Findings
Findings from two decades : Reports and observations from using the AHIG.
The AHIG has been used for more than 20 years in studies that evaluated outcomes of the 10-session Behavioral
Some voice hearers who were United State military Veterans shared that their voices discontinued during basic training and restarted afterward. This change was attributed to intensive physician and mental engagement, as well as highly structured schedules. A number of similar questions in the AHIG explore the change and characteristics of AH throughout the day and across the lifespan. These questions demonstrate that AH symptoms are not categorically static as voice hearers often report. The intensity , loudness , frequency , or tone of voices, for example, can fluctuate depending on the time of day, level of life engagement, presence of triggers , and general level of stress.
Voice hearers are often surprised by the AHIG interviews. They commonly report that they rarely had clinicians who explored their AH symptoms in such detail in the past. Some voice hearers paused and contemplated during the interview as if they never thought of their voices in such a manner. Instead of responding to voices reactively and automatically as they often do , voices hearers begin a process of discovery about what the voices are like and how they experience such voices. The self-awareness and insight they achieved during the AHIG interview paved the way for future intervention .For example =, if an engaged life stopped the voices, what can a voice hearer do to increase life engagement that could potentially help modulate his or her symptom ? If voices mimic the words a voice hearer’s abusive father said to him or her, what choices would he or she have in response to the voices? Because of its roles in self-discovery, the AHIG can be most beneficial if it is used at the early phase of a clinical relationship. It allows voice hearers to be expects and be engaged in a process of guided discovery with their clinicians.
The AHIG offers the opportunity for clinicians to listen, not make assumptions. The following interview summary demonstrates how a clinician can use the AHIG to create a climate of trust by asking his or her client about his voices and listening to him tell his story while helping him understand the meaning of his experience.
Clinician: Do you remember our first visit? What do you remember about it?
Voice hearer: You are the first person I told about my voices. Up until then, I only spoke briefly about them. I told you the bad time I had in a great deal of detail.
Clinician: What made you decide to share your experiences with me?
Voice hearer : You made me very comfortable about talking with you.I thought I killed and raped my family when I first started having symptoms. When you have something for 6,7 years, the relief you had about speaking with someone
It was a realistic fear. Every night you went to bed , you feared that you would wake up in hell. When I spoke with others, they looked at my alcohol history and thought my voices had to do with my drinking. I was already sober for a year! It was not because of my drinking . Some thought I had multiple personalities .They did not listen.
Clinician : Were there question s you remember the most about that visit?
Voice hearer : Spirituality . It was never brought up before.For me, my struggle was about heaven and hell, about morality . Like the Babyonian King who became insane and saved by God, mine is a spirituality journey.