Who says that if you experience this your supposed to be suffering? For me, at least, the whole thing isn't really negative so I wouldn't say I suffer audio hallucinations but rather experience them
Nobody said you are 'supposed to' suffer. What the op did was address those who are indeed suffering and there are quite a few of them.
Eventhough it is clearly stated at the beginning of the quote that some people are "are not mentally unwell". It is still an important point you are making, agreed. Unless the symptoms have a negative impact on the person OR people around him, he should not even be considered ill and in fact is not in most places.
has the symptomatic person or should there at least be an acute threat of him harming himself or somebody else, he is not the one who legally decides whether he is sick or not anymore. Medication can be administered against his will in many countries, usually cat least a neuroleptic agent via IM injection, should the patient show poor compliance.
The auditory hallucinations I experience due to either sleep deprivation or full-blown mania are usually rather pleasant, e.g. songs I know playing loud and clear or a simple melody I hear all day long (which can be annoying). When it gets noisy I would also misinterpret the sounds somewhere on the way to my consciousness and only perceive this misinterpretation. Such noise could consist of people talking or traffic around me or taking a shower. This is definitely slightly unsettling to me unlike the music. It can also be a little stressful feeling compelled to check out sounds around you to find out if they are real. Sometimes that's just necessary. The sounds can be so vivid and real that I check them out again and again just to make sure they are in my head.
I actually know a person whose voices order him to do harm to others and insult him on a very personal level and amazingly enough he has made his peace with the voices without any medical treatment. He still experiences them, sometimes more and sometimes less, but I wouldn't have ever noticed if he hadn't told me. This is very rare though in people who experience such severe auditory hallucinations, most of those develope a shitload of other symptoms of schizophrenia and the person deteriorates further with each episode or throughout a steady progression. Treatment is often the only way to remain a functioning member of your community. Some only experience one episode, others progress very very slowly and some get the full package of symptoms which is often a total nightmare and can be very destructive, at the very least on a social level. :/
About half of the people who do develope schizophrenia are compliant with the neuroleptic treatment (numbers vary between 20% and 60% depending on the source) go into full remission with the patient ideally not suffering any side effects at all (by definition remission means '6 month without an episode', but usually no more episodes are experienced after that). I'm not sure how many do without treatment, but those I know who have in fact shown the full spectrum of schizophrenia deteriorated hard without treatment.
My best friend had 3 suicide attempts until he got his depot injections and now he has been 100% fine over the past 7 years, symptom and side effect free. He is still receiving a microdose IM risperidon in regular intervals because neuroleptics saved his life and he is scared shitless (!) of going back to that place.
Another formerly good friend has rejected all treatment due to side effects and "making him a person he is not". He's got it bad, it's impossible to talk to him at times. My empathy goes very far, but eventually I passively withdrew myself from him. Those who have seen severe schizophrenic episodes will understand. E.g. he loses time for hours and doesn't even remember seeing you on the same day etc., that's only apparent when he isn't caught up in stereotypical movement and producing gibberish.
I can only urge everyone who has a friend whose symptoms are putting significant stress on the relationship to convince him of seeking treatment, even if we all despise the game 'big pharma' is playing. People can be talked sense into if you know how to handle the subject well enough.
But this is kind of OT since we are talking about auditory hallucinations lol.
If I would indeed be "suffering" of those, I would definitely take neuroleptics or whatever else helps. They are often dosed too high initially and can produce countless side effects, but good psychiatrists start off very low if there is no threat.
If you can look at it as a challenge that allows you to grow or at least understand yourself better by looking at triggers, more power to you! If it's not severe and does not cause any problems in daily activites or social interaction, who even gives a shit, right? About every 3rd person experiences non drug-induced hallucinations at some point in his life.
Did the symptoms get worse when the medications were removed?
