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Background: Voice hearing experiences, or auditory verbal hallucinations, occur in healthy individuals as well as in individuals who need clinical care, but news media depict voice hearing primarily as a symptom of mental illness, particularly schizophrenia., Aims: This article explores whether, and how, public perception of an exaggerated association between voice hearing and mental illness might influence individuals' need for clinical care., Method: A narrative literature review was conducted, using relevant peer-reviewed research published in the English language., Results: Stigma may prevent disclosure of voice hearing experiences. Non-disclosure can prevent access to sources of normalizing information and lead to isolation, loss of social support and distress. Internalization of stigma and concomitantly decreased self-esteem could potentially affect features of voices such as perceived voice power, controllability, negativity and frequency, as well as distress. Increased distress may result in a decrease in functioning and increased need for clinical care., Conclusion: The literature reviewed suggests that stigma has the potential to increase need for care through many interrelated pathways. However, the ability to draw definitive conclusions was constrained by the designs of the studies reviewed. Further research is needed to confirm the findings of this review.

Background: The characterization of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), diverges from recent research literature, which demonstrates the occurrence of AVH in individuals who are psychologically healthy. This discrepancy raises the question of how the public perceives AVH. Public perceptions are important because they could potentially affect how individuals with AVH interpret these experiences and how people view voice hearers., Aims: Because media portrayals can provide a window into how phenomena are viewed by the public, an archival study of newspaper articles was carried out to examine depictions of AVH., Methods: A sample of 181 newspaper articles originating in the United States was analyzed using a content analysis approach., Results: The majority of articles examined contained no suggestion that AVH are possible in psychologically healthy individuals. Most articles suggested that AVH were a symptom of mental illness, and many suggested that AVH were associated with criminal behavior, violence and suicidality., Conclusion: The news media examined tended to present a misleading and largely pathologizing view of AVH. More research is needed to shed light on how, and to what extent, public perceptions may influence those who experience AVH., (© The Author(s) 2014.)