and constructive advice. It is a fascinating, enlightening, yet down-to-earth revelation of the human body-mind-spirit relationship and ultimate triumph over adversity.
Janice Savage, B.A., A.L.A.,
Ex-Librarian.

By: ‘Hearing Voices Network’ Manchester

‘Hearing Voices Network’ Manchester — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:18:59 +0000

Roy Vincent – ‘Listening to the Silences’
A courageous and compelling account of how one man lost and found himself again by refusing to accept his experience as schizophrenia. Roy Vincent’s book is a vivid de-scription of his experience of hearing voices. It is a well-written account of his explanation for the startling and unexpected events that began for him 28 years ago.
He writes: ‘I have never been free from intrusions into my mind, or from intruding presences’, yet also he says ‘I have never been ill from this cause, although there have been difficult times… I open part of my life with reluctance, but with hope that you will benefit… ‘
The book is fascinating and out of the ordinary; and although it is part autobiography, it is also part DIY Manual. It is a plea for self-acceptance, something that psychiatric ser-vices and the medical model of voice-hearing take away from people far too frequently, thereby rendering them powerless.
Roy offers this pertinent advice to his readers: ‘My advice to you is to decide for yourself just who you are, and to do all in your power to be yourself. Hold on to your own identity, and strive for your own goals. It took me a long time and much hard work to recover my own life and identity after I had been robbed of them’.
His purpose in writing is to inform and encourage – to encourage those who are troubled by voices to believe that they can regain control of their minds and thoughts, and to help them to do so.
From ‘Hearing Voices Network’, Manchester.

By: Pamela Anita Lyons, Writer, IHolistic Therapist and Outreach

Pamela Anita Lyons, Writer, IHolistic Therapist and Outreach — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:17:50 +0000

Speculation, hypothesis and theoretical analysis are as nothing when set against genuine personal experience.
This book is wholly the product of the Author’s profound experiences and his determination to share them with other voice-hearers and with those who care for them.
You will find that it is written with the observation and clarity that come from the mind of an engineer, but with the use and love of language that undoubtedly originate in his native Wales.
Pamela Anita Lyons, Writer, Holistic Therapist and Outreach Sector Teacher.

By: Annie Borthwick, B.A., Lay Chapl Independent Psychiatric Hospita

Annie Borthwick, B.A., Lay Chapl Independent Psychiatric Hospita — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:16:27 +0000

Roy Vincent’s book presents a challenge to all those who would pathologise the surpris-ingly common experience of voice-hearing. He writes an articulate and moving account of the way this phenomenon has affected his life, and offers an alternative model that should make all of us sit up and take note. Leave your prejudices at the door and come into Vincent’s world with an open mind and heart. You won’t be disappointed!
Annie Borthwick, B.A., Lay Chaplain, Independent Psychiatric Hospital.