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Voices in head?

NAS72680

Hi Everyone,

My daughter is 6 and has autism with a possible pda profile, she has behaviour that challenges with daily dysregulations.

I wanted to see if anyone had any experience of either themselves or someone that they know of who speaks to someone 'imaginary' after a dysregulation. My daughter always seems to deal with a dystegulation by having a conversation with herself but also seemingly to be talking with someone else...

She has had conversations with school staff who she told someone in her head tells her to do these things but since then has never mentioned it.

Earlier this morning she had a dysregulation and said that mum hates us. I asked her who we was and she said her sister, who had no involvement in the earlier upset.

Can anyone advise or have experience of this? What is the next step?

Thanks for reading

Parents

  • I had an imaginary friend as a child that I would talk to. I read that autistic children who have imaginary friends can grow up to be more sociable as they use it as a form of ‘practice’ or to make sense of others’ behaviour. I think it would depend if the voices in her head are just a part of her imagination or whether they are completely different personalities or voices that are controlling in any way. She could just be using it as a way of covering up unusual behaviour (eg. After a meltdown, saying - ‘I was told to throw something’ is easier than trying to understand and explain the autistic overwhelm, which is pretty impossible for a child). Her saying ‘mum hates us’ could just be a way of her trying to make sense of your concern over her behaviour - she may know something is not normal but doesn’t understand the behaviour herself. Having an imaginary friend to confide in could help her to feel less isolated by it.

    I still have constant dialogue as though I’m either talking to myself or to someone else in the room about what I’m doing or experiencing (but only out loud when I’m on my own). I don’t feel as though these are separate from me though, a sort of process of making sense of things.

  • in reply to Elise

    Hi ellise,

    Thank you for your reply.

    You are right in that she may use the imaginary to help cope with her dysregulations. I hope that we can further understand in the long run, I am happy that she has the confidence to share with whomever she's talking to.

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