When a woman in her forties from the United Kingdom started hearing unfamiliar voices in her head while she was reading, she thought she was having a mental health crisis.
The voice first said to her, “Please don’t be afraid. I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this, but this is the easiest way I could think of. My friend and I used to work at the Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we would like to help you.”
The voices then provided her with three pieces of information she did not know in an attempt to convince her of their sincerity. She looked up the facts and confirmed that they were correct and accurate.
She was frightened and went to see her general practitioner, who quickly referred her to a psychiatric clinic. A psychiatrist at the clinic diagnosed her with “functional hallucinatory psychosis.”
She was offered counseling and an antipsychotic medication called thioridazine. The voices went away after two weeks. The woman went on vacation while still taking thioridazine.
However, the voices returned and told her that she needed to go back to England immediately for medical treatment. The voices gave her an address to visit.
Her husband drove her to the address, which turned out to be a department of a large London hospital. The voices urged her to schedule a brain scan because she had a tumor.
She was very upset, so her psychiatrist ordered a CT scan for her. At first, the request was denied because there was no clinical justification for the procedure. But in the end, the scan was approved, and its results matched up with what the voices had been telling the woman.
The scan revealed that she had a type of tumor called parafalcine meningioma, which grows between the two hemispheres of the brain.
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Surgery was recommended to remove the tumor, and the voices agreed that it was the best course of action.
So, surgeons removed the tumor. It was 2.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. After the operation, the voices said, “We are pleased to have helped you. Goodbye.”
Since then, she hasn’t heard the voices again. She recovered from the surgery with no complications and was taken off thioridazine right after.
Twelve years after her surgery, she called her psychiatrist to wish him a happy holiday season. She has been free of symptoms since the procedure. Following the phone call, the psychiatrist was inspired to publish the case study.
“This is the first and only instance I have come across in which hallucinatory voices sought to reassure the patient of their genuine interest in her welfare, offered her a specific diagnosis (there were no clinical signs that would have alerted anyone to the tumor), directed her to the type of hospital best equipped to deal with her problem, expressed pleasure that she had at last received the treatment they desired for her, bid her farewell, and thereafter disappeared,” wrote the psychiatrist.
The case report was published in BMJ.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
