University of Birmingham and mental health charity Mind in Camden shed further light on hearing voices and suicidality.
New resources have been developed by academics at the University of Birmingham, in partnership with mental health charity Mind in Camden, to encourage a more compassionate and nuanced approach to supporting people who hear voices - including when those voices relate to suicide.
The project highlights that hearing voices is not always harmful and can sometimes be an adaptive response to distress. The findings also stress that common reactions, such as panic or taking control away from individuals, can undermine trust and be unhelpful.
The resources, which include a short film and a practical booklet, have been launched at a special event in London this week.
The project team are calling on teachers, clinicians, families and friends to prioritise listening, curiosity and understanding. Rather than imposing assumptions, supporters are encouraged to explore what the experience means to the individual and build on existing strengths and sources of support.
Our resources aim to help people manage in a calmer and more measured way, something that can be distressing for all involved.
The guidance emphasises that maintaining a person’s sense of agency, while offering safe and compassionate support, is key, particularly when navigating complex experiences such as hearing voices linked to suicidal thoughts.
Professor Lisa Bortolotti, who led the project at the University of Birmingham, said: “Hearing voices and suicidality are both experiences that are heavily stigmatised. This often evokes anxious responses, not only for those experiencing them, but also for those responding to them, such as friends, doctors or family members.
“When hearing voices and suicidal thoughts both happen together, this anxiety can intensify and cause panic, increasing the likelihood of misunderstandings and unhelpful, reactive, or harmful responses. Our resources aim to help people manage in a calmer and more measured way, something that can be distressing for all involved.”
Recent research by Professor Bortolotti has highlighted ethical concerns in mental healthcare: people experiencing mental distress are often stripped of agency, with their accounts of their own experiences given less weight at precisely the moment they most need to be heard. The Wellcome-funded project EPIC (Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare) aims to improve clinical interactions by protecting the agency of people seeking help.
The findings suggest that when individuals feel misunderstood or overruled, it can intensify distress rather than reduce it. In contrast, approaches grounded in listening, curiosity, and collaboration can help people make sense of their experiences and feel more supported.
The booklet provides several practical ways that people can do this if someone tells them they have been hearing voices telling them to die by suicide.
Mind in Camden provides services to over 1000 people with serious mental health needs each year and is affiliated with the national mental health charity, Mind. It hosts several specialist groups for people who hear voices: the London Hearing Voices Network, which supports 42 hearing voices peer support groups across the capital, Voices Unlocked for people in prisons or immigration removal centres, and Voice Collective for children and young people.
Fiona Malpass, the Project Development and Innovation Lead at Mind in Camden, said: “It has been wonderful to receive funding to explore some of the most stigmatised areas of lived experience: hearing voices and suicidality. Being able to co-create resources rooted in lived experience, with the aim of increasing understanding and supporting more compassionate responses, has been an important step towards challenging stigma, fear, and misunderstanding. We hope these resources encourage people to respond to those experiencing suicidal voices with curiosity and compassion, rather than anxiety-driven reactions that can unintentionally increase distress.”
The resources are available for people to access here.
For more information on hearing voices and suicidality, go to the Voice Collective website.
For more information and media inquiries, please contact Ellie Hail (e.hail@bham.ac.uk), Communications Officer, University of Birmingham, on +44 (0)7966 311 409. Out-of-hours, please call +44 (0) 121 414 2772.
Professor of Philosophy
Biographical and contact information for Professor Lisa Bortolotti, Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham.
