40 questions about
hearing voices

No. About one in ten people hears voices at some point in their life, after loss, under stress, or for no clear reason. It is a human experience, and there is no evidence that something is irreparably wrong with you. Many people are frightened by it at first, but most learn to live with it.

Far from it. In the Netherlands alone (18 million inhabitants), 300,000 people are hearing voices right now (a point prevalence of 1-2%); most never talk about it. In the film you see five people who do, and worldwide there are networks of voice hearers helping each other in more than 40 countries (the Hearing Voices network).

Talking about it almost always brings relief: the secrecy is often heavier than the voices themselves. Choose someone you feel safe with: a friend, a family member or your GP. You don't have to tell everything at once; "I sometimes hear things other people don't hear" is enough to begin with.

There is no simple answer to that. There are many different explanations. For many people the voices turn out to be connected to what they have lived through: loss, bullying, violence, or a period of intense stress. In the approach shown in the film, that connection with life events is deliberately explored: what a voice says often points to something that is asking for attention.

No. Genetic predisposition explains only part of the story, and we don't even know how. Far more often, hearing voices is connected to what someone has been through (loss, stress, a major life event) than to what someone has inherited. A predisposition may play a part in sensitivity, but it is never the whole answer, and certainly no reason to think something is "broken" in your brain.

No. Hearing voices is an experience, not a diagnosis. Many voice hearers never receive a psychiatric diagnosis and lead ordinary lives. Whether you need help depends on the distress you experience, not on a label. That is exactly the question the film puts to psychiatry.

Very well. In many cultures, voices are seen as ancestors, spirits or spiritual messengers, not as illness, and that understanding need not clash with the approach in the film. The starting point is the same: listening to what the voice means within the person's own life and world, instead of immediately medicalising that meaning away. Wherever possible, we build on how someone already understands their own experience.

No. Never. You decide: a voice may be heard without being in charge. Many people learn to make agreements with their voices and to set boundaries. Is a voice telling you to harm yourself or someone else? You never have to carry that alone: call the crisis line for your country (see the organisations at the bottom of this page) or talk to your practitioner or GP today.

Yes, that is the heart of the film. In the approach of psychiatrist Dirk Corstens (Talking With Voices), the voice is invited to take part in the conversation. Voices often turn out to be protecting something, and what they say can be meaningful. You can learn to enter into conversation with your voices. A respectful attitude is a good starting point.

Both methods help people relate differently to their voices, but the approach differs in an essential way. In Avatar Therapy, you mainly learn to change your own attitude towards the voice, through a virtual representation of it. In the approach from the film (Talking With Voices), you enter into a relationship with the voice itself: who is it, what does it want, what is it pointing to. This is not a question of "better or worse", but it is an important distinction not to mix up. Some voice hearers are drawn more to one than to the other.

For most people, fighting the voices backfires: the harder you push, the harder they push back. The experience from the film and from the Hearing Voices network is that recognition (listening, setting limits, understanding) reduces the struggle. That is something very different from obeying. That said, when the voices talk a great deal, ignoring them can sometimes be necessary too.

Nights are often the hardest: you are tired, alone and without distraction. What helps many people: grounding: "name 3 things you see, 2 you hear, 1 you feel"; slow breathing: "in for 4 counts, out for 6"; music or an outside voice (a podcast, an audiobook). Make a night plan at a calm moment, so you know what to do before it gets that far.

That is a conversation between you and your practitioner; there is no universal "should". Medication can soften the voices and bring rest; for some people that is exactly what is needed, for others it has no effect at all and does not outweigh the side effects. Learning to live with your voices and taking medication do not exclude each other. Important: never stop or change medication on your own; tapering is possible, but guided.

Yes. There are voice hearers in every profession, including healthcare itself. The voices can make some periods heavy and sometimes you have to adjust your life around them, but hearing voices does not rule out a full life. The people in the film are the proof.

Sometimes they do; often not completely, and that is a more honest answer than a promise. What almost always can change is your relationship with the voices: from enemies who run your day to something you can live with. Many people say afterwards: the voices are still there, but I am back at the wheel.

In Hearing Voices peer groups, run for and by voice hearers: talking with people who know the experience first-hand is, for many, the single biggest step forward. Internationally there is Intervoice, the organisation supporting the worldwide network. At the bottom of this page you'll find the organisations per country.

Then there is help right now, day and night. If you are thinking about suicide, call the crisis line for your country (you'll find it at the bottom of this page). If it is life-threatening, call your local emergency number. If you have a practitioner, their service has a crisis team; your GP or out-of-hours GP service can help too. Save these numbers in your phone.

Less than you think. The best first response is: "thank you for telling me, I want to understand." Telling someone you hear voices takes enormous courage; what that person needs most is that you don't walk away and don't panic. Asking questions is welcome, fixing is not required.

It is more common than parents think, and in children it is not necessarily a sign of anything serious. Research among children who hear voices shows that most of them, just like adults, learn to live with it in their own way, especially when they can talk about it openly. What matters is that parents, school and practitioners don't panic straight away, but ask: what are the voices telling you, and what do they mean to you?

