Today I am beyond pleased to bring you some thoughts from author Charles Porter on schizophrenia and hearing voices. Porter is the author of the books Shallcross and Flame Vine – which together comprise his Hearing Voices series. The books are Porter’s fictional take on a very serious, utterly non-fictional, issue: auditory and visual hallucinations. I have not had the chance to read the books yet, but wanted to introduce the author and his books to you – as well as offer him the opportunity to share some of his insights about the hearing voices community. I have a long-standing interest in mental health – there is nothing more precious to me than my mind and my sense of self; the thought that a physical or emotional issue could subvert those qualities that are so essential to the idea of me as me is horrifying and yet somehow also darkly compelling (perhaps because I hope that understanding will help thwart the possibility of it ever happening to me, even though I know full well that this doesn’t make any sense at all).

My two cents: I have worked in health care, in trade organizations, law firms, and commercial enterprises representing hospitals, physicians, health insurers, and pharmaceuticals, and have continually been amazed at the disparate treatment that mental health – as opposed to physical health – conditions receive. I asked Mr. Porter to weigh in on the normalization of mental health treatment and understanding, particularly in light of so many ongoing research developments discovering how many of these “mental” conditions do in fact have underlying physical/physiological causes (or at least major causal elements). Continue reading Guest Post: Charles Porter on Hearing Voices