Hearing Voices Inside Head (Dissociation)? What does it mean and what to do!
Do you feel that there is a voice inside your head? The voice that may be your own but feels like the evil side of you? You may feel a part of you is continuously criticizing you and catastrophizing future situations. You may feel you have a part that is hyper-alert, terrified, and ready to run—or another part that is angry and ready to fight. You may feel that sometimes those voices become very loud and influence your ability to function daily. Sometimes they feel unconscious, sometimes quieter but present, and sometimes completely there with you in your mind’s eye or even taking control over you.
You may feel confused, ashamed, and afraid of what is happening inside yourself and might feel that something terrible is about to happen. Sometimes you may feel that you came home in the car with your groceries but do not remember buying them. Or you may experience the sense that other people are critical of you and may harm you, prompting an urge to run away. You may feel that these voices have a powerful influence inside you and are controlling your everyday life.
So First, Let’s Understand Why We Hear Voices (Dissociate)?
Bessel van der Kolk, author of *The Body Keeps the Score*, considers trauma “not as the story of something that happened back then, but the current imprint of that pain, horror, and fear living inside” (A., 2014).
We all have an apparently normal part that is responsible for carrying out daily activities in life. However, if a person lives in an environment that requires very different adaptations, separate parts may develop. For example, “If a person has been emotionally abused in the family and is not able to meet their needs, a separate part may develop to hold the traumatic reliving experiences separately, allowing the apparently normal part to function in the outside world.”
Suzette Boon, Kathy Steele, and Onno van der Hart, authors of *Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation*, describe these parts as the body’s innate wisdom—a survival strategy for when things are overwhelming. This is meant to protect us from feeling the pain, although it may come with a lack of self-compassion at times (Boon et al., 2011).
What can be done to heal dissociative disorder:
1. Removing the phobia of parts:
Inner experiences have valid reasons to exist and should not be judged as “good” or “bad.” Everyone has internal experiences; some are more congruent with who you want to be, others less so. Some are more comfortable, others are not. Some are more under your control, others occur spontaneously.
The first step is to remove any fear of your inner parts and understand their protective functions. You can learn to accept these inner experiences without judgment, including the dissociative parts of yourself (Opsvik et al., 2022).
2. Communicate with parts:
Listening to and talking with the voices in your head—rather than trying to make them go away—is often the fastest and most effective way to heal. It is also important to communicate with them to find healthier ways to meet their needs (Boon et al., 2011).
3. Developing a sense of safety:
It’s important to develop an inner sense of safety in the present moment. You must help all parts of yourself feel calm and relaxed once it is determined that the current moment is externally safe. Your parts can also develop inner safe spaces where they feel secure and cared for (MSW, 2019).
4. Mindfulness and grounding:
Mindfulness skills help you accept that you have parts and allow you to reflect on their purpose. You become more aware of the present and learn to manage them without dissociating. Once mindfulness skills are strengthened, your body may feel less need to dissociate in order to cope (Health, 2022).
5. Get support from a trauma-expert professional:
When dealing with complex trauma, it’s best to avoid doing all the healing work alone. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by intense inner experiences and chaos.
Seek support from a trained professional who specializes in working with parts.
A trauma therapist may use specialized modalities such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing Therapy, Ego State Interventions, or the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach. Such professionals can help reset the nervous system, meet the needs of dissociated parts, and process unresolved trauma to support integration and full healing (Subramanyam et al., 2020).
If you feel this resonates with you, please get in touch today to get started! I am an EMDR-trained clinician and provide ego state therapy to clients with complex trauma. Book a free 15-minute phone consultation today!
References:
A., V. der K. B. (2014a). *The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Transformation of Trauma*. Viking.
Boon, S., Steele, K., & der, H. O. van. (2011). *Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation: Skills Training for Patients and Therapists*. W\.W. Norton.