Schizophrenia & Religion

[nailit]

I may be wide of the mark here and only going on my OWN experiences with schizophrenics.
But why is it that people who suffer from schizophrenia frequently seem to hear the voices of religious figures...The Devil, God, Jesus etc? As opposed to the voices of, say, goblins, giraffes or aliens?
Ive known quiet a few schizophrenics in my time and without exception, ALL seem to have had delusions that either evil forces are speaking to them or God or Jesus is speaking to them.
I have a close friend who is on meds for this but he still swears blind that he has heard the (audible) voice of God. Before he was diagnosed and medicated I will add! When I was in the psych unit a year and a half ago, there were two patients there who regularly had conversation with lucifer and/or assorted demons.
Ive had other acquaintances and they all seem to have some sort of fixation with religion or religious figures. Good or evil.

Just curious as to why?
I know that Schizophrenia is a wide umbrella (and Ive stated that I may be wide of the mark) but it does seem that, from my own experience, that most seem to lean towards a religious viewpoint re: the voices that they hear?

[Mamyalynne]

Varies greatly in those suffering.

[Samuraisan]

Well Moses heard God speak didn't he ? And Jesus and Mohammed ? I think they were all schizophrenics. Although maybe Mohammed had alterior motives.

[nailit]

//Well Moses heard God speak didn't he ? And Jesus and Mohammed ? I think they were all schizophrenics//
May well have done Samuraisan, really don't know...

But the question is WHY do so many people that suffer from schizophrenia seem to have these *type* of delusians?

[Mamyalynne]

Well, I shan't insult you by linking to the Wiki page on this topic - though it does have links to many tomes on the subject.

No doubt written by people more qualified than most of us in this field.

[nailit]

Funny enough mamy, never even thought of looking at Wiki (don't know why?, just never even trusted wiki as a reliable source anyway. Much prefer real life experiences and real life opinions.

[Patsy33]

My Auntie was diagnosed with schizophrenia years ago, and she was obsessed with Jesus. I kept seeing notes about the house, asking Jesus questions and scriptures she had written down. She never did get better, poor darling.

[woofgang]

nailit, google voice hearers. There is a growing tendency to only consider voice hearers as having an illness if the voice hearing causes a problem for the hearer or puts other people at risk. I take your point about personal experience but I don't think its any substiture for a wider more objective view.

[Tilly2]

My dad suffered from psychosis and paranoia and he heard voices but he never did say who these voices were. He said they were just voices telling him bad things.