This resource was created by SMI Adviser content partners and approved by the SMI Adviser clinical expert team for inclusion in the knowledge base.
Auditory hallucinations can be differentiated from negative thoughts by considering several factors. Negative thinking is a thought process in which people tend to be self-critical or outwardly critical, find the worst in everything, or generate the worst possible scenarios. In contrast, auditory hallucinations involve a sensory experience in which a person can hear sounds or a person talking without external auditory stimulation, e.g., hear a person’s voice when there is no one present.
View this tip sheet on how to differentiate auditory hallucinations from negative thinking: