You are here

ss7 hearing voices

Me_me_me's picture

So, my SS got caught in several lies today for the stupidest reasons. For instance, I asked him if he picked his comforter up off of the floor and he told me yes. I walk down the hall an hour later and see it on the floor. When I ask SS why he told me he picked up the comforter if he didn't do it. I hurried up and grabbed it up to put it away and said he didn't know what a comforter was. We went round and round until he gave in and told the truth. He's always had issues with lying but I'll be damned if I let him get away with it. Fast forward to tonight. SS comes into my room and says, "I know why I lie but it's too embarrassing to talk about" he turns to try and leave and of course I stop him and tell him, "If there is something wrong you have to tell me so I can help you" to which he replies, "I lie because I hear voices in my head and they tell me to do bad things." :jawdrop: At this point I don't know whether to laugh or cry or call a priest, I ask what kind of bad things. SS says, "they tell me to lie and to break things" He goes on to tell me that the only person he's told is his mom and it's been going on for about a month now. I don't even know what to do here. Is this some sort of elaborate lie? What kind of 7 yr old would think of a something like this to lie about? Does he really hear voices? Are they going to tell him to burn down my house while I sleep?

jennaspace's picture

My son recently said something similar (he's six). As I questioned him more I realized he was probably talking about his conscious. Sometimes he gets thoughts that are "bad" in his head. Maybe even something like "kill that baby (happened once)". My son's never hurt animals or anyone, except an ant or two.

Most of my son's "bad voice" thoughts seem to be about the kind your ss had, rebelling against me or another authority figure.

He sounded kind of crazy at first. Even saying he needed to go and talk to the bad and good voice and see what's what a few times. I have an awesome aunt who works with kids with emotional issues (professionally). She felt this was perfectly normal and not indicative of a mental illness or other problem. She asked me if he was generally happy and related to me and others. Stuff like that. When I replied that he was pretty social and outgoing (despite the angst of being a spirited kid), she did not think it was something to be concerned about.

Let me reassure you, my son is a normal kid. He's talking about (and I suspect your ss may be too) thoughts that flit in to our head that are a) our rebellious side
b) kind of crazy.. I suspect some of these type of thoughts might pop up just because we think they are so terrible and are afraid we are the kind of individual who thinks such terrible thoughts. e.g. my son sometimes says "what if I'm a bad guy when I grow up?" I think this observance of our "good" vs "bad" is just part of being human. We all have both.

I'm guessing it's easy for some of us parents to freak out, resulting in further angst and occurrence of these types of thoughts. Nothing invites thoughts in more than trying not to think about them.

I tried to not make a big deal of it and explained to him that some thoughts are like birds that land on your head. You have to ask yourself "do I agree w/this thought?" If not, you shoo it away and don't own it. No worries.

I did this despite the fact it did concern me initially. After talking with him calmly and not making a big deal out of it, he's not brought it up again and seems like a normal six year old.

Also, my son does lie sometimes too (very normal at this age according to experts I've read) and I do call him on it and talk about the importance of being truth tellers. His lying seems to have decreased w/time but it's still a work in progress. In the end it will be his choice as we mom's know. I pray he'll make the right one.

Orange County Ca's picture

Is his name Damien? The Spawn of the Devil?

Anyway what were the consequences of his lies?

Rags's picture

Check his scalp for the 666. Wink

I think many kids of that age do not even consider that they are lying or doing something wrong. The first thing out of my kid's mouth when we asked a question starting with "Did you" was either Yes or No and said so quickly that he could not have possibly considered his answer before he actually gave it. It is a kid thing. Whether he answered yes or no was determined entirely by what he thought we wanted to hear.

Kids do not like disappointing people and often their decisions are based on not wanting to disappoint regardless of the facts of the situation.

As for the voices, keep on eye on that and if SS's behavior does not escalate beyond fairly normal fibs I would just chalk it up to a reasonalby normal kid thing.