“The tangled roots of inner speech, voices and delusions” by Cherise Rosen et al.

The tangled roots of inner speech, voices and delusions

Cherise Rosen, Simon McCarthy-Jones, Kayla A. Chase, Clara S. Humpston, Jennifer K. Melbourne, Leah Kling & Rajiv P. Sharma

Highlights

  • This exploratory study examined the role of inner speech in the experience of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) and delusions.
  • Greater levels of dialogic inner speech were found in participants with psychosis compared to non-clinical controls.
  • Greater levels of dialogic inner speech reported better relations both with and between their voices.
  • Qualitative narratives also highlighted the tangled dynamics of inner speech, AVHs and delusions.
  • These results underscores the need for phenomenological and clinical research into the potential interrelatedness of inner speech, voices and delusions, and the complexities involved in disentangling this network of inner experience.

Abstract

The role of inner speech in the experience of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and delusions remains unclear. This exploratory study tested for differences in inner speech (assessed via self-report questionnaire) between 89 participants with psychosis and 37 non-clinical controls. We also tested for associations of inner speech with, i) state/trait AVH, ii) AVH-severity; iii) patients’ relations with their voices, and; iv) delusion-severity. Persons with psychosis had greater levels of dialogic inner speech, other people in inner speech, and evaluative/motivational inner speech than non-clinical controls. Those with state, but not trait AVH had greater levels of dialogic and evaluative/motivational inner speech than non-clinical controls. After controlling for delusions, there was a positive relation between AVH-severity and both evaluative/motivational inner speech and other people in inner speech. Participants with greater levels of dialogic inner speech reported better relations both with and between their voices. There was no association between delusion-severity and inner speech. These results highlight the importance of better understanding relations between inner speech and AVH, provide avenues for future research, and underscore the need for research into the interrelatedness of inner speech, voices and delusions, and the complexities involved in disentangling these experiences.

http://www.psy-journal.com/article/S0165-1781%2817%2931563-9/abstract

Prof Matthias Schwannauer

Matthias Schwannauer

Affiliation : University of Edinburgh

Matthias Schwannauer graduated with first degrees in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Marburg in 1994. In 1998 he completed his applied clinical psychology training at the University of Marburg with internships in Marburg, Berlin and Edinburgh. His first position as a qualified clinical psychologist was in the Adolescent Mental Health Services in Greater Glasgow NHS. He moved to NHS Lothian and the University of Edinburgh in January 2000. During this time he was able to carry out his PhD research into psychological interventions for bipolar disorders.  This research involved the implementation of a randomised controlled trial of Cognitive Interpersonal Therapy and an investigation of the role of interpersonal and cognitive factors in mood regulation in bipolar disorders and the recovery process.

Since 2009 he is Head of Clinical & Health Psychology and Programme Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology training programme at the University of Edinburgh. He is further a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Early Psychosis Support Service at CAMHS Lothian.

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Dr David Hafner

David Hafner

Affiliation : University of Chicago

David Hafner, a practicing psychoanalyst residing in Monterrey, is professor of clinical psychology at the University of Monterrey. His research interests include addiction, pathological grief, and the psychoses, in relation to language acquisition and the hypothesis of the unconscious. He treats and researches substance addictions and severe mental illnesses at DIMAC drug rehabilitation center and maintains a private clinical practice. He regularly contributes and translates for Language and Psychoanalysis, The Lacanian Review (Hurly-Burly), Décsir, and (Re)-turn.

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