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The voices of madness

Tanya M Luhrmann

Terrain 2022 DOI: 10.4000/terrain.23459 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Case study Case report Peer reviewed
Citations 1
Key findings Psychotic voice-hearing can involve experiences without words or voice proper, characterized by not-me-ness, a different realness, and presence.

Abstract

The phenomenology of psychosis is notoriously difficult to grasp. I offer here a case study of psychotic voices in which neither words nor voice proper figures prominently. I reflect on the strangeness of these experiences, and then point to the features of voice-hearing which I take to be of central importance: not-me-ness, a different realness, and presence. When it begins, madness can feel like grace, or art. The dull everyday becomes iridescent. People sense wild swans, floating angels, s...