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Hearing Voices - conference at UEL aims to understand psychological phenomena

Friday 11 January 2008

The fascinating experiences of people who hear voices will come under the spotlight at a special one-day conference to be held at the University of East London (UEL) Stratford campus on Tuesday 29 January.

The conference is a collaboration between UEL’s School of Psychology and the Hearing Voices Network, a national charity that offers information, support and understanding to people who hear voices and those who support them.

A wide range of speakers, including academic psychologists, mental health professionals, and voice hearers themselves, will debate the causes and effects of the experience and attempt to develop constructive ways in which to manage and understand it outside of psychiatric services.

Dr David Harper, Reader in Clinical Psychology at UEL, will be among the conference’s key speakers. Dr Harper said: “Mainstream psychiatry understands the experience of hearing voices as a "symptom" of "severe mental illness", and provides little more than drug treatment in response.

“There is now a growing body of research that challenges this traditional account and shows that there are many explanations for hearing voices. As the limitations of a solely medical approach to the experience become better known, it is crucial that voice hearers are offered a forum in which to make sense of their experiences outside of psychiatry.”

The Hearing Voices Network conference will take place at UEL’s Duncan House campus in Stratford High Street on Tuesday 29 January. For further details, visit www.uel.ac.uk/lectureseries or contact Professor Mark Rapley on 020 8223 6392 or m.rapley@uel.ac.uk.

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For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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