You don't have to pretend that you hear them, be honest. But realise: for the person who hears them, they are real, as real as your voice is now. So take the experience seriously without debating it. "I don't hear him, but I believe you that you do" is a sentence that opens doors.

"Don't be silly", "it's just your imagination", "just think about something else": all well-meant, all walls. Quiet corrections ("there's nobody here, you know") also make people lonely.

No. Hearing voices has many roots and "fault" is almost never a meaningful word. What can be true is that the life history (including the family history) plays a part in what the voices say. If so, that is not an accusation but an invitation: there is something to be understood, together.

You can only support someone if you stay standing yourself. Keep doing things that are yours, share your worries with others (there are groups for family members, see below), and accept that you cannot fix this. A loved one who takes good care of themselves is worth more than one who gives themselves away until they collapse.

Yes, genuine interest is almost always welcome, as long as the person decides what to share. Questions like "how many are there?", "when are they loudest?", "what do they say about you?" show that you take it seriously. You will notice: talking about it often releases pressure by itself.

Seek help together when the voices take over daily life: no more sleep, no more food, isolation, or voices giving orders to cause harm. In immediate danger: call your local emergency number, or the crisis team via the GP or out-of-hours GP service. In doubt? The GP is always a good first step, also for you as a loved one on your own.

Open Dialogue is a Finnish approach in which not one patient is treated, but the whole network takes part: family, friends and professionals at one table, with the person themselves present, never about them without them. Its spirit fits the film seamlessly. Teams working with Peer-supported Open Dialogue (POD) exist in a growing number of countries; ask the mental health service in your region about it.

Stay as calm as you can yourself: your calm is contagious, and so is your panic. Don't argue with the voices, avoid sudden movements, narrate what you do ("I'm going to get some water"). In danger, call your local emergency number or crisis team. And afterwards, at a quiet moment, make a crisis plan together: what helps, what doesn't, who do we call.

You are not the only one carrying this, even if it feels that way. Several organisations pay special attention to loved ones, and family organisations offer conversation groups and a listening ear, so you can speak freely with people who know exactly what you mean. At the bottom of this page you'll find the organisations per country.

The person you love is still there, even on days when the voices are loud and the contact is thin. Periods of distance are sometimes part of it; stay available without pushing. Many people actually repair their relationships once it can finally be talked about. The film shows that too: there is a way back to each other.

Yes, watching it together is a safe opening for many families: you don't have to talk about yourself right away, you can start with Tamira, René or Brigitte. Afterwards, don't ask "do you have that too?" but "what touched you?". The film is showing in cinemas and can be seen on 13 September on Dutch public television (NPO 2), afterwards on NPO Start.

The film has been showing in cinemas since March 2026, through distributor Cinema Delicatessen. On Sunday 13 September, it will be broadcast by the VPRO on NPO 2 (Dutch television, 22.40), and can then be watched online via NPO Start (Netherlands only). On Monday 14 September, the VRT (Belgium) will also broadcast the film. Outside the Netherlands and Belgium, the film can be rented worldwide via Pijama Films.

That may be the hardest one. Force rarely works and damages trust; staying available works slowly but surely. Keep the door open ("whenever you want to talk, I'm here"), take good care of yourself, and find support of your own, which you may do without them. Only when there is acute danger to the person themselves or to others can and must someone step in: then call your local emergency number.

Start by interviewing the voices as serious interlocutors: who are they, since when, what do they want? In Talking With Voices (Corstens, Longden) the practitioner, with the client's consent, invites the voice to speak through the client, and questions it respectfully. The film shows what that looks like in practice. Take a training; the attitude matters more than the protocol, but facilitating it well takes practice.

The experience of thirty years of the Hearing Voices movement (and of the treatment in the film) is the opposite: recognition reduces the struggle, and with it, often, the distress. Taking a voice seriously is not the same as taking its content to be true; you acknowledge the experience and explore its meaning. The fear that talking "feeds" psychosis stems from an era when ignoring was the norm, and that norm left a great many people lonely.

A structured interview, developed by Marius Romme and Sandra Escher, for mapping the voices together with the client: their number, identity, triggers, history, and their relation to the life story. It is often a first step: from diffuse fear to a story with contours. Trainings are offered through the international Hearing Voices network and its national organisations, such as Stichting Weerklank in the Netherlands, through which the interview itself is also available.

You can start with the conversation. You do not have to give (or prescribe) medication straight away. Medication can sometimes create room for the conversation; the conversation can reduce dependence on medication. The approach in the film does not ask you to stop prescribing, but not to let medication be the whole answer. Any change of medication remains, of course, a joint and supervised decision.

Open Dialogue (Seikkula, Finland) organises care around network meetings: client, loved ones and professionals at one table, decisions made transparently and in the client's presence, continuity of the same practitioners. It asks for a different position: from the expert who knows to the participant who listens and dares to share uncertainty. Peer-supported Open Dialogue (POD) is growing in a number of countries, including training routes.

