What happens when the voices go away?

My partner was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. She is on Geodon and has had good results with it. She became very upset the other day and told me that she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do now that the voices are gone. The voices that she’s had in her head her entire life, her friends, are suddenly gone. And she feels like an alien, looking out at a world she doesn’t know how to live in.

Does anyone have any ideas or resources I could look into for her? She said she feels like if she could just regulate the voices somehow, maybe just get them back 10%, she wouldn’t feel so alone. I feel horrible for her.

Thank you for your help.

Sofie

I’m afraid of that feeling when all voices and thoughts have quieted. I took seroquel for a very long time and I would turn in to a zombie nothing just nothing and slowly come back. It was so hard. I was so alone with a new reality

I’m sure others will add their own comments - but I’ve seen many people say they are sort of lonely when the voices go away. And that its too “quiet”. Others say that its finally some relief. Here is one discussion on our old discussion board:

http://www.schizophrenia.com:8080/jiveforums/thread.jspa?messageID=389080&#389080

Try to get your partner involved in other activities so that she gets more busy and doesn’t miss the voices anymore. More activities will occupy her mind and help her appreciate the things she can do now that she isn’t hearing the voices. Start off with volunteer activities if need be.

Welcome to the forum Sofie.

I remember having a conversation with my son once about this. I guess it would be like me losing my own conscience talking to me. He said that he used to be afraid of it happening but now that he is experiencing a quieter mind he actually likes it. This may take some time to adjust too. For my son he started paying attention to sounds around him. As SzAdmin says getting her involved in outside things. Help to show her what she has been missing. A whole world that she couldn’t pay attention to before and now can. Maybe even simple things that we take for-granted. I wrote a poem once about how loud the silence can be.

I’m in the camp that would be too freaked out with out my voices. Some of them. I had ECT once and for a while there wasn’t a single voice in my head. That much silence that much vast nothingness was too hard for me to deal with. I couldn’t take it. I was so glad that eventually (most likely through my drug use) my voices came back.

I guess not having voices would be Ok for some. But it really upsets me when my head it too quiet. I have no proof my brain is still up there. Plus I use them as a stress test. When they are just a babble whisper or just chattering, I’m Ok. But when they start coming out to play then I know I have to do something different.

for me it was a relief that they pretty much gone. i wish i had voices that i would miss. unfortunately that’s not the case for me. :frowning:

I recently took a lower dosage under doctor’s guidance with the theory that since I now know they are coming from my head I could deal with them now. I initially was optimistic about hoping to live with my mind with fewer side effects. As it turned out I remembered why I couldn’t deal with it in the first place because that part of my mind is not rational, reasonable, or logical. The fact that this person took the drugs in the first place was an indication something about her hallucinations bothered her. Perhaps a return of her voices under doctor supervision might remind her why she took the medicine in the first place. Of course a more ideal situation would be to replace the “friends” in her head with real friends in reality.

Spend more time with her. I am recovered myself, and I noticed two things; 1) Schizophrenia turned me from an extrovert to a complete introvert 2) Recovery made me go straight back to extroversion

I advise getting her to do less solitary activities (Internet, television, any electronics basically, reading, ect.) and get her around people to engage in conversations with. I think that we do sort of miss our voices as long as they werent all evil, malicious voices (2 of my 3 voices were) and recovery creates a gap that MUST be filled with reality.

Voices can be like having company with you 24/7. So get her around people! I have made new friends and have rekindled old friendships since I recovered. I don’t find myself alone on the weekends hardly ever, seriously. I suggest you have her take the MBTI, Myers Briggs Type Indicator (its short and easy and free and all over the internet) Personality test based on Jung and Briggs Myers typology

This test will tell you if she is extroverted or introverted. Keep in mind that the VAST majority of people with schizophrenia are dominantly introverted. If she is introverted, it is a sign that she was comfortable with her voices. If she is extroverted, it means that she will have an easier time filling the gap that the voices have left with real people.

I talk to my friends all the time. I have old friends on FB who I chat with all the time, I see my friends in town on a daily basis, and my weekends are usually filled with socializing, not me being alone like I used to. I have also gotten into powerlifting, and I see the same people working out there all the time and am friendly to them. I made friends with people sitting next to me in class. I hate being alone on the weekends, and usually I hangout with my two of my friends on thursday nights but one’s parents are visiting and the other has to clean his house for a family function, so here I am, on the internet again.

I dont hallucinate, but i had a different symptom that was always with me, and that was, thinking without 1 second stoping 24/7 for 15 years. But when i found supplement that treats that symptom i got excited, but in the beginning it was strange because before i could sit for hours and enjoy my thoughts. Now i enjoy my life. I can watch tv, i can listen to radio talk shows and i can participate in conversations without being into my thoughts.

Wow! Thank you EVERYONE! These are some amazing answers and suggestions. I really appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to answer my questions and give me your insights. They are really helpful.

When put like that it makes me almost want to try different meds to see if the voices will go away. But I’m too afraid to tamper with my med’s right now. But it’s something to work for.

I want to switch to a different med, but i am afraid that the other once might not work for me. And my pdoc doesn’t support me in that, even though he never saw my psychotic. The only psychiatrist that saw me psychotic was in the hospital were i was diagnosed, and i was given risperdal. I never tried any other.

I have this same thing, nobody understands what I am talking about. Have you been diagnosed what is it,?