Relieving Distress Caused by Voices, Visions, and Other Altered Perceptions

Description

We depend on our senses for accurate information about the world, but for many people, a significant portion of what they experience as sensory information has no apparent basis in our shared world. Often any such experience has been understood by professionals to be a sign of mental disorder, but research in the last quarter century shows that only some of the people who hear voices and see visions have significant difficulties due to these experiences; others get on with their lives successfully. What makes the difference? One huge factor is how people interpret and relate to these experiences. This training will explore methods of helping people shift from often unproductive or even counterproductive attempts to eliminate “hallucinations,” to constructive ways of coping. With this change in relationship, experiences like voices may fade, become less troublesome, or even shift into something the person experiences as an overall positive in their lives. A special area of focus will be the problem of compliance with command voices. Patterns of compliance dramatically increase the risk of self harm and other destructive behavior; we will review and practice approaches which have been shown to be effective in helping people reduce compliance and regain their sense of personal power. 

Learning Outcomes: 

Utilize an acceptance and commitment therapy approach to help people change relationships with voices, visions, and other “hallucinations.” Identify relationships between problems with voices and with difficult emotions, allowing attention to shift to facing core issues and schemas. Utilize a proven CBT strategy to help people reduce even partial or imagined compliance with command voices. Employ role plays to help people learn assertiveness with distressing voices.