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Hallucinations are pathological symptoms that arise from mental disorders in which a person feels (sees, hears, etc.) something that does not actually exist in the space around him. Hallucinations are a clear pathological manifestation mental disorder, since normally, with an unchanged psyche, they are absent in people of all ages of both sexes.This pathological symptom refers to disorders of perception of surrounding reality. Depending on which analyzer the disorder in the perception of surrounding reality occurs, hallucinations are divided into auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, visceral, speech and motor.
Hallucinations of any nature can be caused by mental illness, as well as brain damage (traumatic brain injury, meningitis, encephalitis, etc.) or severe pathologies of internal organs. Hallucinations due to severe somatic diseases (internal organs) or brain damage are not a sign of a person’s mental illness. That is, a person suffering, for example, from heart failure or having suffered a traumatic brain injury, may experience hallucinations, but at the same time he is completely mentally healthy, and the disturbance in the perception of the surrounding reality was due to a serious illness.
In addition, hallucinations can also appear in completely healthy people under the influence of substances that affect the functioning of the central nervous system, such as alcohol, drugs, psychotropic drugs, toxic substances, etc.
Brief description and essence of the symptom
An understanding of the essence and scientific definition of hallucinations was made during the study of this problem as part of the general development of psychiatry. Thus, the translation of the Latin word "allucinacio" means "pipe dreams", "idle chatter" or "nonsense", which is quite far from the modern meaning of the term "hallucinations". And the term “hallucinations” acquired its modern meaning only in the 17th century in the work of the Swiss physician Plater. But the final formulation of the concept of “hallucination,” which is still relevant today, was given only in the 19th century by Jean Esquirol. Thus, Esquirol gave the following definition of hallucinations: “a person is deeply convinced that he currently has some sensory perception, but there are no objects within his reach.” This definition is still relevant today, since it reflects the basic essence of this psychiatric symptom– a violation of the sphere of perception of surrounding reality, in which a person perceives objects that are absent from reality and at the same time is completely convinced that he is right.
In short, hallucinations are the perception of something that is not actually present at the moment. That is, when a person smells smells that do not exist in reality, hears sounds that also do not exist in reality, sees objects that are absent in the surrounding space, etc., then these are hallucinations.
At the same time, mirages do not belong to hallucinations, since this phenomenon is not a consequence of a violation of mental activity, but a natural phenomenon, the development of which is based on the laws of physics.
Hallucinations must be distinguished from pseudohallucinations and illusions, which also refer to disturbances in the sphere of perception of the surrounding world that occur in severe mental disorders.
Thus, the main difference between hallucinations and pseudohallucinations is their pronounced outward orientation and connection with objects that actually exist in the surrounding space. For example, a hallucination is that a person sees a spot sitting on a really existing chair, or hears sounds from behind a real existing door, or smells a smell coming from a ventilation system that exists in reality, etc. Pseudohallucinations, on the contrary, are directed inward, that is, on the perception of various non-existent objects inside the human body. This means that with pseudohallucinations, a person perceives non-existent objects in his body, for example, voices in his head, cockroaches in the brain, a radiation beam in the liver, the smell of blood in the vessels, etc. Pseudohallucinations are very intrusive, often have a threatening, imperative or accusing character and depend little on the thoughts of the person himself.
Illusions, unlike hallucinations, are a distorted perception of real-life objects and objects. Illusions are typical for all people of any age and gender, and they are caused by the peculiarities of the functioning of the senses and the laws of physics. An example of a typical illusion is a hanging coat, which in poor lighting conditions appears to be the figure of a lurking person. Also an illusion includes clearly hearing the voice of a familiar person in the rustling of leaves, etc.
That is, to summarize, we can briefly say that:
- Hallucination– this is a “vision” of a non-existent object on an object that actually exists in the surrounding space.
- Pseudohallucination is a “vision” of a non-existent object inside one’s own body.
- Illusion- this is a “vision” of real-life objects distorted, with characteristics that they actually lack (a coat is perceived as a hidden person, a chair is seen as a gallows, etc.).
What are hallucinations?
Currently, there are several classifications of hallucinations, which divide them into types depending on the various characteristics of the symptom. Let us consider the classifications that are most important for understanding the characteristics of hallucinations.So, depending on the nature and analyzer involved, hallucinations are divided into the following 4 types:
1. Associated hallucinations. They are characterized by the appearance of images with a certain logical sequence, for example, a stain on a chair predicts the appearance of flies from a water tap if a person tries to turn on the water.
2. Imperative hallucinations. They are characterized by the appearance of a commanding tone emanating from some surrounding objects. Typically, such an orderly tone commands a person to perform some action.
