Hearing Voices...am I going crazy?

[soulhunter182]

Hi there, I need your help. Earlier when I was reading an article online, I felt something on left ear, the feeling was like when someone whispered something on your ear, and then I heard a voice saying “When you put your trust on yourself, you are making a deal with the devil…” It made me jump from my seat because I wasn’t dreaming at all I was fully awake. What could this be? Is it a ghost or a demon or am I just imagining it? Or am I just going crazy? I really don’t know…

your enlightenment is very much appreciated

 

[MtnDwellar]

Hi there, I need your help. Earlier when I was reading an article online, I felt something on left ear, the feeling was like when someone whispered something on your ear, and then I heard a voice saying “When you put your trust on yourself, you are making a deal with the devil…” It made me jump from my seat because I wasn’t dreaming at all I was fully awake. What could this be? Is it a ghost or a demon or am I just imagining it? Or am I just going crazy? I really don’t know…

your enlightenment is very much appreciated

Some years ago, a friend told me that he heard a voice regularly. I did some internet research and learned that it is not uncommon. It was not explained, but most people do not let it bother them. It is only when the voice is conveying negative messages that people sometimes look for help.

 

[puzzleannie]

when confronted with a puzzling situation like this we look first at the most likely explanation, we do not immediately look for the most bizarre.

Most likely it is simply the way your unconscious works at times to bring things to the surface of your mind, just self talking to self. Or it could be the way you hear the voice of your own conscience, for instance. Or yes it could be the way your guardian angel assists you. If you have any such experience that is troubling so much that it gives you great anxiety or interferes with your life and peace of mind, seek the help of a professional. If it is a spiritual affliction take it to the priest, if it is a psychological one, to a psychologist. and so forth

 

[soulhunter182]

This wasn’t the first time though, it happened to me once or twice. It’s just scary, and I don’t know what it is actually. Sometimes the message are really really bad, and sometimes I just hear someone calling my name often when I am alone, and when this happens I would often jump and storm out of the room and try to find someone…

 

[soulhunter182]

when confronted with a puzzling situation like this we look first at the most likely explanation, we do not immediately look for the most bizarre.

Most likely it is simply the way your unconscious works at times to bring things to the surface of your mind, just self talking to self. Or it could be the way you hear the voice of your own conscience, for instance. Or yes it could be the way your guardian angel assists you. If you have any such experience that is troubling so much that it gives you great anxiety or interferes with your life and peace of mind, seek the help of a professional. If it is a spiritual affliction take it to the priest, if it is a psychological one, to a psychologist. and so forth

is there a way of knowing of if its my guardian angel or my conscience? im just glad that it isn’t something else…

 

[Justicia_et_Pax]

is there a way of knowing of if its my guardian angel or my conscience? im just glad that it isn’t something else…

I hear voices, both good and bad (though the bad more than the good), and it can be quite frightening or quite difficult to know what’s going on. I’m under the care of a psychiatric team but they don’t have much explanation for the voices I hear (strong doses of medication are doing nothing to stop this) and they’re all quite keen for me to speak to a priest who is informed about mental health issues, to discern what’s going on. Often my voices have a religious content and things were particularly bad during Lent.

The most useful thing I’ve read (and believe me, I’ve done a lot of reading to try and figure out why I hear voices and where they’re coming from) is from St Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. He talks about discernment as the means of differentiating the good spirit from the bad one. He says that thoughts (or voices, in our case) that come from God come very quietly, without much fuss, and give a sense of calm and peace. Thoughts (or voices) that do not come from God tend to come in a loud, “here I am!” kind of way and cause unease or distress.

I hope that helps a bit. Something I’ve found useful is looking into Ignatian spirituality (discernment of the spirits) and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Discernment of spirits is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to them.

