Qualitative Lead(s)
Rachel Rowan Olive
Project Dates
2019-2020
Funding Source(s)
Unfunded MA dissertation
Qualitative Design used
Field of Research
Voice-hearing, multilingualism
Geographic/Contextual Setting
UK
Voice-hearing and voice-hearers have been subject to decades of research in psychology and psychiatry; meanwhile, the study of multilingualism has been increasingly recognised in linguistics as vital to understanding how we process and store language. But cross-fertilisation between these areas has been extremely limited. Qualitative research exploring the complexities of individual experiences has been particularly overlooked. This project explored this gap via interviews with ten multilingual voice-hearers.
Qualitative Approach and Methods
Aim of the qualitative component
To explore multilingual voice-hearers’ experiences.
Qualitative methodology
Constructionist reflexive thematic analysis
Which qualitative methods were used?
Interviews
Findings, Learning & Impact
Summary of main findings
A high proportion of participants described hearing voices they did not (fully) understand, challenging the dominance of the hypothesis that voice-hearing originates from misattributed inner speech. This set of experiences is presented along a spectrum with a complex array of associated emotions and subtle experiential distinctions. The relationship between language experiences, voices’ languages, and associated emotions was similarly complex and individual: participants described voices both reflecting and distorting or shifting the contexts, domains, interlocutors and feelings associated with their various languages. This has implications for therapeutic and peer support for those who are distressed by their voices, as well as opening up new avenues in voice-hearing phenomenology and aetiology.
Why were qualitative methods used in this project, and what did they enable?
- Open qualitative exploration generated insights which complicated and/or challenged dominant psychiatric and psychological understandings of voice-hearing.
- Participants described never having been asked before about the languages their voices spoke, and wishing they had been able to explore this in therapeutic settings.
Impact & influence
- Presented findings at the SLAM recovery college research club
- Invited seminar at UCL Qualitative Health Research Network: Exploring multilingual voice-hearers’ experiences | Qualitative Health Research Network – UCL – University College London
Links, Outputs & Resources
Links to publications
- Olive, R. R., & Dewaele, J.-M. (2022). An Exploration of Multilinguals’ Voice-Hearing Experiences. Language and Psychoanalysis, 11, 16–40. Available here.