• J L Monestès, J Vavasseur-Desperriers, M Villatte, L Denizot, G Loas, and S Rusinek.
• EA 4556, pôle de santé mentale, laboratoire Epsylon, CHU de la Réunion, allée des Topazes, 97405 Saint-Denis cedex, Réunion. Electronic address: jlmonestes@yahoo.fr.
• Encephale. 2015 Feb 1; 41 (1): 25-31.

ObjectiveBeliefs about voices and reactions to voices have been proposed as important variables influencing the course of depression in schizophrenia. Consequences of auditory hallucinations are different according to identity, goals, omnipotence, omniscience, and meanings attributed to voices by the client. Ten to 15 % of the general population experience auditory hallucinations during lifetime without any distress or need for medical care. In addition, neither frequency of voices, nor their topography, influence the emotional consequences of auditory hallucinations experiences, but the relationships to voices. The Revised Belief about Voices Questionnaire analyzes voices along 5 dimensions: malevolence, benevolence, omnipotence, resistance, and engagement. Malevolent voices are related to depression, whereas benevolent voices engender more positive emotions. Subjects usually engage with benevolent voices, and resist to malevolent voices. But resistance strategies are barely efficient and often backfire. Patients resisting to their voices consider them more malevolent and present with more depressive symptoms. This research aims at studying the influence of resistance to auditory hallucinations on depression in a group of patients suffering from schizophrenia and experiencing auditory hallucinations, using the Revised Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire (BAVQ-R). It also provides a study of the psychometrics properties of the French language version of the BAVQ-R.MethodThirty-eight patients suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, undifferentiated schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, have been tested with the French versions of the Revised Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire (BAVQ-R), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS). Each patient presented with auditory hallucinations during the week before evaluation, with a minimum score of 3 on P3 item of PANSS. Mean age was 39.39 years (SD 11.33); mean duration of symptoms was 13.92 years (SD 10.81), and patients' mean history of hospitalizations was 7.66 (SD 9.24). Each patient was receiving an antipsychotic medication at the time of evaluation, with a mean chlorpromazine equivalent dose of 806.69 mg/d (ET 539.51); 18.5 % of patients were receiving serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and 31.57 % once committed a suicide attempt.ResultsThe French version of the BAVQ-R presents with a satisfying internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.74). Similar to the original version, Malevolence and Resistance, and Benevolence and Engagement dimensions are strongly correlated (r=0.73, and r=0.90, P<0.05, respectively). The BAVQ-R scores correlate with the CDSS (r=0.40, P<0.05) and the PANSS General Psychopathology subscale scores (r=0.44, P<0.05), but not with the Positive and Negative subscales. (r=0.17, and r=0.13, P>0.05, respectively). Correlations and forced entry multiple regressions analyses show that Resistance and Malevolence are both strongly correlated to depression, but Resistance is the only dimension that influences depression. Moreover, clients presenting with depressive symptoms resist more to their auditory hallucinations. Finally, emotional resistance, in comparison to behavioral resistance, is responsible for depression in people suffering from auditory hallucinations.ConclusionEmotional resistance to auditory hallucinations constitutes the most important variable influencing depression in schizophrenia comparing to what the voices say or are supposed to know, their malevolence or benevolence. Demonstration of the influence of resistance to voices on depression would help the development of new therapeutic practices.Copyright © 2014 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

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