I happened to hear a sermon by the former head of the Dominican order, who - coincidentally enough - was preaching on charismatic gifts, consolation and desolation (the latter two are Ignatian terms). I spoke to him afterwards and told him of my voices and how bad things happen to me in religious buildings and he told me not to be afraid of either voice

 

[odhiambo]

I hear voices, both good and bad (though the bad more than the good), and it can be quite frightening or quite difficult to know what’s going on. I’m under the care of a psychiatric team but they don’t have much explanation for the voices I hear (strong doses of medication are doing nothing to stop this) and they’re all quite keen for me to speak to a priest who is informed about mental health issues, to discern what’s going on. Often my voices have a religious content and things were particularly bad during Lent.

The most useful thing I’ve read (and believe me, I’ve done a lot of reading to try and figure out why I hear voices and where they’re coming from) is from St Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. He talks about discernment as the means of differentiating the good spirit from the bad one. He says that thoughts (or voices, in our case) that come from God come very quietly, without much fuss, and give a sense of calm and peace. Thoughts (or voices) that do not come from God tend to come in a loud, “here I am!” kind of way and cause unease or distress.

I hope that helps a bit. Something I’ve found useful is looking into Ignatian spirituality (discernment of the spirits) and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Discernment of spirits is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to them.

I happened to hear a sermon by the former head of the Dominican order, who - coincidentally enough - was preaching on charismatic gifts, consolation and desolation (the latter two are Ignatian terms). I spoke to him afterwards and told him of my voices and how bad things happen to me in religious buildings and he told me not to be afraid of either voice

This is really useful information.
Thank you for sharing

 

[Mary_Virginia]

Soulhunter:

I would consider maybe you are a sensitive=we often try to find fault with ourselves or medicate ourselves too quickly when these things happen. You can ask…“Is that you Lord?” And if it is…then you should receive an answer. I’m sure many biblical prophet’s felt the same way, like they we’re scared or thought they we’re losing their minds.
You could also talk to your Priest about it and see what he says as well.

Mary:hug3:

 

[Justicia_et_Pax]

Soulhunter:

I would consider maybe you are a sensitive=we often try to find fault with ourselves or medicate ourselves too quickly when these things happen. You can ask…“Is that you Lord?” And if it is…then you should receive an answer. I’m sure many biblical prophet’s felt the same way, like they we’re scared or thought they we’re losing their minds.
You could also talk to your Priest about it and see what he says as well.

Mary:hug3:

Since this could also be relevant to me, would you mind explaining what you mean by “a sensitive”?

 

[soulhunter182]

I hear voices, both good and bad (though the bad more than the good), and it can be quite frightening or quite difficult to know what’s going on. I’m under the care of a psychiatric team but they don’t have much explanation for the voices I hear (strong doses of medication are doing nothing to stop this) and they’re all quite keen for me to speak to a priest who is informed about mental health issues, to discern what’s going on. Often my voices have a religious content and things were particularly bad during Lent.

The most useful thing I’ve read (and believe me, I’ve done a lot of reading to try and figure out why I hear voices and where they’re coming from) is from St Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. He talks about discernment as the means of differentiating the good spirit from the bad one. He says that thoughts (or voices, in our case) that come from God come very quietly, without much fuss, and give a sense of calm and peace. Thoughts (or voices) that do not come from God tend to come in a loud, “here I am!” kind of way and cause unease or distress.

I hope that helps a bit. Something I’ve found useful is looking into Ignatian spirituality (discernment of the spirits) and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Discernment of spirits is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to them.

I happened to hear a sermon by the former head of the Dominican order, who - coincidentally enough - was preaching on charismatic gifts, consolation and desolation (the latter two are Ignatian terms). I spoke to him afterwards and told him of my voices and how bad things happen to me in religious buildings and he told me not to be afraid of either voice