3. Reflex hallucinations. They are characterized by the appearance of a hallucination in another analyzer in response to the influence of a real stimulus on any analyzer (auditory, visual, etc.). For example, turning on the light (a stimulus for the visual analyzer) causes an auditory hallucination in the form of voices, orders, the noise of a laser beam installation, etc.
4. Extracampal hallucinations. They are characterized by going beyond the field of the given analyzer. For example, a person sees visual images that are hallucinations behind a wall, etc.
In addition, there is a historically established and most frequently used classification of hallucinations according to the sense organs in the sphere of activity of which they arise. Thus, according to the sensory analyzers available to a person, hallucinations are divided into the following types: 
Besides, Hallucinations are divided into the following types depending on their complexity:
True hallucinations - video
Pseudohallucinations - video
Hallucinations - reasons
The following conditions and diseases can be the causes of hallucinations:1. Mental illnesses:
- Hallucinosis (alcoholic, prison, etc.);
- Hallucinatory-delusional syndromes (paranoid, paraphrenic, paranoid, Kandinsky-Clerambault).
- Brain tumors and injuries;
- Infectious diseases affecting the brain (meningitis, encephalitis, temporal arteritis, etc.);
- Diseases that occur with severe fever (for example, typhus and typhoid fever, malaria, pneumonia, etc.);
- Syphilis of the brain;
- Cerebral atherosclerosis (cerebral atherosclerosis);
- Cardiovascular diseases in the stage of decompensation (decompensated heart failure, decompensated heart defects, etc.);
- Rheumatic diseases of the heart and joints;
- Tumors localized in the brain;
- Tumor metastases to the brain;
- Poisoning with various substances (for example, tetraethyl lead, a component of leaded gasoline).
- Alcohol (hallucinations are especially pronounced in alcoholic psychosis, called “delirium tremens”);
- Drugs (all opium derivatives, mescaline, crack, LSD, PCP, psilocycin, cocaine, methamphetamine);
- Medicines (Atropine, drugs for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, anticonvulsants, antibiotics and antiviral drugs, sulfonamides, anti-tuberculosis drugs, antidepressants, histamine blockers, antihypertensives, psychostimulants, tranquilizers);
- Plants containing toxic substances that act on the central nervous system (belladonna, datura, toadstool, fly agarics, etc.).
5. Chronic long-term lack of sleep.
Hallucinations: causes, types and nature of the symptom, description of cases of hallucinations, connection with schizophrenia, psychosis, delirium and depression, similarities with dreams - video
Treatment
Treatment of hallucinations is based on eliminating the causative factor that provoked their appearance. In addition, in addition to therapy aimed at eliminating the causative factor, medicinal relief of hallucinations with psychotropic drugs is carried out. Antipsychotics are most effective for relieving hallucinations (for example, Olanzapine, Amisulpride, Risperidone, Quetiapine, Mazeptil, Trisedyl, Haloperidol, Triftazin, Aminazine, etc.). The choice of a specific drug to relieve hallucinations is made by the doctor in each case individually, based on the characteristics of the patient, the combination of hallucinations with other symptoms of a mental disorder, previously used therapy, etc. How to cause hallucinations?
To cause hallucinations, it is enough to eat hallucinogenic mushrooms (pale toadstool, fly agarics) or plants (belladonna, dope). You can also take drugs, alcohol in large quantities, or medications that have a hallucinogenic effect in large dosages. All this will cause hallucinations. But simultaneously with the appearance of hallucinations, poisoning of the body will occur, which may require urgent medical attention, including resuscitation. In case of severe poisoning, death is quite likely. The safest way to induce hallucinations is through forced sleep deprivation. In this case, the person will only face the consequences of lack of sleep, hallucinations will appear, but there will be no poisoning of the body with toxic substances.
Semantic hallucinations
Semantic Hallucinations is the name of a popular musical group. In medical terminology, such a concept does not exist.Before use, you should consult a specialist.
Hallucinations- perception disorders, when a person, due to mental disorders, sees, hears, feels something that does not exist in reality. This is, as they say, perception without an object.
Mirages - phenomena based on the laws of physics - cannot be classified as hallucinations. Like illusions, hallucinations are classified according to the senses. Usually isolated auditory, visual, olfactory, taste, tactile and the so-called hallucinations of the general sense, which most often include visceral and muscular hallucinations. There may also be combined hallucinations (for example, the patient sees a snake, hears its hissing and feels its cold touch).
All hallucinations, regardless of whether they are related to visual, auditory or other deceptions of the senses, are divided into true And pseudohallucinations.
