Did you hear that? What? That...wait - just pass the coffee

Researchers have discovered that high levels of stress, combined with high levels of caffeine intake, can make you more likely to hear voices:

The powerful punch of too much coffee along with too much stress may be a potentially harmful mix when it comes to schizophrenia and other mental illness, says Simon Crowe, a professor of neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

“People with high levels of stress and high caffeine (more than 200 mg per day) are more likely to hallucinate,” Crowe told the Star in an email.

Neuroscientist Crowe said he decided to do the study because he was interested in how schizophrenia develops. “There is quite a lot of support for the idea that people who have the illness have a genetic disposition, but not everyone who has the disposition develops the disease, only those who also have significant stressful life events.”

I suppose that's an argument to cut back on the coffee during times of high stress. But I would make the case that regularly caffeinated people cutting back and going through withdrawal during times of high stress is just as likely to cause them to hallucinate - and probably put them at risk of being murdered by the people around them.