Hearing divine voices: a qualitative enquiry about criticism, connectedness, and compassion

Background We explored the role of criticism of self and of others, and metacognitive abilities in hearing voices that may refer to god or a divine presence, and qualitatively compared differences and similarities between persons who were diagnosed with psychosis and those who were not. Methods We recruited two samples of persons who heard divine voices: six were diagnosed with brief psychotic disorder (sub-sample A) and six were not (sub-sample B). All participants were interviewed according to a mixed-method design that integrated content analysis and phenomenological procedures. Results The narratives of sub-sample A showed higher levels of self-criticism and other-criticism and lower levels of narrative coherence than those of sub-sample B. The latter showed an intention of the voices characterized by compassion and connectedness. Conclusion This qualitative study highlighted the importance of considering criticism and metacognition as central mechanisms in understanding the distress of persons hearing divine voices.