Thank you so much for your reply. I get those too! I get good and bad voices and thoughts and they are both scary. Although the one that I heard earlier today that I heard was more like a whisper on my ear when it said “When you put your trust on yourself, you are making a deal with the devil…” it scared me because I heard this when I was awake. Often times I hear voices when I’m having sleep paralysis, nightmares, lucid dreams, etc don’t know what they call it these days really. It’s when I wake up and I could not move and I when I yell, no voice was coming out and I can see my entire body and the entire rooms as well as everything in it. This is when I would hear voices, saying things, suggesting things, some voices talks to me, and sometimes I see scary figures. One time, I had this nightmare where I saw this figure on my room and when I awoke it was still there, talking about this gives me goose bumps. But going back to the voices, the ones I hear was when I was awake. I usually experience this in silence. I mean when everything around me is quite, even me. Like at night when everyone is asleep, I usually would read a book before bed and everything is quite and then I would hear a voice. Sometimes the voices are subtle but I can feel its evil, this happens usually when I am in the state of grace, and when I’m in the state of mortal sin I get bombarded with nightmares almost overnight. Like this one time I heard this “You think you’ll be saved?..” again on my ear, and this scares me a lot!

I’ve heard about it the “Discernment of spirits” but i haven’t really read much about. I’ll definitely check it out, thanks

P.S. the voices that I hear when I’m awake, sometimes I can feel the presence of evil and sometimes I do not. Sometimes I can feel that the voice is evil and sometimes I don’t feel anything. Do you get that too?

 

[soulhunter182]

Soulhunter:

I would consider maybe you are a sensitive=we often try to find fault with ourselves or medicate ourselves too quickly when these things happen. You can ask…“Is that you Lord?” And if it is…then you should receive an answer. I’m sure many biblical prophet’s felt the same way, like they we’re scared or thought they we’re losing their minds.
You could also talk to your Priest about it and see what he says as well.

Mary:hug3:

Hi What’s a sensitive? Like an emotionally sensitive person is it? Although, that is a good idea. Maybe I’ll try to ask that the next time “Is that you Lord…” when I hear a voice again, unless I chickened out I’d be storming out of the room

 

[Justicia_et_Pax]

Thank you so much for your reply. I get those too! I get good and bad voices and thoughts and they are both scary. Although the one that I heard earlier today that I heard was more like a whisper on my ear when it said “When you put your trust on yourself, you are making a deal with the devil…” it scared me because I heard this when I was awake. Often times I hear voices when I’m having sleep paralysis, nightmares, lucid dreams, etc don’t know what they call it these days really. It’s when I wake up and I could not move and I when I yell, no voice was coming out and I can see my entire body and the entire rooms as well as everything in it. This is when I would hear voices, saying things, suggesting things, some voices talks to me, and sometimes I see scary figures. One time, I had this nightmare where I saw this figure on my room and when I awoke it was still there, talking about this gives me goose bumps. But going back to the voices, the ones I hear was when I was awake. I usually experience this in silence. I mean when everything around me is quite, even me. Like at night when everyone is asleep, I usually would read a book before bed and everything is quite and then I would hear a voice. Sometimes the voices are subtle but I can feel its evil, this happens usually when I am in the state of grace, and when I’m in the state of mortal sin I get bombarded with nightmares almost overnight. Like this one time I heard this “You think you’ll be saved?..” again on my ear, and this scares me a lot!

I’ve heard about it the “Discernment of spirits” but i haven’t really read much about. I’ll definitely check it out, thanks

P.S. the voices that I hear when I’m awake, sometimes I can feel the presence of evil and sometimes I do not. Sometimes I can feel that the voice is evil and sometimes I don’t feel anything. Do you get that too?

That sleep paralysis sounds scary When you say you hear voices, is it an audible sound? Like does the sound come from outside your head? I get a variety though most aren’t often outside my head: they’re like thoughts that have been implanted into my head. I don’t have sleep paralysis or see creepy figures, though I have had what we have labelled for the moment “tactile hallucinations” of someone grabbing my body and shaking me, grabbing my head in church, etc.

The evil voices and the good voices definitely have distinct presences and I use that to try and determine where the voice is coming from and what I need to do next. Though sometimes they’re like implanted thoughts and then it’s more tricky.

Have you ever tried talking to a priest about this?