True hallucinations are always projected outward, associated with a real, concretely existing situation (the “voice” sounds from behind a real wall; the “devil”, waving its tail, sits on a real chair, entwining its legs with its tail, etc.), most often do not evoke patients have no doubt about their actual existence, as vivid and natural for the hallucinating as real things. True hallucinations are sometimes perceived by patients even more vividly and clearly than actually existing objects and phenomena.
Pseudohallucinations more often than true, they are characterized by the following distinctive features:
a) most often projected inside the patient’s body, mainly in his head (the “voice” sounds inside the head, inside the patient’s head he sees a business card with obscene words written on it, etc.);
Pseudohallucinations, first described by V. Kandinsky, resemble ideas, but differ from them, as V. Kandinsky himself emphasized, in the following features:
1) independence from human will;
2) obsession, violence;
3) completeness, formality of pseudohallucinatory images.
b) even if pseudohallucinatory disorders are projected outside one’s own body (which happens much less frequently), then they lack the character of objective reality characteristic of true hallucinations and are completely unrelated to the real situation. Moreover, at the moment of hallucination, this environment seems to disappear somewhere, the patient at this time perceives only his hallucinatory image;
c) the appearance of pseudohallucinations, without causing the patient any doubts about their reality, is always accompanied by a feeling of being done, rigged, induced by these voices or visions. Pseudo-hallucinations are, in particular, an integral part of the Kandinsky-Clerambault syndrome, which also includes delusions of influence, which is why patients are convinced that the “vision” was “made to them using special devices,” “voices are directed directly into the head with transistors.”
Auditory hallucinations most often expressed in the patient’s pathological perception of certain words, speeches, conversations (phonemes), as well as individual sounds or noises (acoasms). Verbal hallucinations can be very diverse in content: from so-called calls (the patient “hears” a voice calling his name or surname) to entire phrases or even long speeches pronounced by one or more voices.
Most dangerous for the condition of patients imperative hallucinations, the content of which is imperative, for example, the patient hears an order to remain silent, to hit or kill someone, to injure himself. Due to the fact that such “orders” are a consequence of the pathology of the mental activity of a hallucinating person, patients with this kind of painful experience can be very dangerous both for themselves and for others, and therefore require special supervision and care.
Hallucinations are threatening are also very unpleasant for the patient, since he hears threats addressed to himself, less often - to people close to him: they “want to stab him to death,” “hang him,” “throw him from the balcony,” etc.
TO auditory hallucinations also include commentators when the patient “hears speeches” about everything he thinks or does.
A 46-year-old patient, a furrier by profession, who had been abusing alcohol for many years, began to complain about “voices” that “wouldn’t let him pass”: “now he’s sewing skins, but it’s bad, his hands are shaking,” “I decided to rest,” “I went for vodka.” ", "what a good skin he stole", etc.
Antagonistic (contrasting) hallucinations are expressed in the fact that the patient hears two groups of “voices” or two “voices” (sometimes one on the right and the other on the left) with contradictory meaning (“Let’s deal with them now.” - “No, let’s wait, he’s not that bad.” ; “There’s no need to wait, give me the ax.” - “Don’t touch it, it belongs on the board”).
Visual hallucinations can be either elementary (in the form of zigzags, sparks, smoke, flames - so-called photopsia), or objective, when the patient very often sees animals or people (including those he knows or knew) that do not exist in reality , insects, birds (zoopsia), objects or sometimes parts of the human body, etc. Sometimes these can be entire scenes, panoramas, for example a battlefield, hell with many running, grimacing, fighting devils (panoramic, movie-like). “Visions” can be of normal size, in the form of very small people, animals, objects, etc. (Lilliputian hallucinations) or in the form of very large, even gigantic ones (macroscopic, Gulliverian hallucinations). In some cases, the patient can see himself, his own image (double hallucinations, or autoscopic).
Sometimes the patient “sees” something behind him, out of sight (extracampal hallucinations).
Olfactory hallucinations most often represent an imaginary perception of unpleasant odors (the patient smells rotting meat, burning, decay, poison, food), less often - a completely unfamiliar smell, and even less often - the smell of something pleasant. Often, patients with olfactory hallucinations refuse to eat, because they are sure that “they are being spiked with poisonous substances” or “being fed rotten human meat.”
Tactile hallucinations are expressed in a sensation of touching the body, burning or cold (thermal hallucinations), a feeling of grasping (haptic hallucinations), the appearance of some liquid on the body (hygric hallucinations), and insects crawling over the body. The patient may feel as if he is being bitten, tickled, or scratched.
