The “common” experience of voice-hearing and its relationship with shame and guilt: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Despite Auditory Verbal Hallucinations (AVHs) having been long associated with mental illness, they represent a common experience also in the non-clinical population, yet do not exhibit distress or need for care. Shame and guilt are emotions related to one's perception of oneself and one's responsibility. As such, they direct our attention to aspects of AVHs that are under-researched and elusive, particularly about the status of voices as others, their social implications and the constitution and conceptualisation of the self. OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to provide a systematic review of studies that investigated the relationship between auditory hallucinations, shame, and guilt in people without relevant signs of psychiatric issues. METHODS: We searched studies reporting information about voices characteristics, the relationship between voices and hearers, hearer's reactions, and beliefs, paying peculiar attention to shame and guilt issues. Included papers were evaluated for risk of bias. RESULTS: Eleven studies that explored the relationship between AVHs, shame and guilt, were extracted. Phenomenological, pragmatic, as well as neuropsychological features of hearing voices in non-clinical populations, allowed us to note a dynamic relationship and the constellation of subjective experiences that can occur. The role of guilt was characterized by few studies and mixed results, while shame was mainly common. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the high heterogeneity detected and the scarce sources available, further studies should focus on both the aetiology and the bidirectional relationship between hearing voices, shame, and guilt in non-clinical people. This can be helpful in therapies for non-clinical populations who are distressed by their voices (e.g., psychotherapy), and for whom shame, and guilt may contribute to negative consequences such as isolation, anxiety or future depression. Moreover, it might favour the development and implication of different treatments considering emotion regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal sensitivity on the clinical populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-022-03902-6.