Voices that others do not hear: the experience of a group of voice-hearers in Bologna

The experience of hearing voices accompanies the history of humankind, taking on different meanings in relation to cultural contexts and interpretative frameworks. In ancient civilizations, it was not necessarily regarded as a sign of abnormality, but could instead be understood as a privileged mode of contact with ethical, spiritual, and symbolic dimensions. A paradigmatic example is Socrates’ daimon, an inner interlocutor that guided his moral choices and reflective process. Similarly, in mystical and religious traditions, as well as in the realm of artistic and creative experience, voices were conceived as symbolic devices through which intuitions, deep affects, and contents of consciousness otherwise difficult to access could emerge. Rather than signs of dysfunction, they were understood as expressions of an intrapsychic dialogue capable of giving form to what escapes rational thought and ordinary language, guiding decisions, making internal conflicts visible, and sustaining the creative process. [...]