 

[pablope]

Hi What’s a sensitive? Like an emotionally sensitive person is it? Although, that is a good idea. Maybe I’ll try to ask that the next time “Is that you Lord…” when I hear a voice again, unless I chickened out I’d be storming out of the room

I forgot where I read this…when you think you hear something…the voice…say " My Lord and My God"…then ask “Is that you Lord”.

 

[soulhunter182]

That sleep paralysis sounds scary When you say you hear voices, is it an audible sound? Like does the sound come from outside your head? I get a variety though most aren’t often outside my head: they’re like thoughts that have been implanted into my head. I don’t have sleep paralysis or see creepy figures, though I have had what we have labelled for the moment “tactile hallucinations” of someone grabbing my body and shaking me, grabbing my head in church, etc.

The evil voices and the good voices definitely have distinct presences and I use that to try and determine where the voice is coming from and what I need to do next. Though sometimes they’re like implanted thoughts and then it’s more tricky.

Have you ever tried talking to a priest about this?

I get both actually, the voices that I hear in my head I just ignore, I kinda gotten use to it as time went by. But when I get audible voices, like when a person is speaking to me, voices outside my head those scares me a lot! Like the one I heard today, I felt it on my ear and heard an audible voice. I don’t have tactile hallucinations though, aside from the voices I mean. The thoughts are more tricky than the voices though. And I don’t know if you get this, sometimes out of the blue I would just feel a random emotion. I just don’t know if this is temptation or if its an actual emotion. Like, I would start getting angry at the church or I would start hating God, thinking that he is unfair etc. its mostly about faith matters stuff, then I would pray mentally and the feeling would go away. Now a days, the thoughts that keeps on bugging is about possession. I would suddenly have this thought in my head that I would like to experience being possessed, and then I would shake my head and pray the rosary, or divine mercy chaplet or the precious blood chaplet or a prayer to saint michael to make the thought go away, and one thing I noticed though its easier to drive away these thoughts when I am in the state of grace, but the voices I don’t think we can drive them away I haven’t talked to a priest about this though, I’m afraid that he might think that I’m either making this up or I’m loosing my mind.

 

[Justicia_et_Pax]

I get both actually, the voices that I hear in my head I just ignore, I kinda gotten use to it as time went by. But when I get audible voices, like when a person is speaking to me, voices outside my head those scares me a lot! Like the one I heard today, I felt it on my ear and heard an audible voice. I don’t have tactile hallucinations though, aside from the voices I mean. The thoughts are more tricky than the voices though. And I don’t know if you get this, sometimes out of the blue I would just feel a random emotion. I just don’t know if this is temptation or if its an actual emotion. Like, I would start getting angry at the church or I would start hating God, thinking that he is unfair etc. its mostly about faith matters stuff, then I would pray mentally and the feeling would go away. Now a days, the thoughts that keeps on bugging is about possession. I would suddenly have this thought in my head that I would like to experience being possessed, and then I would shake my head and pray the rosary, or divine mercy chaplet or the precious blood chaplet or a prayer to saint michael to make the thought go away, and one thing I noticed though its easier to drive away these thoughts when I am in the state of grace, but the voices I don’t think we can drive them away I haven’t talked to a priest about this though, I’m afraid that he might think that I’m either making this up or I’m loosing my mind.

I often get random hateful thoughts and feelings towards God but I’m not as good as you are at making them go away One of my friends wanted me to go an see an exorcist but I politely declined

I’ve also been quite wary of going to see a priest too but I figure I need to in order to try and figure out what’s happening. My care team insist that whoever I go to should have counselling training and be aware of mental health problems though, so that they won’t cause further damage

 

[soulhunter182]

I often get random hateful thoughts and feelings towards God but I’m not as good as you are at making them go away One of my friends wanted me to go an see an exorcist but I politely declined

I’ve also been quite wary of going to see a priest too but I figure I need to in order to try and figure out what’s happening. My care team insist that whoever I go to should have counselling training and be aware of mental health problems though, so that they won’t cause further damage

