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Dialogical engagement with voices: A single case study
Author(s) -
Davies Peggy,
Thomas Philip,
Leudar Ivan
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1348/000711299159934
Subject(s) - dialogical self , explication , psychology , perspective (graphical) , narrative , context (archaeology) , mediation , variety (cybernetics) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , epistemology , linguistics , sociology , paleontology , philosophy , social science , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology
This paper raises the possibility that a dialogical, or discursive, model of human experience may be useful in helping someone who experiences verbal hallucinations. The model regards verbal hallucinations as a variety of inner speech with dialogical properties. The explication of these properties in the context of a personal narrative allowed the individual to engage in dialogue with the voices, through the medium of a new, supportive and positive voice. This process made it possible to introduce moral responses to distressing and potentially dangerous imperative verbal hallucinations, through the mediation of the new voice. Her dialogical engagement with this voice enabled her to deal effectively with troublesome voices, and was a powerful source of self‐esteem. We briefly present the theoretical perspective underlying this approach, and compare and contrast the approach with cognitive‐behavioural techniques.