Visceral hallucinations- a feeling of the presence of some objects, animals, worms in one’s own body (“a frog is sitting in the stomach,” “tadpoles have multiplied in the bladder,” “a wedge has been driven into the heart”).
Hypnagogic hallucinations- visual illusions of perception, usually appearing in the evening before falling asleep, with the eyes closed (their name comes from the Greek hypnos - sleep), which makes them more related to pseudohallucinations than to true hallucinations (there is no connection with the real situation). These hallucinations can be single, multiple, scene-like, sometimes kaleidoscopic (“I have some kind of kaleidoscope in my eyes,” “I now have my own TV”). The patient sees some faces, grimacing, sticking out their tongues, winking, monsters, bizarre plants. Much less often, such hallucinations can occur during another transitional state - upon awakening. Such hallucinations, also occurring when the eyes are closed, are called hypnopompic.
Both of these types of hallucinations are often one of the first harbingers of delirium tremens or some other intoxicating psychosis.
Functional hallucinations- those that arise against the background of a real stimulus acting on the senses, and only during its action. A classic example described by V. A. Gilyarovsky: the patient, as soon as water began to flow from the tap, heard the words: “Go home, Nadenka.” When the tap was turned on, the auditory hallucinations also disappeared. Visual, tactile and other hallucinations may also occur. Functional hallucinations differ from true hallucinations by the presence of a real stimulus, although they have a completely different content, and from illusions by the fact that they are perceived in parallel with the real stimulus (it is not transformed into some kind of “voices,” “visions,” etc.).
Suggested and induced hallucinations. Hallucinatory deceptions of the senses can be instilled during a hypnosis session, when a person will smell, for example, the smell of a rose, and throw off the rope that is “twisting” around him. With a certain readiness to hallucinate, hallucinations may appear even when these deceptions of the senses no longer appear spontaneously (for example, if a person has just suffered from delirium, especially alcoholic delirium). Lipman's symptom is the induction of visual hallucinations by lightly pressing on the patient's eyeballs, sometimes an appropriate suggestion should be added to the pressure. The blank sheet symptom (Reichardt's symptom) is that the patient is asked to very carefully look at a blank sheet of white paper and tell what he sees there. With Aschaffenburg's symptom, the patient is asked to talk on a switched off phone; In this way, readiness for the occurrence of auditory hallucinations is checked. When checking the last two symptoms, you can also resort to suggestion, saying, for example: “Look, what do you think about this drawing?”, “How do you like this dog?”, “What is this female voice telling you on the phone?”
Occasionally, suggested hallucinations (usually visual) can also have an induced character: a healthy but suggestible person with hysterical character traits can, following the patient, “see” the devil, angels, some flying objects, etc. Even more rarely, induced hallucinations may occur in several people, but usually for a very short time and without the clarity, imagery, and brightness that occurs in patients.
Hallucinations - a symptom of a painful disorder(albeit sometimes short-term, for example, under the influence of psychotomimetic drugs). But sometimes, as already noted, quite rarely, they can occur in healthy people (suggested in hypnosis, induced) or with pathologies of the organs of vision (cataracts, retinal detachment, etc.) and hearing.
Hallucinations are often elementary (flashes of light, zigzags, multi-colored spots, noise of leaves, falling water, etc.), but can also be in the form of bright, figurative auditory or visual illusions of perception.
A 72-year-old patient with loss of vision down to the level of light perception (bilateral cataracts), who had no mental disorders identified except for a slight decrease in memory, after an unsuccessful operation began to say that she saw some people, mostly women, on the wall. Then these people “came off the wall and became like real people. Then a small dog appeared in the arms of one of the girls. There was no one for a while, then a white goat appeared.” Later, the patient sometimes “saw” this goat and asked those around her why there was suddenly a goat in the house. The patient did not have any other mental pathology. A month later, after a successful operation on the other eye, the hallucinations completely disappeared and during the follow-up (5 years), no mental pathology, except for memory loss, was detected in the patient.
These are the so-called hallucinations of the type of Charles Bonnet, a 17th-century naturalist who observed hallucinations in the form of animals and birds in his 89-year-old grandfather, who suffered from cataracts.
Patient M., 35 years old, who had been abusing alcohol for a long time, after suffering from pneumonia, began to experience fears, sleep poorly and restlessly. In the evening, he anxiously called his wife and asked, pointing to the shadow of the floor lamp, “to remove this ugly face from the wall.” Later I saw a rat with a thick, very long tail, which suddenly stopped and asked in a “disgusting, squeaky voice”: “Have you finished drinking?” Closer to night, I saw the rats again, suddenly jumped up on the table, and tried to throw the telephone set onto the floor, “to scare these creatures.” When I was admitted to the emergency room, feeling my face and hands, I said irritably: “This is a clinic, but the spiders were bred, cobwebs stuck all over my face.”
