Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Phenomenology of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations

• Published in: Schizophrenia bulletin Vol. 40; no. Suppl 4; pp. S246 - S254
• Main Authors: WOODS, Angela, JONES, Nev, KRUEGER, Joel, LARØI, Frank, MCCARTHY-JONES, Simon, MOSELEY, Peter, POWELL, Hilary, RABALLO, Andrea, SMAILES, David, FERNYHOUGH, Charles, BERNIN, Marco, CALLARD, Felicity, ALDERSON-DAY, Ben, BADCOCK, Johanna C, BELL, Vaughan, COOK, Chris C. H, CSORDAS, Thomas, HUMPSTON, Clara
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.07.2014
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Cooperative Behavior; Culture; Hallucinations - ethnology; Hallucinations - psychology; Hallucinations - therapy; Humanities; Humans; Medical sciences; Models, Psychological; Psychologie cognitive & théorique; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Sciences sociales & comportementales, psychologie; Social & behavioral sciences, psychology; Social Environment; Social Sciences; Supplement; Theoretical & cognitive psychology; Phenomenology; Psychosis; auditory verbal hallucinations; Cooperation; research collaboration; Interdisciplinarity; Auditory hallucination; Interdisciplinary field; phenomenology; interdisciplinarity; psychosis
• ISSN: 0586-7614; 1745-1701
• DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbu003

Despite the recent proliferation of scientific, clinical, and narrative accounts of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), the phenomenology of voice hearing remains opaque and undertheorized. In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary approach to understanding hallucinatory experiences which seeks to demonstrate the value of the humanities and social sciences to advancing knowledge in clinical research and practice. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenology of AVH utilizes rigorous and context-appropriate methodologies to analyze a wider range of first-person accounts of AVH at 3 contextual levels: (1) cultural, social, and historical; (2) experiential; and (3) biographical. We go on to show that there are significant potential benefits for voice hearers, clinicians, and researchers. These include (1) informing the development and refinement of subtypes of hallucinations within and across diagnostic categories; (2) "front-loading" research in cognitive neuroscience; and (3) suggesting new possibilities for therapeutic intervention. In conclusion, we argue that an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenology of AVH can nourish the ethical core of scientific enquiry by challenging its interpretive paradigms, and offer voice hearers richer, potentially more empowering ways to make sense of their experiences.