Hearing Voices - The Real Joan of Arc

I saw a Channel 4 programme about The Real Joan of Arc, and it explained how Joan of Arc, a young peasant woman who grew up poor, powerless, friendless, and illiterate, heard voices which she believed or claimed were from God, and that the content of these voices fulfilled a cultural and religious myth at the time, of a prophesy that a peasant girl would through divine intervention lead the monarchy into a successful war against the English occupation of France. Hearing voices were part of the local rural oral tradition, of spreading knowledge and understanding by word of mouth, especially amongst the largely illiterate peasant community, and her voices were seen as fulfilling a prophesy and myth, which was legitimised by the powers of the French Catholic Monarchy and State.

Joan of Arc led the French into a successful war against English occupation, but was finally executed by the Church and State, because she refused to give up her status as an authority on military matters, because her identity or relationship with the King was getting too close for status, and because she claimed that her voices came straight to her from God, and not through the authorities of the religious hierarchy, authority, and State. Whilst the content-meaning of her voices were initially legitimised by the religious, cultural, social, local and national mythological powers and meanings of that place and time, she was then thrown into disrepute and defamed, because her voices were then seen by the religious authorities as resulting from a satanic angel that was giving her instructions of deception and defiance against their social power, political and religious authority and status.

Some of those outdated myths and superstitions gladly no longer exist in society, but some of the old social and cultural myths might continue, or replace the old myths, such as that "men are strong, and women are weak", that "traditional relationships or marriages are about love", that there is such a thing as "care in the community", or that "we are living in a modern or sane society that understands, supports, relates or communicates with other people in an emotionally open, knowledgeable, or mentally healthy manner".

Such outdated or anachronistic myths are enforced and upheld by all kinds of people, including the religious and political establishment, and by some psychotherapists or others who see mental illness as existing within individuals or families, and not within the society at large. Although in virtually every town or area there now exits a mental health unit, Mental Health in structural and educational terms is seen as such a small or insignificant aspect of society, and no one is much bothered or aware of it, until they, a friend, partner, or relative, has direct experience of the mental health system. Whilst the World Health Organisation tells us that mental illness in society is on the increase, due to job insecurity, and the chaotic stresses and fast technological pace of present society, there still seems very little awareness or concern for the mental health of society at large, and no one questions much whether or not we are living in a sane society or a sane world.

Hearing voices or the content-meaning or if, would then would be accepted or frowned upon, according to who or what would want to legitimise or accept the outdated myths or repressive ideologies within our culture and society, and whether what we are trying to communicate and express is understood or rejected in relation to it. Due to our social and cultural environments, there may be a discrepancy of what is accepted in terms of the meaning-content of hearing voices, according to the current outdated roles and myths in culture and society, and in terms of people's life-experiences, past and present situations, and the many ways we relate to others in different social roles or identities, and different contexts or situations. Even though there may be direct similarities, our voice hearing experiences are not linked to things like the styles or methods of creative literary culture, nor to other people's creative or educational aspirations, but are seen as separate from the society at large. We are not in a new or modern society, in terms of new relationships, political reforms, and so on, we are merely in a transitional stage, and so many of the old myths still remain.

Thus, much psychiatry may support current religious, cultural, and social myths of a place or time, such as the current views of the church, extreme ends of the political establishment, and patriarchal relationships or power, and because most psychiatrists are part of a self-serving or subdivided establishment and the majority are male. Psychiatry in reality therefore discriminatorily labels as an illness anything which exposes or goes against that, whilst legitimising anything which supports its own ideological, mythological, or patriarchal position. In rhetoric and style, much psychiatry appears to be democratic, supporting social diversity and equal rights, or defending the freedom and equal rights of women, but in method and structure, it often does the opposite.

In style and mythological content, Joan of Arc was empowered and elevated by the male powers of the time, who legitimised the content of her voices as coming from God, but in reality, she was used as an instrument of unrestrained warfare, persecuted, and executed by the male authority she'd made a pact with, and with the result of turning her into an ironic martyr or emblem for other mythological representations and mystification of her experiences, aspirations, educational, social, and economic life-struggles, and of poor and uneducated women at large who may also hear voices. The psychiatric illness model, as a model, might very well be helpful to some people who experience voices, in order to control or negate the negative experiences of it, although the coercion and forced medication is questionable, and especially if the issues raised in terms of the interpersonal, social, and cultural causes or influences, are being denied by psychiatrists, who in matters of interpersonal, social, and cultural matters, often have an outdate or philistine mentality, which supports the interpersonal, social, and cultural control-mechanisms or behaviours of whatever current or outdated social or cultural myth prevails.