Hallucinatory syndrome(hallucinosis) - an influx of abundant hallucinations (verbal, visual, tactile) against the background of clear consciousness, lasting from 1-2 weeks (acute hallucinosis) to several years (chronic hallucinosis). Hallucinosis may be accompanied by affective disorders (anxiety, fear), as well as delusional ideas. Hallucinosis is observed in alcoholism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, organic brain lesions, including syphilitic etiology.
Have you ever noticed a ringing in your ears for no reason? It’s hard to concentrate on your own thoughts and concentrate on important things. People are accustomed to this phenomenon; they do not look for the source of this noise, knowing that it is just an illusion.
But sometimes reality is so distorted that a person gets lost in his feelings. Gradually, he does not realize the line between his visions and real life. Different images come, foreign odors are felt or arise. The reason for these illusions is sometimes complex and serious illnesses. What do hallucinations indicate?
What are hallucinations?
Sensory hallucinations are distorted perceptions without an object, when images, sounds, and sensations appear in a person’s mind that do not actually exist, but at the same time seem real. Impaired brain function causes imaginary images. These images occur not only in mentally ill people, but also in completely healthy ones. They appear as mild illusions that disappear when their cause is eliminated, and treatment does not take much time.
Sensory hallucinations are a huge area of illness. Every adult should know the types of illusions in order to prevent a complex disease and its negative consequences in time.
Nowadays, hallucinations are not something unknown; they are most often a symptom of a more serious illness. Treatment can be very different, depending on the type and severity of the disease. What types of illusions are there? How to distinguish between types of hallucinations based on symptoms?
Types of hallucinations
Auditory hallucinations
Auditory hallucinations are vocal illusions during which brain activity is disrupted and sounds are perceived without an external auditory stimulus. A person hears extraneous noises, speeches, melodies. It can be either voices in your head or extraneous knocks or creaks behind the wall. Auditory hallucinations can be a symptom of schizophrenia, alcohol or drug addiction, partial seizures, brain cancer, and disorders of the nervous system. Treatment often takes a long time, because it is very difficult to stabilize the body’s condition with such diseases.
Sometimes hallucinations occur in healthy people, for example, during postoperative syndrome. This is a temporary clouding of consciousness after a person recovers from anesthesia. Under the influence of some components of anesthesia, brain function is disrupted in people. During an attack of hallucinosis, auditory hallucinations accompany haptic illusions or strange visions.
Deception of feelings can also occur during lack of sleep or insomnia. 48 hours without sleep is enough for a person to begin to notice strange sounds, causeless rustling and knocking, and experience musical hallucinations.
Visual hallucinations
Visual or visual hallucinations are the appearance of unreal images. The patient himself may participate in visible events that do not actually exist. A person in this state sees fantastic or recursive objects, patterns, spots. Often it is not a new object that appears, but the shapes and colors of an existing one that change. For example, the tree outside the window changes color, begins to shine, expand, and move.
Visual hallucinations can occur with impaired brain function, tumors, schizophrenia, delirium delirium, drug addiction, Alzheimer's disease, and after severe head injuries. Sometimes hypnosis treatment can cause visions.
In healthy people, visual hallucinations occur during sleep deprivation, high blood pressure or temperature. Children often see unreal objects when falling asleep.
Olfactory hallucinations
Olfactory hallucinations are illusions in which a person perceives the presence of an unreal odor, most often it is putrid and unpleasant. Many patients in this case refuse to eat, believing that poison or poison was added there, which caused the strange smell.
Olfactory hallucinations have this peculiarity - it is impossible to get rid of the disgusting smell. No matter what sweet and floral aromas the patient tries to smell, they will not cope with the illusion.
This deception of feelings can have a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is just a violation of the nasal mucosa. But it happens that olfactory illusions occur against the background of epilepsy, schizophrenia, encephalitis, brain damage, and severe viral infections. They can also be caused by recovery from anesthesia, severe depression, or abuse of potent substances. At high pressure or temperature, the sensation of an unpleasant odor is accompanied by a change in the taste of food. The treatment of such deception of the senses consists in eliminating the underlying disease, which has become a false irritant.
