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5. THE EXPERIENCE OF VOICE HEARING AND THE ROLE OF SELF-HELP GROUP: AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS (STUDY 4) 5.1. INTRODUCTION Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) have historically played an important role in diagnosing psychiatric disorders. In the last few decades, however, there has been an increase in research on the phenomenology of hearing voices in multiple contexts (Woods, 2013). Ihis change in perspective is due to three factors: (1) epidemiological data suggest several occurrences in the general population (Johns et al., 2014; Linscott & Os, 2010; Nuevo et al., 2012) and hearing voices can be a symptom of other psychiatric diagnoses (Johns et al., 2014; Laroi et al., 2012; McCarthy-Jones et al., 2014); (2) the new models of cognitive and social relationships (Chadwick, 2003, 2006; Falloon et al., 2006) and hearing voices have led to therapeutic changes and (3) the recovery model, the recovery movement of voice hearing persons and user-centred experiences (Holt & Tickle, 2014; Jackson et al., 2011) play a crucial role in integrating personal experiences and understanding into therapy. Patsy Hague and Eleanor Longden (whose story was not made public until the 2000s), the first selfidentified voice hearer, considered the experience to be meaningful rather than the symptoms (M. A. Romme & Escher, 2000; M. A. Romme et al., 1992). Their identities were built around voice hearing and they distinguished themselves from the more common psychiatric portrayal of schizophrenic patients. They defined themselves as experts by experience (as opposed to experts by profession), and created a symmetric peer-to-peer relationship with other hearers, which led to the development of the Hearing Voices Movement (HVM) (Corstens et al., 2014; Woods, 2013). The role of Marius Romme, the first hearing voices therapist, is also essential as he was able to help legitimise voice hearing as a non-psychiatric symptom (M. A. Romme & Escher, 2000). Focus in the field has gradually shifted away from the external aspects and the meanings of the voices to a distinct and personalised understanding of voice hearing according to the cognitive (Chadwick, 2003, 2006) and interpersonal (Hayward et al., 2013) models. Although the cognitive model emphasises the concept that a voice hearer has about the voices, the personalisation model emphasises the relationship the voice hearer has with the voices (Hayward, 2003).
