A discursive approach to narrative accounts of hearing voices and recovery

Abstract

Substantive objective: To research the range of discursive constructions ‘recovered’ voice hearers employ to describe hearing voices and the implications for positioning and subjectivity (what can be thought and felt) using each construction.

Methodological objective and method: To explore a ‘sympathetic’ application of Foucauldian discourse analysis, adapting Willig’s (2008) method, analysing two published accounts.

Results and conclusions: Heterogeneous discursive constructions for talking about hearing voices were identified, including: ‘many-’selves’’, ‘taking-the-lead-in-your-own-recovery’, ‘voices-as-an-’imagined-world’’ and ‘voices-as-a-coping-strategy-for-dealing-with-trauma’. The discourse of the biomedical model was not prominent, suggesting alternate discursive constructions may create subjects with a greater capacity for ‘living with voices’ and create a subjectivity from which vantage point the experience holds meaning and value and can be integrated into life experiences. This research may have useful clinical applications for mental health services aiming to collaboratively explore service users’ ways of understanding hearing voices.

Keywords:

• discourse analysis
• service user perspectives
• recovery

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Olga Runciman and Debra Lampshire for writing about their experiences and validating this research, and Dr Paul Sullivan and Dr Tammi Walker for their advice on drafts of the manuscript.

Notes

1. By ‘consciously used’, in the framework of DA, I mean within the ‘discreet self’ constructed by discourse (Rose, 1996).