Tactile hallucinations
Tactile or tactile hallucinations are the patient’s sensation of non-existent objects that he can touch, touch, feel. Such illusions arise against the background of infectious diseases, alcoholic hallucinosis, brain injuries, tumors, and mental disorders. Sometimes haptic illusions occur in healthy people during sleep. A person tries to grab a non-existent object, feels contact with the body. At temperature and high pressure, consciousness can become clouded, which provokes false signals to the nervous system, which creates haptic errors. They are often accompanied by visual, auditory, and musical hallucinations.
Taste hallucinations
Taste hallucinations are the sensation of the presence of a non-existent stimulus in food. Foods can have both a pleasant and disgusting taste. Such illusions can have negative consequences. For example, the patient begins to be overcome by obsessive thoughts about poisoning.
The causes of illusions lie in infectious diseases (for example, syphilis), schizophrenia, encephalitis, and brain tumors. Sometimes they occur upon recovery from anesthesia and disappear as soon as the active drug is removed from the body.
All types of illusions include various types and subtypes. For example, color hallucinations are a subtype of visual hallucinations. They occur in schizophrenia, infectious diseases of the brain, delirium tremens, cataracts and glaucoma. During such hallucinosis, objects change color, colors become brighter and more saturated. Color hallucinations can be induced through special hypnotic practices or through the use of potent substances.
Auditory hallucinations have several subtypes. The first are verbal hallucinations. At this time, the patient clearly hears phrases and speeches of one or more voices. The second are imperative hallucinations. They manifest themselves in the form of voices that order to commit illegal acts, incite them to commit suicide or murder. Imperative hallucinations are a dangerous type of illusion, because they have the most negative consequences.
The third type is musical hallucinations. The same sound or a whole melody plays on repeat in your head. It is noted that musical hallucinations most often overcome older people. Their treatment is not fully understood, as are the mechanisms of their appearance. However, it is known that strokes, aneurysms of cerebral arteries, and infectious diseases can cause musical hallucinations.
Visceral hallucinations are a subtype of tactile hallucinations. Tactile illusions in this case manifest themselves in the form of an invisible object in the body or under the skin, which interferes with life, causes inconvenience and carries with it negative consequences. They are often accompanied by haptic and visual disturbances. Most often, this type of illusion occurs during delirium delirium, drug overdose, or brain damage.
Some illusions seem fun or not particularly bothersome, such as musical hallucinations. But it is worth remembering that any deception of the senses is a signal from the body that there is a problem. Timely recognition of the disease and its treatment will help the patient return to the real world with loved ones.
Patients suffering from visceral hallucinations are usually extremely anxious and preoccupied with their condition. They always expect troubles related to their current health problems, and the slightest physical discomfort causes real panic in such people. With visceral hallucinations, patients complain that they have living beings in their body cavity. Sometimes patients believe that the entities inhabiting them are completely microscopic, but there are a lot of them. And sometimes patients say that even frogs live inside their body, in the abdominal area. With visceral hallucinations, patients are sure that the creatures living in their body can move under the skin, through the veins, and so on.
It should be taken into account that quite often visceral, as well as tactile, are sometimes difficult to distinguish from senestopathies. The difference manifests itself in more pointless and painful sensations during senesthopathy. As for various hallucinations, they are pointless and appear in a certain space. Regardless of the form in which visceral hallucinations occur, they are a perceptual disorder in which a person experiences disturbances in perception. The patient feels something that does not exist in a real stop. That is, there is perception without an object.
Visceral hallucinations can be observed in combination with other hallucinations, which are divided into different organs. These are visceral hallucinations, gustatory or tactile, as well as hallucinations of the general senses. With combined ach, a person can not only feel insects crawling on the skin, but also hear the rustling, rustling, and so on they produce. When patients suffering from visceral hallucinations begin to talk about their sensations, it turns out that their range is very wide. In medical practice, there is a case when a patient claimed that a fish lived in his bladder, and on this basis demanded that he undergo a surgical operation.
Causes of visceral hallucinations
Hallucinations are a phenomenon that can be explained by a number of reasons. If we consider etiological factors, then experts put various intoxications in first place. This includes drug, alcohol, and food intoxication. People often get poisoned by poisons of plant origin, for example, mushrooms and henbane. Sometimes visceral hallucinations are caused by acute renal failure, liver failure, chronic heart failure, acute pancreatitis.
It is also known that patients who have undergone surgery under general anesthesia are susceptible to visceral and other hallucinations. Hallucinatory phenomena are accompanied by certain infectious diseases, as well as brain damage (local or general). In particular, it is taken into account that the cause of hallucinations is traumatic or vascular in origin. A special area is visceral hallucinations that arise from trauma of psychological origin, which are called psychogenic hallucinations.
