Research has revealed one in five 11 to 13-year-old children in Ireland claim to have heard voices in their head.

A study conducted by the Department of Psychiatry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin found auditory hallucinations are less commonplace in adolescents, with only seven per cent of those aged between 13 and 16 reporting noises.

Lead author of the research Dr Ian Keller explained how the voices can vary from isolated sentences to conversations between two or more people.

"It may present like screaming or shouting and other times it could sound like whispers or murmurs. It varies greatly from child to child," the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland fellow stated.

In most cases the hallucinations will stop as the child gets older, but 80 per cent of those who continued to hear voices were later diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.

According to the voluntary organisation Mental Health Ireland, one in nine people who live to 65 will spend some time in mental healthcare.

Written by Donal Walsh

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