'This July the new Voices Clinic opened its doors to offer cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for people who hear voices as a result of their mental illness, thanks to support from the William Buckland Foundation.
Despite improvements in antipsychotic medications such as Clozapine, up to half of patients with schizophrenia continue to suffer from auditory hallucinations: that is, voices inside their heads that may criticise, abuse, threaten or command them.
Such voices can also be a symptom for people who suffer from bipolar disorder, depression, neurological disorders and borderline personality disorder, and even occur in a significant number of people in the general population who would not be diagnosed as having a mental disorder...
The voices clinic is offering therapy to clients at Mental Health Research Institute's Parkville facility, with a capacity to see twenty patients a week. The therapy aims to reduce the distress and disability associated with auditory hallucinations...
Currently funded for a two year pilot period, the Voices Clinic aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CBT in treating auditory hallucinations, while conducting research to identify the most important targets for therapy and potential barriers to patients benefiting from treatment...'
Mental health workers and consumers interested in visiting or learning more about the Clinic can visit the website at www.mhri.edu.au/voices.htm.
Extract from 'Towards understanding' newsletter of Mental Health Research Institute August 2006