A substantial proportion of voice hearers have been through major adverse experiences, and the voices often refer to them, sometimes literally (the voice of a perpetrator), often symbolically (a critic that sounds like an old message). Ask about the life history the way you ask about the voices: not "what is wrong with you?" but "what have you been through?". There are many explanations for hearing voices. Trauma is one of them, and one that has often been overlooked.

Everything you already do: risk assessment, crisis planning, escalation where needed, this approach does not replace safety care. But first: investigate the commanding voice instead of immediately trying to dampen it. Why does it demand this, what happens if the client refuses, is there room to negotiate? Clients who learn to refuse without panic often carry less risk in the long run than clients who are only afraid.

Early, structurally, and in the client's presence, not as informants afterwards but as participants. Loved ones often carry years of unspoken fear and guilt; the joint conversation alone relieves both sides. Open Dialogue offers the most developed form of this, but even a single network meeting usually changes the tone.

Through the international Intervoice network and its national organisations, such as Stichting Weerklank, which offer trainings in the Maastricht Interview and in working with voices, and through the Peer-supported Open Dialogue programmes. Read the work of Romme & Escher, Dirk Corstens and Eleanor Longden. And watch the film, with your team.

The evidence base is growing: there is research on Talking With Voices, on Hearing Voices groups and on Open Dialogue, with encouraging results on working alliance, self-direction and reduction of distress, alongside decades of practice-based knowledge from the movement itself. The honest answer: this research field is younger and smaller than that of medication, which is exactly why it is worth following, and contributing to.

Starting small works better than a policy memo: one case, one network meeting, one team screening of the film with a debrief. Find the colleagues who are already curious, involve a peer worker (every organisation has them by now), and let results make the argument. Culture changes one conversation at a time, not one memo at a time.

Yes, the film is exceptionally well suited to psycho-education, team days and teaching: it shows what no textbook can, namely what the conversation with voices really looks like. For screenings and educational licences, contact the distributor, Cinema Delicatessen. For clients and loved ones, watching it together can be an opening that accelerates months of conversations.

Take the wish seriously as information: hope has been touched and self-direction awakened, and that is a gain, not a threat. Explore it together: what does the client hope becomes possible without medication? If tapering is responsible, do it stepwise and supervised; if it is not (yet) responsible, explain honestly why and keep the conversation open. The film argues for listening, for dialogue. That applies here too.

"Thank you for trusting me with that. I don't know much about hearing voices, but I do find it really interesting. Can you tell me more about it?" It's fine that you have little experience with it; just be open about that. Hearing voices is a human trait. Show genuine curiosity about what meaning it might hold for your patient. And you get to learn something new; how lovely is that?

Not at all. What voice hearers need most is a listening ear. For that, you can use the Maastricht Hearing Voices Interview, available for download via stichtingweerklank.nl/het-maastrichts-interview. It helps you map the experience and gradually discover what meaning it holds for your patient. A psychiatrist can, of course, still be helpful further along the way.

No. Medication can eventually be helpful for a while, but the most important first step in helping voice hearers is support: exploring together what the experience means for that person. Give them useful and hopeful information, for example:

Videos:
Eleanor Longden: The voices in my head (TED)
Documentary on hearing voices (Culture Unplugged)
Ouvidores de Vozes / Hearing Voices (Canal Futura)
Beyond Possible (documentary)
Relating to Voices using Compassion Focused Therapy (Charlie Heriot-Maitland)
Compassion for voices: science and application
Engaging with Voices, video series (Open Minded)

Books:
Robin Timmers: Leren omgaan met stemmen horen (free PDF)
Romme, Escher & Corstens: Stemmen horen begrijpelijk maken (Boom, 2020)

Websites:
levenmetstemmen.nl · omgaanmetstemmenhoren.nl · intervoiceonline.org · stichtingweerklank.nl · dirkcorstens.com · understandingvoices.com
Dutch peer support points for hearing voices (Nijmegen, Utrecht, The Hague, Leiden, Enschede, Koudekerke): stichtingweerklank.nl

What matters is that people can choose. Talking therapies for hearing voices can match medication in effectiveness, according to Tony Morrison, professor of psychology in Manchester, who has done extensive research into talking therapy for psychosis. Medication can be helpful, for instance temporarily, to help someone sleep or feel less anxious. But put the emphasis on learning to live with the voices yourself.

There are several reasonably effective talking therapies. We recently completed a large study of Talking With Voices; the treatment proved significantly better than the control group on personal recovery and on several measures around hearing voices (the results are still to be published). The film demonstrates the conversational method of Talking With Voices. There are also Relating Therapy and Avatar Therapy, aimed at becoming stronger in relation to the voices; cognitive therapy, in which you choose what you want to change about your experience; and compassion focused therapy, in which you mainly learn to have compassion and to regulate your bodily reactions. Here too, choice matters, and not everything will appeal to every voice hearer.

If you're interested as a practitioner, read more about the subject and choose a method that suits you. If you work in an organisation, it is wise to focus on the topic together with one or two colleagues and to strengthen your shared experience by learning together and holding peer supervision. Make sure there is continuity.

Absolutely! Many voice hearers find great support in self-help groups, whatever diagnosis or classification they have. Encourage this, perhaps by going along once yourself. It is enormously normalising.