Hearing voices? You're not alone - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hearing voices? You're not alone - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Hearing voices? You're not alone
Aug 27, 2009 7

Hearing voices: New support groups are offering help for people who suffer from auditory hallucinations

Audio: More Australians seeking mental health help (AM) Audio: Hearing Voices network launched in Victoria (AM) Mental health researchers estimate that about 4 per cent of people experience auditory hallucinations, where they hear voices.

In Australia, the problem has typically been treated with medication. But a network of self-help groups that has been successful overseas is now gradually being rolled out around the country.

Janet Karagounis started hearing the voices of her imaginary friends when she was 8, but by her late 20s the voices were more sinister and she ended up in a psychiatric unit.

'Basically I had aliens, I had government conspiracies, every couple of years I basically was put in a psychiatric unit and I was first diagnosed chronic schizophrenic,' she said.

'That wrote me off so to speak. I had no hope, no future, no chance of working. And yeah, now my life is glowing.'

Ms Karagounis credits a Hearing Voices group for turning her life around and she's now a group facilitator."

---

Working across the world to spread positive and hopeful messages about the experience of hearing voices