The ‘voices’ that people with schizophrenia hear could be echoes of their own vocalizations

Question

In the article "The 'voices' that people with schizophrenia hear could be echoes of their own vocalizations" written by Tom Hawking and published by Popular Science, writer Hawking states the fact that auditory hallucinations could be caused by the brain struggling to correctly attribute sources of stimuli. He does so through a study published in the journal PLoS Biology that researched how people distinguish the patient's own voice from others. The study found that people with schizophrenia are unable to suppress their echo of their voices. I researched the study used in this article and found that it was reliable because it was written recently and posted by a reliable journal. After researching outside sources for the causes of hearing voices, or experiencing auditory hallucinations, with schizophrenia, I found that on livingwithschisophrenia.org that sometimes people hear their own voice or the voice of someone they recognize; sometimes it may be a number of my different people. It also states the fact that the same parts of the brain that are activated by real speech are the same areas that are activated by the voices people with schizophrenia hear in their heads. This article further strengthens Hawkings point that the voices patients hear could be echoes of their own speech because it states the point that the voices they hear are mostly familiar. All in all, I find the statement being made in this article is truthful because of the consistent fact, reliable sources used, and the fact other sources agree with what its saying. https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/information-sheets/understanding-voice-hearing/

Comments

Claim was a little embellished, but you dive into this article thoroughly, giving people a lot to consider when factchecking.

Answer 1

Though the heading of this post is slightly exaggerated, the contents of the argument are true according to multiple sources. A new study of schizophrenia was published stating that scientists have discovered people living with mental illness, schizophrenia in particular, hear voices in their head because they are there. This might seem odd, but the reason is that the brain is sending out stimuli that are incorrect for both auditory and motor signals of the body. This also explains why some people with schizophrenia believe someone is controlling them through voices because the brain cannot differentiate between reality and sends out motor signals in response to what it is hearing. This breakthrough research is helping develop a new treatment for schizophrenia because it targets the disease at its core rather than treating its symptoms. Going back to the original point, patients may or may not hear their voice, but their brain responds to it either way by sending a motor signal for something to happen.

https://www.statnews.com/2024/10/03/schizophrenia-hallucination-voices-brain-process-research/

https://livingwithschizophreniauk.org/information-sheets/understanding-voice-hearing/

Comments

I believe this line of thinking also tracks with theories around why congenitally blind people are less likely to develop schizophrenia, and why "(m)ore strangely, vision loss at other periods of life is associated with higher risks of schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms. Even in healthy people, blocking vision for just a few days can bring about hallucinations. And the connections between vision abnormalities and schizophrenia have become more deeply established in recent years—visual abnormalities are being found before a person has any psychotic symptoms, sometimes predicting who will develop schizophrenia." Source: https://www.vice.com/en/article/people-born-blind-are-mysteriously-protected-from-schizophrenia/

The above article is extremely interesting and I would highly suggest it as reading for anyone interested in the psychopathology of schizophrenia.