Developmental Trauma and Voice-Hearing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the roles of attachment style and dissociation in the relationship between dissociation and voice-hearing experiences
IRAS ID
325801
Contact name
Bethany Angell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway University of London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 31 days
Research summary
Research shows that people who experience traumatic events in childhood are more likely to hear voices in adulthood and experience distress related to the voices. Two factors which appear to be important in understanding the relationship between childhood trauma and voice hearing are dissociation and attachment style.
Traumatic events in childhood influence our attachment styles, referring to patterns in our relationships. Psychological models suggest that people with secure attachments develop adaptive ways of coping with traumatic experiences, meaning they are less likely to begin hearing voices or experience less distress related to their voices. Alternatively, people will insecure attachment styles are more likely to develop unhelpful ways of responding to voices, which maintain voice-hearing experiences and increases voice-related distress.
Dissociation is a strategy where a person disconnects mentally as a way of coping with distressing/traumatic experiences. This disconnect strategy is thought to lead to voice hearing by causing the person to incorrectly interpret external stimuli (e.g. sounds in our environment) as being caused internally.
This study will involve asking adult voice hearers to complete several questionnaires about their experiences of childhood trauma, dissociation, voice-hearing, and their current attachment style. Previous studies have not asked specifically about the characteristics of traumatic events. However, this is likely to be an important factor. For example, dissociation is more likely to happen at a younger age as this is the most accessible way of coping available to young children. This study will collect information about the age of the child when they experienced trauma and the type of trauma experienced with regards to the person’s relationship to the perpetrator.
This study will recruit voice hearers accessing mental health services regardless of their diagnoses, as previous research has tended to recruit participants with certain diagnoses even though people with various mental health problems hear voices.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
23/WS/0089
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jul 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion