Schizophrenia: What it's like to hear voices

Support for LAist comes from

Become a sponsor

Podcasts Take Two

Aug 20, 2014

Listen • 5:30

Schizophrenia: What it's like to hear voices

Since the 1950s, doctors have prescribed strong anti-psychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia, but one local researcher suggests a controversial new theory that draws from other cultures.

Efrain Pacheco is 21 and lives in San Diego. He can't remember exactly when the voices began, in part because he thought everyone heard them.

Since the 1950s, doctors have prescribed strong anti-psychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia, but one local researcher suggests a controversial new theory that draws from other cultures.

Schizophrenia causes millions of Americans to hallucinate, hearing voices which seem to come from nowhere. Since the 1950s, doctors have prescribed strong anti-psychotic drugs to quell those voices.

But one local researcher suggests a controversial new theory, drawing from other cultures. The theory goes in some cases, those voices may be helpful. Reporter Amy Standen has the story