Did You Hear That? Help for Children Who Hear Voices is about five very different children who share one thing in common — hearing voices and seeing things that are not there.
Susie is a 9-year-old who keeps her challenges with auditory and visual hallucinations a secret until a teacher alerts her parents of her difficulties at school. With compassion, empathy, love and understanding, Susie's parents encourage her to see a counselor. Susie builds trust and rapport with her counselor, which finally allows her to share her well-guarded secret. After divulging what has been troubling her for years, with her counselor's help, she discovers that she is not the only one in the world who struggles with voices.
Susie then introduces readers to four other children of different ethnicities, ages, backgrounds, talents and interests who also hear voices. All of the children share with readers their challenges with voices and personal life circumstances that contributed to them hearing voices. Then they go on to speak about their personal choices regarding what role they want voices to have in their lives and how counselors helped them achieve their individual goals.
Did You Hear That? is a beautifully illustrated practical therapeutic storybook for psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health practitioners treating children with auditory and visual hallucinations. While it normalizes the experience and assists children in seeking professional help, it is also an easy to understand and user-friendly guide for concerned parents, teachers, pediatricians and allied health professionals.
Catch Child Psychologist Seetha Subbiah on the Australian Broadcasting Company's radio show: All in the Mind.
Sample Chapter(s)
Chapter 1: The One-Legged Pirate (5,381 KB)
Contents:
- The One-Legged Pirate
- Cackling Witch, Hissing Dragon
- The Squabbler
- The Invisible Bully
- I Miss You, Mommy
- Managing Voices
Readership: Psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health practitioners treating children with auditory and visual hallucinations. Also for concerned parents, teachers, pediatricians and allied professionals to understand, normalize the experience and assist children in seeking professional help.
"A rich resource for counselors and therapists who can read the book with children who might otherwise never learn that other children share their experiences. Impressive in its capacity to speak directly to children in a language they will understand, this book conveys deep respect for children's subjective experience and supports the value of seeking help in order to feel safe, capable, and happy."
Annemarie Slobig, PsyD
Program Dean
Illinois School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Chicago, Illinois
"A sorely needed resource for both parents and clinicians concerned about children who hear voices. Often, these children feel stigmatized and parents fear they must immediately need medication. These stories allow children to normalize their experiences and seek out support. I will be reaching for this book often in my practice."
Ahsan Shaikh, MD
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
EMQ Families First, Campbell, California
"This book is a treasure in helping children whose lives have been disrupted by the voices they hear. It is so helpful that the characters are of different ages, ethnic backgrounds, have different family constellations, speak about their various and painful life happenings and relationships. As each child in this book opens up about her/his voices, every child reading this book is likely to find something she/he can relate to and will learn what a relief it is to talk about her/his experiences. I absolutely love the way the 5 children share their worries, fears and saddness about the voices bothering them and how they come to use counseling to understand and get help for their secret problem.
The last chapter is a tremendous tool for therapists to use with child clients, as the characters in this book learn what it is in their lives that led up to the voices they hear, and the 'tricks' they can use to manage them. How hopeful for children in therapy to become acquainted with others who learn how to be in charge of their voices, live with them, and feel calmer and happier!"
Sister Margaret Eder, MA, LCPC
Clinical Supervisor & Adolescent and Child Therapist
United Stand, Chicago, Illinois
"Dr Seetha has successfully addressed a clinical dilemma that arises when counseling children and their families who have experienced loss, separation, abuse and trauma. Namely, what is the meaning of voices they may hear and how do we address it. In very accessible and informative ways, Dr Seetha offers several vignettes that demonstrate treatment approaches. As clinical coordinator of an outpatient clinic, I supervised and trained licensed professionals, registered interns and graduate students. I believe this book is a wonderful tool for enhancing the knowledge of practitioners, by offering a deeper understanding of how children cope with their fears, frustrations, anger and anxieties, often in isolation. Using humor, likable characters, various scenarios with beautiful illustrations, Dr Seetha does an excellent job of explaining complicated psychological experiences and coping processes that are often misdiagnosed, over medicated and misunderstood. I would highly recommend this book to parents, teachers and counselors working in various settings such as schools, mental health clinics, agencies, internship training programs and private practice."
Arlene Auerbach, MA, LMFT
Private Practice, Los Gatos, California
Former Clinical Coordinator, Family Therapeutic Services Program
EMQ Families First, Campbell, California
"When children state they are hearing voices, frequently, it causes concern and distress in adult caregivers. This book helps normalize the experience for both children and concerned adults. Drawing from her years of experience as a psychologist, Dr Seetha provides us with insight into the complexities of a child's emotional world when he/she hears voices or sees things that are not there. This very well written educational storybook for children, beautifully, doubles up as a substantial resource for child therapists, parents, teachers, and healthcare professionals."
Gerrian Wuts, PhD
Adjunct Professor, California State University, Los Angeles, California
Consultant Psychologist, San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center, Van Nuys, California
Clinical Psychologist, Private Practice, Pasadena, California
"Dr Seetha has made the concept easy for children to understand and also provided good scaffolding for parents, therapists and other professionals working with children to broach the subject. It helps to clarify the notion of the subjective experience of a child in a non-threatening manner and also provides some common examples. This is an excellent couch side book for working with children who complain that they are hearing voices, and I would recommend it to all my colleagues at the Child Guidance Clinic."
Singapore Medical Association News
Dr Seetha Subbiah earned her BA in Psychology from the University of California, at Berkeley, and MA and PsyD from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Chicago Campus. After completing her Pre-doctoral Internship training at Primary Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, she did her Post-doctoral work at EMQ Families First, Campbell, California.
With expertise in severe and chronic childhood psychological conditions, she has provided 22 years of clinical and program development services to children, families and service providers in Singapore, the United States of America, Malaysia, India, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka.