With all hallucinations, the patient strives to protect himself in any way; the person does not always consider it necessary to seek help from a doctor, since he is sure that his complaints will not be taken seriously, and even a psychiatrist may not believe that there is a small mouse in his stomach. Most often, the first to learn about visceral hallucinations are not doctors, but close relatives. And successful treatment largely depends on their behavior in the future. First of all, it is strongly recommended not to make fun of the patient, and not to prove that all his fears are in vain. Such conversations only irritate the patient and increase the manifestations of hallucinations. It is best to persuade the patient to visit a doctor.
Treatment of visceral hallucinations
Currently, experts do not consider the treatment of visceral and other hallucinations as a separate disease. Before making a decision and choosing the appropriate technique, the doctor conducts a series of studies, and if necessary, other specialists may be involved in the treatment of the patient. If a person has a hearing or vision pathology, the psychiatrist collects a detailed history and conducts a thorough examination of the patient’s mental state. Additional tests are prescribed, which at first glance seem unnecessary and unrelated to this problem.
It is equally important to take into account the objective signs of existing visceral hallucinations. Mentally ill people often try to get rid of the “insects” themselves, which, as it seems to them, live under the skin. For this purpose, patients use various ointments, rubbing, including toxic substances that cause serious diseases and skin irritation. Often the doctor is faced with the isolation and inaccessibility of the patient, so he has to very carefully monitor the patient’s behavior, evaluate his facial expressions, pantomime, and gestures. It happens that when visiting a doctor, patients begin to listen to something, sniff objects, and feel a certain part of their body with a tense look.
Such signs indicate that a person has an attack of hallucinosis, and he is completely at the mercy of his hallucinations. In this situation, the patient may show
Hallucinations are a person’s perception of an object that is not present in reality, which occurs against the background of various mental disorders or problems with the sensory organs. In this case, a person can see, hear, or even feel and touch an object that is not only not next to him at the moment, but may not exist at all in nature.
A little background
It is no secret that only 20% has been studied, and the remaining area remains a mystery to modern scientists. Therefore, it is not surprising that everything mysterious and unexplainable is attributed to this area. This criterion also includes hallucinations, which were a common occurrence back in ancient times, when shamans or priests used various mushrooms or plants both to induce “prophetic” visions and to communicate with long-dead ancestors. It is worth noting that some peoples believed that hallucinations were a kind of panacea for certain diseases. There have also been recorded cases of their use in art, science or culture. As an example, we can cite the works of such famous masters as Edgar Allan Poe, Gogol, Chopin, Vincent Van Gogh. The only sad thing is that the price for such masterpieces was gradual degradation and, as a result, absolute devastation.
Today, the types of hallucinations are quite diverse and include auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile. But the first thing that is worth considering in more detail is, of course, the reason for the occurrence of such a phenomenon.
Hallucinations: causes, symptoms
Some of the reasons for the appearance of hallucinations may be the use of various narcotic substances (hashish, opium) and drugs that stimulate the psychological state of a person (antidepressants, phenothiazines). Do not forget that the prerequisites for such conditions can also be poisoning caused by both excessive consumption of alcohol and certain mushrooms or spices. An example is nutmeg, which causes hallucinations when consumed in large quantities.
Lesions in the temporal part of the brain can cause olfactory hallucinations, which are quite common in patients with schizophrenia. And if you add something else to it, it also adds flavor.
Manifestations of visual hallucinations are associated primarily with exacerbations of diseases of the visual organs. Such states are usually characterized by a variety of visions and images in which a person can take part.
Kinds
In addition to being divided according to the original source of appearance, hallucinations are also divided into false and true. For example, in the second type of state, a person is not a direct participant in the action, but rather, like an outside observer. A false phenomenon, on the contrary, completely captures being projected only in it.
As mentioned above, today there are quite a lot of types of hallucinations, so we will consider only the main and most common of them.
Visual hallucinations
Such hallucinations can manifest themselves either as spots or smoke (simple), or as a variety of visions (complex), arising against the background of darkening of consciousness. They can be:
- Moving.
- Motionless.
- Changing.
- Plain.
- Multi-colored.
Their size can vary from small to very large. As a rule, visual hallucinations most often occur not in a person’s field of vision, but somewhat behind or to the side. They appear mainly in the evening and at night.
Auditory hallucinations
Today, auditory hallucinations include acoasms, phonemes and verbal ones.
- Acoasm is the name given to hallucinations that manifest themselves in the form of a variety of bells, ringing, crackling and grinding noises.
