The Lived Experience of Auditory Hallucinations among Egyptian Mentally Ill Patients: A Phenomenological Study

Background: Auditory hallucinations are a land mark of most of the psychotic disorders; they have significant impacts on the lives of the individuals who suffer from mental disorders. People with auditory hallucinations require considerable assistance from mental health professionals. Aim of the study is to describe the experience of auditory hallucination among Egyptian mentally ill patients. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen patients who are experiencing auditory hallucination and are treated in Psychiatric Medicine and Addiction Prevention Hospital -El Manial University Hospital. Results: seven main themes were extracted after analyzing the participants verbatim which are: voices have harmful unpleasant nature, voices have a mix of pleasant and unpleasant nature, voice mean that I'm a powerful and extraordinary person, voices have physical effects, voices have psychological and emotional effects, voices have social effects, and different ways for dealing with auditory hallucination.