What is it called when you hear voices telling you to do bad things?

Answer 1

The mental disorder you are thinking of is schizophrenia. More specifically a subtype of the disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, the most common type of schizophrenia.

Paranoid schizophrenia - Delusions and auditory hallucinations are some of the most common features of paranoid schizophrenia. A person may believe that others are plotting against him, that he is a famous historical figure, or that voices are constantly judging his actions and behaviour. Other symptoms may be present. Paranoid schizophrenia is manifested primarily through impaired thought processes, in which the central focus is on distorted perceptions or paranoid behavior and thinking. Delusions are in most cases grandiose or persecutory, or both. Delusions may be multiple, but usually organized and coherent.

However, if you believe you have schizophrenia, you should see a professional psychiatrist. Just because you hear voices telling you to do things does not mean you have schizophrenia, you could be stressed, or have a completely different mental disorder causing the symptoms (likely an anxiety-type disorder):

*It could just be thoughts and feelings that you interpret as 'voices'. Everyone has thought about doing bad things or things they know they shouldn't. Most of us recognize that these thoughts are wrong and do not act on them. It is normal to have bad thoughts, and occasionally we 'hear' our thoughts or can 'talk to yourself' inside our mind while thinking, especially decisions where there are multiple choices and multiple ideas to debate in your mind - which could easily be thought of as voices in certain states of mind.*Also, during paranoid schizophrenia, a person believes she can see or hear non-existing images and voices. People diagnosed with schizophrenia strongly believe these voices (or images) truly exist. Such unreal perception is hallucination.

However, because you asked this question, specifically saying "you hear voices" rather than simply saying people or voices talking, it seems that you are aware that voices you hear are not real. Such types of recognized perceptions are called pseudo-hallucinations (when you see a hallucination, but are aware that it is not real). In that case, it wouldn't seem that you are experiencing schizophrenia.

*To fit a diagnosis of schizophrenia (DSM), the following 3 criteria must be present:

1) Characteristic symptoms: Two or more of the following, each present for much of the time during a one-month period (or less, if symptoms remitted with treatment).

+Delusions

+Hallucinations (if delusions are judged to be bizarre, or hallucinations consist of hearing running commentary of actions or hearing 2+ voices conversing with each other, then only this symptom is required for part 1. )

+Disorganized speech, which is a manifestation of formal thought disorder (only if severe enough to substantially impair communication)

+Grossly disorganized behavior (e.g. dressing inappropriately, crying frequently) or catatonic behavior

+Negative symptoms: Blunted affect (lack or decline in emotional response), alogia (lack or decline in speech), or avolition (lack or decline in motivation)

2) Social or occupational dysfunction: For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning such as work, interpersonal relations, or self-care, are markedly below the level achieved prior to the onset.

3) Significant duration: Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least six months. This six-month period must include at least one month of symptoms (or less, if symptoms remitted with treatment).

*Psychotic symptoms may be present in several other mental disorders, including bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, drug intoxication and drug-induced psychosis. Delusions ("non-bizarre") are also present in delusional disorder, and social withdrawal in social anxiety disorder, avoidant personality disorder and schizotypal personality disorder. Schizophrenia is complicated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) considerably more often than could be explained by pure chance, although it can be difficult to distinguish obsessions that occur in OCD from the delusions of schizophrenia.