"When do you usually hear these voices?"

"What do you mean?" Rick asked, starting to become a little nervous.

"Well, do you hear them now?"

Cocking his head to one side, as if listening for something, he eventually said, "No."

"Good," Dr. Andrews said, leaning back in his chair. "Is there any special time when you might hear these voices. Such as when you are alone, when you are sleeping, or when you are under extreme stress?"

"Uh, they usually just come, you know, whenever they want to, I guess. I don't have any control over them."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it, Rick," he said, leaning forward and folding his hands on the desk. "These voices usually come to you when you are upset and stressed, isn't that correct?"

Rick slumped down in his chair, not liking the direction this session was going. "They can come then, yeah, but that's not the only time I hear them."

"How do you feel when these voices come to you?"

"I don't know. I don't feel much of anything, really."

"Oh, why is that?"

He rubbed a hand over his face, and sighed. "Well, I'm kind of like, blanked out, you know?"

Now it was Dr. Andrews turn to frown, slightly. "Not exactly, no. Do you mean to say that you enter into some sort of trance state?"

"Uh, maybe. I just sort of blank out."

Dr. Andrews opened up a page in Rick's file and made a short note. "So, you don't remember anything of these episodes except for the voices, themselves, is that correct?" he asked.

"Well, no. I mean, I remember where I go."

"Where you go?" He made another quick note. "Do you leave your body?" Rick smiled. "No, nothing like that. At least...I don't think that's what happens."

"Can you be a little more specific?"