MAASTRICHT INTERVIEW

WITH A CHILD OR
YOUNG PERSON WHO HEARS
VOICES
(MIC)

A.D.M. Escher M.Phil, PhD. & Prof. Dr. M.A.J. Romme, social psychiatrist
Universiteit Maastricht, Postbus 616, 6200 MD Maastricht
e-mail: [email protected]

Name of voice hearer:

.........................................................................................

Name of interviewer:

.........................................................................................

Address:

.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................

Telephone number:

...........................................................................................

Age:

...........................................................................................

Gender

...........................................................................................

Living situation

...........................................................................................

Kind of school

...........................................................................................

Class/group?

...........................................................................................

or
Do you work or study?

...........................................................................................

Date interview:

.................................................................. year ................

NATURE OF THE EXPERIENCES

1.

I would like you to tell me about your experience.

Do you hear voices?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

1.2

Do you hear sounds? Can the sounds/voices you hear also be heard by other people?
Can you explain why?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

1.3

Do you have other perceptions? Do you see visions or colours?

If yes, could you describe them?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

1.4

Where do the voice(s)/sounds come from (where are they located)? Your head, your ears
(left/right/both), or somewhere else within your body?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

1.5

Concerning the voices you hear, are these voices coming from your own person or are they from
someone else? (We are trying to establish how you perceive the voices when you experience
them.) Are the voices coming from within yourself (ego-syntonic/me) or are the voices coming
from someone else or something outside of yourself (ego-dystonic/not-me). Can you explain
why?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

To be concluded by the interviewer: does the voices-hearing possess the same or similar
characteristics as an auditory hallucination (as it is understood within psychiatry)
1. The respondent can hear voices that others cannot hear
yes/no
2. The respondent hears voices through the ears
yes/no
3. The respondent hears voices in his/her head
yes/no
4. The respondent is able to maintain a dialogue
yes/no
or other method of communication
5. The voices are experienced as me (1) or not-me (2)
1/2
6. The voices are only sleep related
yes/no

2.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VOICES

2.1

Do you hear one or more voices? How many? Are the voices always the same voices? Has it
always been like this? Or have the number of voices ever changed?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

2.2

I want to talk about the five most important voices. We will start with the first voice and then I
will ask the same questions about the other voices. Does your most important voice have a name?
An age? What gender does the voice have? In what kind of tone do the voice(s) talk to you? Are
they kind or aggressive? How frequently do you hear this voice?
name

age

gender

contents/tone

frequency

o
1
2
3
4
5
2.3

Does the manner or tone of the voices remind you of someone one you know or used to know?
If yes, who?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

2.4

During the past year, has there been a time, when the voices were not present or were less
frequent? Had anything changed in you life?
Yes/no
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

2.5

If yes, when they returned had anything changed in your life?

Yes/no

What?
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

HISTORY OF VOICE HEARING

3.1
I would like you to remember the moment you started to hear voices for the first time. Could
you tell me how old you were? How you lived? Had anything happened to you? Let us follow the list. I
will first ask you if the events/circumstances happened in your life. Than I will ask you if it was the start
of the voice hearing or whether the voices changed.
Event/ circumstance

voices
Yes/no yes/no

Death
Someone died (for example grandfather/friend)
You had seen a serious accident
At home
Your parents separated or divorced
There were many quarrels at home
School
You repeated your class
You changed schools
Illness
You have been admitted to a psychiatric hospital/general
hospital/been operated on/had a general anesthetic
An emotionally important person became seriously ill
(father/mother/grandparent/friend)
Love
You had a relationship that failed
You are or were in love and it was or is not reciprocated
Change
You moved
A very good friend moved away. Why?
Sexuality
You began menstruating
You became pregnant
You had an abortion
You were sexually abused? You saw others sexually abused?
You feel attracted to someone of the same sex?
We left out something that you felt was traumatic. What
[
[
[
[
[

]
]
]
]
]

Have you ever tried to talk with others about the trauma/circumstances?
do you still want to talk about it?
do you feel you want revenge ?
Do you feel powerless because of it ?
Do you feel guilty?

What do the voices say about the event/trauma ?

voices
changed

Suppose that you started to hear voices after some kind of trauma, for example when you failed an
important test, do the voices react when you have to do an other test?
yes/no
Please tell me more about it.
..............................................................................
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

TRIGGERS

4.1

Do the voice occur at a specific time (for example in the evening), in specific places (for example
in your bedroom or in the class), during specific activities (for example playing outside, making
homework)?
Yes/no
..............................................................................
..............................................................................

4.2.1

Have you ever noticed whether the voices are present when you feel certain emotions? Let us
check this list. And can you describe how the voices react? (For instance are they comforting,
helpful or frightening and unhelpful)

emotion

reaction of the voices

[ ]when you are angry ..............................................................................................

[ ] when you are afraid

..............................................................................................

[ ] when you are sad

..............................................................................................

[ ] when you are tired

..............................................................................................

[ ] when you doubt what to do ................................................................................

[ ] when you feel guilty ..............................................................................................
[ ] when you feel lonely ..............................................................................................
[ ] when you are happy/in love ......................................................................................
How do you normally cope with the emotions that trigger the voices. Are you able to
[ ] feel them

.........................................................................................

[ ] express them,

.............................................................................................

[ ] control them

.............................................................................................

[ ] talk about them

.............................................................................................

If not, could you explain why not?

CONTENT OF THE VOICES

5.2

The voices, are they friendly?

Yes/no

Are they nasty?

Yes/no

Do the voices command you ?

Yes/no

Do you do what they command and if yes, why ?

Yes/no

Do the voice blackmail you?

Yes/no

Can you give an example?

Some children tell us that the voices took over choosing things.
Does this happen to you?
Yes/no
Are you able to make your own choices? Do you have a system for it?
Yes/no
6

INFLUENCE OF THE VOICES

I would like to ask what kind of impact the voices have on your way of life.

6.1 Do the voices make you sad?

6.2

Yes/no

Angry?

Yes/no

Do they frighten you?

Yes/no

Can they make you happy?

Yes/no

Do the voices confuse you?

Yes/no

Do the voices influence your mood at home

Yes/no

Do the voices influence your mood at school

Yes/no

Do the voices influence your mood in social contacts

Yes/no

Can the voices control you so that

You are unable to do your homework

Yes/no

You start to quarrel with others

Yes/no

You do something you will be punished for

Yes/no

You run away

Yes/no

You do something that you actually dont want to do

Yes/no

Do the voices make you feel not alone

Yes/no

Do they help you (give a solution to a problem or help with a choice)

Yes/no

Give you advice

Yes/no

Does the influence of the voices have consequences for your behaviour at home?

Yes/no

Your behaviour at school?

Yes/no

Your behaviour with social contacts

Yes/no

6.3 What do you feel about the voices? What do you experience the voices as?
now

in the past

predominately positive voices

yes/no

yes/no

predominately negative voices

yes/no

yes/no

neutral

yes/no

yes/no

negative as well as positive

yes/no

yes/no

INTERPRETATION OF THE VOICES

7.1

For example if you hear the voice of your deceased grandfather you you might think the
origin of the voices is related to an other world. Or if you hear the voice of the Mary, mother of
Jesus you might think that the voice is related to religion. Or you voice might be related to
telepathy. What do you think is the origin of your voices? Do all your voices have the same
origin?

Relation (devil, God, Mary, Jesus, angels)

Yes/no

Ghosts or phantoms

Yes/no

A (exceptional) gift (predicting the future or thoughts of reading other peoples mind)

Yes/no

A disease

Yes/no

An other world ? (fantasy, different hemisphere)?

Yes/no

Different explanation.....................................................................................................................
8

RELATION WITH THE VOICES

Are you able to talk to the voice ?

Yes/no

Do the voices listen to you as well?

Yes/no

Do they respect you?

Yes/no

Do they agree with you?

Yes/no

Are you able to call the voices?

Yes/no

Do they come?

Yes/no

Are you able to shut yourself off from the voices?

Yes/no

Who is the boss?

you:

Yes/no

the voices

Yes/no

both

Yes/no

9 COPING
I would like to know what you do, how you cope with the voices. How active or passive you are.
Cognitive strategy

nr.
1
active
2
active
3
active
4
passive
5
passive
6
passive
7
passive

strategy
Send the voices away

Yes/no

Does it work

strategy
Yes/no
Do something (go shopping, take
a shower)

Does it work

Make a deal with the voices

Only listen to the nice things
Ignore the voices
Think about something else
Concentrate on the voices
Scold the voices

Behavioural strategy

nr
8
active

9
active
10
active
11
active
12
passive
13
passive
14
passive

Shut yourself off from the voices

Distraction (TV, reading)
Write about the voices (dairy))
Telephone/visit someone
Run away from the voices
Perform rituals

Physiological strategy

nr
15
active
16
passive
17
passive
18
passive
9.19

strategy
Make a drawing of the voices

Yes/no

Does it work

Take medication
Use alcohol or drugs
Eat food or sweets
Do you feel you are in control?

Yes/no

10

9.20
9.21

Has this changed over time?

Do you still use your first coping strategy ?

Yes/no
Yes/no

10.

MEDICAL HISTORY

10.1

Did you ever recieve therapy ? Did you ever recieve therapy because of the voices? What kind of
therapist?

year

10.2

clinic/ambulant

kind of therapist

lengths

indication for
treatment

What did the therapist do in relation to the voices ?

.........................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................
10.3 Which therapist did you talk to about the voices ?
..........................................................................................................................................................................
..............................................................
Do you want me to send a report of this interview to your therapist/G.P. ?
Name and address of the person I should send it to:
......................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................

11

11.

SOCIAL NETWORK
Contact with others is an important part of life. Firstly, I would like to ask you to tell me about the
person with whom you have a personal relationship and other persons that are important to you.
The order is not important and you are not required to give complete names. Initials or something
like Grandmother or my son is sufficient.
RESPONSE FILE SOCIAL NETWORK
N
O
0
1
0
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
0
6
0
7
0
8

NAME

knows about the voices

yes/no

Do hearing voices occur within the family?

talks about the voices

yes/no

Yes/no

12

To be completed by the interviewer. In the judgement of the interviewer do the voices have a relationship
to life history ? (also to be discussed with the child/adolescent to see if there is consensus)
Relation with the life history
Interviewer
a traumatic event/circumstances

Respondent

too high expectations by social

environment (school/at home/self)

Physical condition (birth trauma)

explanation

exceptional position within family

paranormal

(acceptance from parents?)

or at school
not being able to express emotion

Most important information per item

1.

Nature of the experience.

Is it an auditory hallucination?
Do the voice hearer has other perceptions like auras, hears music etc?

Characteristics
What is the age and gender
Do they resemble anyone?
Are the voices threatening?
How often are they heard?
Have the voices changed from positive to negative and at what age

History of voice hearing

Is there any trauma/powerless making situation. In what situation live the child at the onset of the
voice hearing.

Triggers

13

Are there triggers like time/place or activity

Are there emotional triggers? Is the child able to talk about emotions, express them and control
them,?
5

Content of the voices

Are the voices negative/positive?

Influence of the voices on:

Emotions
Behaviour at home/school/social contacts
Consequences of the influence at the behaviour at home/at school/ in social contacts
How are the voices experienced

Origin
Is the explanation for the origin making powerless?

Relation with the voices

Does the voice hearer has influence?

Coping
How active/passive is the voice hearer in coping with the voice?

10

Social Network
How many people know about the voices

11

Does the interviewer consider there to be a relationship between the voices and the life history?
Does the voice hearer agree?
Does voice hearing occur within the family?

12 Scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Dissociative Experience Scale (DES).
High scores on anxiety, depression, frequency of the voices and dissociation are predictors for the ongoing
experience of hearing voices.

14