Let me share a trick I learned. Don’t go to an exorcist yet. Try frequenting the sacraments first, and be sensitive with your thoughts and feelings. Go closer to God have a loving relationship with him. Try to write them down the voices, your thoughts and feelings, as well as the times and the places where you get them and when you get them. Try to determine the frequency of the negative thoughts and feelings against God, and the condition of your soul when you get them, like wether your in the state of mortal sin or state of grace. When you hear the voices in your head, pray and ask for intercessions of our blessed lady, the saints, Jesus etc for help that should be enough to make the voices go away, and during confession, reveal your temptations to the priest. And you will start noticing that you are prone to the voices and negative emotions when you are not in the state of grace. If this is the case then you’d know that its the devil harassing you. But if after all that and nothing changes then I think it could be a psychological thing perhaps. Its a lotta work i know, but that’s basically what I did to drive the temptations away.

 

[Justicia_et_Pax]

Let me share a trick I learned. Don’t go to an exorcist yet. Try frequenting the sacraments first, and be sensitive with your thoughts and feelings. Go closer to God have a loving relationship with him. Try to write them down the voices, your thoughts and feelings, as well as the times and the places where you get them and when you get them. Try to determine the frequency of the negative thoughts and feelings against God, and the condition of your soul when you get them, like wether your in the state of mortal sin or state of grace. When you hear the voices in your head, pray and ask for intercessions of our blessed lady, the saints, Jesus etc for help that should be enough to make the voices go away, and during confession, reveal your temptations to the priest. And you will start noticing that you are prone to the voices and negative emotions when you are not in the state of grace. If this is the case then you’d know that its the devil harassing you. But if after all that and nothing changes then I think it could be a psychological thing perhaps. Its a lotta work i know, but that’s basically what I did to drive the temptations away.

Thanks for this Writing it down would be very difficult, since I hear voices almost everyday several times a day or continuously throughout the day (depending on how severe things are); this also makes it difficult to stop and think that I should pray, and means praying doesn’t always work anyway. I think your point about receiving the Eucharist often and going to confession (haven’t been since my first confession! Intending to change this soon once I’m a bit better) is a good one though.

How do I know whether I’m in a state of grace or not? It’s definitely at least in part a psychological thing (I’m being treated for psychosis and depression), though that doesn’t account for all of it

 

[soulhunter182]

Thanks for this Writing it down would be very difficult, since I hear voices almost everyday several times a day or continuously throughout the day (depending on how severe things are); this also makes it difficult to stop and think that I should pray, and means praying doesn’t always work anyway. I think your point about receiving the Eucharist often and going to confession (haven’t been since my first confession! Intending to change this soon once I’m a bit better) is a good one though.

How do I know whether I’m in a state of grace or not? It’s definitely at least in part a psychological thing (I’m being treated for psychosis and depression), though that doesn’t account for all of it

Yap that’s what I meant, confession and eucharist. Your in the state of grace if you don’t have any mortal sins on your soul, you an achieve that after making a good confession, and the priest will absolve you of your sins, it really helps. I really would suggest that make an examination of conscience first before going into confession, and after that I guarantee you that you’ll feel lighter and happier and full of hope and the voices if its evil will go away

 

[Justicia_et_Pax]

Yap that’s what I meant, confession and eucharist. Your in the state of grace if you don’t have any mortal sins on your soul, you an achieve that after making a good confession, and the priest will absolve you of your sins, it really helps. I really would suggest that make an examination of conscience first before going into confession, and after that I guarantee you that you’ll feel lighter and happier and full of hope and the voices if its evil will go away

Looks like I’m in a perpetual state of mortal sin then Maybe that explains it all. I’m off on holiday but am going to contact my secondary school’s parish priest once I’m back for a chat and confession.

Thanks for your advice

 

[Mary_Virginia]

Soulhunter:

Spiritually, sensitive people have a greater capacity for inner searching. This is one of their greatest blessings. And may be more “open” to the Spiritually paranormal=some happenings outside the “normal.” I have some things happen to me and I am trying to discern if they are from God or not as well, so I am doing alot of reading and talking to my church buddies alot about this, biut also may schedule an appointment with my Priest,

Peace & Love, Mary