A schizophrenia simulator is a strange idea — the thing being simulated is my life. This page is my attempt to let you hear what psychosis does from the inside: voices that interrupt thought, repeat, insult — and never quite stop.
It comes from Day 23 of 24/7 Symptoms. Headphones help; the interruptions are part of the simulation. It pairs with the echolalia simulator below — another piece of the same inside.
Lived experience, not medical advice.
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More from this topic
More from the series: 24/7 Symptoms · Somatic Delusions · Disorganized Behavior.
Full transcript
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This is nednednerB the Schizophrenic (-phrenic -phrenic). This is Day 23 of "100 Symptoms". (Don't do that.) This video is an attempt (why?) to simulate what occurs to me (really?) when I'm psychotic.
My experience of intrusive auditory content is varied. Sometimes it seems connected to my thoughts, at other times the voices are random. And it is always distracting. It is sometimes insulting or negative. It can include repetition and exaggeration. In general, auditory hallucinations usually feel like they come from an external speaker in a voice that doesn't sound like the thinker having the thoughts. (What gives you the right? [Inaudible]. What gives you the…?)
In a psychotic episode, someone who hears voices might find it difficult to sustain conversation (why?) because the train of thought attends to the voices (why do you say that?) instead of to the flow of actual dialogue. Unlike my video here, the voices don't usually wait for the end of a phrase to interfere. (Weakling!). They can be abrupt and constant or disturbing and sudden (why?). Hearing voices is an exhausting symptom.
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For the clinical side: NHS — schizophrenia symptoms · Hearing Voices Network.