My son hears voices?

[Pcollies]

My son who is nearly 17 has only been diagnosed with aspergers , he was put into a mental health hospital because of hearing voices and that's when we realised he had aspergers , he hears 4 different voices and can switch to these people, they represent his moods, does anyone else's child have this problem or have heared of this , the hospital don't really know what it is what's wrong with him and don't want to diagnose him in case they are wrong and it follows him around for the rest of his life, his life seems to be at a standstill as they said he is not able to attend school until September hopefully , so he's kind of left to just sit here and attend hospital appointments.

[Willow-Tree]

I've never really had this, no. I mean, I have different moods, but they don't appear as different voices to me, or different personalities. I had a pretty rough time in my teens where I was in a dark place, but at my worst, I was just in bed all day as I felt sleep was easier than reality; one time I forgot who I was for a split second, and where I was etc. But it came back to me almost instantly - it scared me though.

 

Hearing voices/having different personalities instead of just different moods is more... schizophrenia or Borderline Personality Disorder (I think) as oppose to just the AS - I think something must be overlapping it to cause the hearing voices.

[Special_talent123]

I was a girl who was bullied significantly and i was hearing voices as result of these. It is actually linked to a diagnose of my emotional unstable traits of BPD

[Pcollies]

My son was also bullied and he said these voices are there to protect him, but he changes into them from time to time , really don't have a clue what I should be doing with him , no one in the hospital is telling me what options he has are where we go from here

[Suze]

Its a bit much when the guys at hospital are,nt giving you any info.Is he focusing on these voices when he is anxious or stressed as a way of coping.Perhaps when very anxious he becomes confused and is focusing on his internal thoughts etc.

[Pcollies]

Yea the voices come out when he is stressed, but he's doing his best to keep them under control he won't take medication because he thinks the voices help him come with life , the hospital are happy enough to leave him like this as he isn't a danger to himself or others at this time , he is such a good child never knew there was anything wrong with him until a year ago when everything kicked off during his gcse's ,

 

 

 

[Special_talent123]

Request an urgent appointment with the psych because i was like this and it was urgent that i needed to be assessed

[Pcollies]

He is seeing a psych, the first one told me he didn't have aspergers even though 3 of my nephews have aspergers/autism , and that the voices were common, the new psych says in 25 years she hasn't seen a child as complicated as my son, and that he can't attend school to finish his a levels but they aren't offering me any where else to take him , and I don't want him sitting round the house for 9 months or more doing nothing with himself.

[Special_talent123]

But the voices arent part of autism. They are a mental health condition. I heard voices, because i was being bullied so bad the staff did not stop it from happening so my mental health builds up. what he needs to do is something to block out that voice- like music or tell it to go away thats how i stopped mine

[Pcollies]

They said it could be due to the aspergers or a mental health problem but they don't want to diagnose him in case it's one or the other due to his age , They are worried that if they label him with mental health it will restrict his options later on in life so I'm still none the wiser what's really wrong with him

[Special_talent123]

but voices arent down to having autism, its down to the mental health. I know this, i started hearing them when i was bullied not just verbally but physically

[Pcollies]

That's what I was told, guess I won't know what to do or what help he needs until they diagnose him with something specific.

[Merry]

but voices arent down to having autism, its down to the mental health. I know this, i started hearing them when i was bullied not just verbally but physically

 

Special Talent I quite agree with you. The same thing is happening to my cousin who is 15 and suffering from terrible bullying at school. We in the family believe she already had aspergers but she doesn't want to be different like me so is refusing assessment. The voices are a new thing, seperate from her aspergers traits, and i believe that the only way in which these things are linked, is that we are more prone to stress and anxiety because of our lack of ability to cope in the world....and that it's this which causes other mental health issues such as depression or hearing voices.....

 

Pcollies, your son sounds like a very deep thinker....make sure he's coping alright with his current life situations and recent diagnosis. (You might find it goes away with the resolution of stressful situations in his life).

Edited January 14, 2013 by Merry

[Pcollies]

He is a very quiet child and doesn't say much he is doing much better since being released from the hospital which was making him worse that what he was, just hope he gets somewhere to go to make friends instead of always sitting in on his own all the time.

