If I told you I’m hearing voices – they’re a little fuzzy, but I think they’re saying “empty”, “hollow” and “thud” – what would you do?

Laugh uncertainly, maybe? As it happens, I don’t hear voices (my wife complains I don’t hear her when she is talking to me); I’m just messing with you.

Let’s imagine I say the same thing to a person on the admissions desk of a psychiatric institution. What then? Hopefully, a detailed psychological examination would follow, and after I admit I’m not actually hearing voices, I should rightly be told to shove off and stop ...

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