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Oxford University Press (OUP), Schizophrenia Bulletin: The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders, Suppl 4(40), p. S246-S254

DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbu003

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Interdisciplinary approaches to the phenomenology of auditory verbal hallucinations

Journal article published in 2014 by Angela Woods, Nev Jones, Marco Bernini, Felicity Callard, Ben Alderson-Day, Johanna C. Badcock, Vaughan Bell, Chris C. H. Cook, Thomas Csordas, Clara Humpston, Joel Kreuger, J. Krueger, Frank Laroi, Simon McCarthy-Jones, P. Moseley ORCID and other authors.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Despite the recent proliferation of scientific, clinical and narrative accounts of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), the phenomenology of voice-hearing remains opaque and under-theorised. In this paper, 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 analyse a wider range of first-person accounts of AVH at three contextual levels: (i) cultural, social and historical, (ii) experiential and (iii) biographical. We go on to show that there are significant potential benefits for voice-hearers, clinicians and researchers. These include (i) informing the development and refinement of subtypes of hallucinations within and across diagnostic categories; (ii) “front-loading” research in cognitive neuroscience; and (iii) 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.