[Merry]

It must be such a worry. I guess he's not the kind of lad who would open up about the way he's feeling then? All I know is it's a fairly common thing for teenagers who have a lot of stress in their lives...and those of us with aspergers experience A LOT of stress over things that most people don't even notice or think about. For example, a simple social interaction takes a lot of energy for us...We are thinking of not only what to say, how to say it and when, but also how much eye contact to make, and at what points it should be made during the conversation...how to hold ourselves physically etc...and we're very hard on ourselves if we feel we haven't got those things right. During my mental health appointments, I used to feel extremely uncomfortable if there was more than one choice of places to sit in a room...as though there was a right or wrong answer. I'm 33 this month.....but i remember what it was like as a teenager and it was almost intolerable. On top of the aspergers, you have all the normal hormone things going on....and other kids can be so cruel. My guess is that you have more than likely noticed other symptoms of stress or not coping throughout his life and there are probably other symptoms now....maybe he doesn't sleep well? Maybe he has a short fuse? Most people with aspergers are sociable when they must be, but actually need the time away from everyone and everything just to recover from what they've been through each day as normal life is much harder and much more over stimulating for us. Being at home alone might be exactly what he needs in order to decrease his stress, so you may well be doing the right things already. And just because he's experiencing this now, doesn't mean he will always hear voices. Just like he won't always have trouble sleeping.....these things may well come and go as stress rises and falls in his life....there may even be different/new symptoms of stress replacing the old ones as time goes on. Basically, as hard as his young life seems at the moment, and as terrible as it feels for you to have to watch him go through this, what he's really doing now, is learning how to cope with life as a person with aspergers. He's doing all the hard work now. And you might find that later as an adult, he'll have learned his own unique ways of coping with life and his emotions, and become a much simpler person as a result. He will always be different in some ways, and he'll never lose his amazing depth and intelligence....but he'll hopefully be able to have a normal life. I didn't speak to ANYONE when i was growing up. Now, i have a few friends, a husband and a child. And am capable (most of the time) of keeping up appearances! Like your son, i just need a lot of time to myself if i've had to be sociable for more time than i can comfortably cope with, or if i have other stresses in life. I don't know if this helps at all.....I hope you find some answers and solutions anyway.

 

........oh and just keep an eye on these voices if he will talk to you about it. the moment you hear of anything negative that doesn't sit right with u, i.e telling him to do something bad....i'd go with SpecialTalent's advice and seek emergency assessment....just in case.

 

.........and of course there is always the posibility that this could be spiritual in nature. Either way, my same advice applies. (posts merged)

Edited January 15, 2013 by trekster

[Pcollies]

Thank you all for your advice feel a lot better about things already xx

[smileyK]

I also tend hear "voices" when stressed,panicky or anxious state haven't worked out the entire true source/base to this issue whether it an internal voice inside my head or an external! It can feel quite "out of control" scary to have it going on! With no real sense of direction or reality!

[trekster]

What are your sons voices telling him? When I get anxious conversations that have happened in the past get replayed in my head, sometimes these are flashbacks and it feels as though the event is really happening. If you can see if you can get hold of some books about adolescence and autism or anxiety and autism, there are a few around which could give you some pointers. In extreme cases benzoates in foods can cause me to become very anxious almost psychotic. Hope things settle down soon.

[Pcollies]

What are your sons voices telling him? When I get anxious conversations that have happened in the past get replayed in my head, sometimes these are flashbacks and it feels as though the event is really happening. If you can see if you can get hold of some books about adolescence and autism or anxiety and autism, there are a few around which could give you some pointers. In extreme cases benzoates in foods can cause me to become very anxious almost psychotic. Hope things settle down soon.

 

They give him advice, there is four voice with different names and different personalities , the head one is a very angry person and seems to come out more and more, my son refused to talk at all to me for over a week while he was in hospital all because the head one didn't like me telling him a few home truths , he's never been violent but when in hospital he was drawing pictures of a violent nature , mostly directed at me, since we took him out of hospital because it was making him worse he seems a lot happier but I still worry the head one might tell my son to do something stupid to me or his sisters.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Pcollies