- Phonemes include hallucinations that appear in individual words or phrases that are heard by the patient.
- Verbal hallucinations are characterized by various voices familiar to a person that address him. They can manifest themselves both in the form of a whisper and in the form of a scream. It is worth noting that the nature of the voices can be benevolent and calming, arising against the background of euphoria, or, conversely, threatening and condemning (depression).
As a rule, auditory hallucinations are perceived by both ears, but there are exceptions when sounds are heard only on one side. Most often they occur at night or in complete silence.
Hallucinations of olfactory, tactile and gustatory nature
Olfactory hallucinations include not very clear and faintly distinguishable odors that cause unpleasant sensations.
Taste hallucinations are the sensations of the taste of food and moisture in the mouth. It is worth noting that when eating food, most patients noted an unpleasant and unusual taste.
Important! Treatment of hallucinations of this origin is quite troublesome if not started in the early stages.
Tactile sensations include tickling sensations and goosebumps. Cases of such hallucinations have been recorded both on the body and inside it.
Diagnostics
The first thing you need to understand is that a person is having a hallucination, and not a manifestation of an illusion, when it may seem to him that the object standing in front of him will change its shape and turn into some kind of animal. Hallucinations are when a person can point, for example, to the corner of a room and quite seriously claim that someone is there. The difference between this condition is that it is quite difficult to convince the patient that he was mistaken.
It is also very important to observe a person’s behavior, since it is by this behavior that it often becomes possible to determine what type of hallucination is taking place. There are common cases of such an episodic phenomenon; in this case, it is very important not to miss this period. There is no need to panic and think: “Oh God, these are hallucinations, what should I do?” The first step is to pay special attention to a person’s facial expressions, since in most cases they reflect facial expressions that are uncharacteristic for a given situation (fear, horror, anger, joy, surprise, etc.). More pronounced hallucinations are manifested in spitting out food, sharply closing the eyes, pinching the nose and plugging the ears. Cases have been recorded of people in such states throwing themselves under cars or jumping out of windows to escape imaginary monsters. As a rule, this phenomenon is most often combined with various states of delirium, and its manifestations in an isolated state are very rare.
Diseases that cause hallucinations
The cause of this condition can be a variety of diseases, the main ones being schizophrenia and alcoholism.
Thus, people suffering from alcoholism are primarily susceptible to auditory hallucinations. As a rule, this manifests itself in various voices arguing with each other, which causes the patient to panic, leading to the most unpleasant consequences.
Syphilis of the brain can also cause hallucinations, expressed in negative visions and screams.
We should not forget that taking narcotic substances not only leads to the appearance of malignant tumors, but is also expressed in strong hallucinations of an imperative nature.
Particularly worth noting is the disease amentia, which is characterized by a severe form of impaired consciousness. Its symptoms are manifested in a violation of the synthesis of perception, thinking, speech and the inability to navigate in the surrounding space. The danger is that the types of hallucinations caused by the disease can be fatal.
Hallucinogens
Despite all the negative consequences, a sufficient number of people still try to consciously induce hallucinations in themselves. For this purpose, both hallucinogens (marijuana, beta-carbolines, LSD) and various plants or mushrooms are used, for example nutmeg, which causes hallucinations in the form of short-term euphoria and various visions.
Reasons for taking hallucinogens include:
- Long-term depression and disappointment in life.
- Expectation of acute and unusual sensations and emotions.
- Desire to evoke vivid visions.
But it is worth remembering that hallucinations are not only short-term minutes filled with new bright colors, but also moments for which you may have to pay with your health or even life.
Manifestation of hallucinations in older people
According to the latest statistics, the greatest number of manifestations of hallucinations is recorded in older people, which is not surprising, given the possible age-related changes in their health. As a rule, older people are most often susceptible to attacks of depression, complicated by a variety of anxiety sensations and fear of the unknown. This condition, in turn, is fertile ground for the appearance of hallucinations in older people, manifested in the form of various voices, color spots or unpleasant tactile sensations.
Hallucinations in children
This phenomenon does not escape the younger generation either. So, according to the latest data, more than 15% of children are susceptible to this phenomenon.
It manifests itself regardless of the gender or location of the child. Reasons that cause hallucinations in a child include intense fever. This happens because high body temperature not only leads to weakness and aches throughout the body, but also causes clouding of consciousness, which, in turn, means that the brain is not able to control it at the proper level. It is especially worth noting that it is strictly forbidden to leave a child in this state, since this phenomenon is temporary and can develop into panic.
The most dangerous hallucinations in children are those that occur at night. And in this case, for parents whose children are not only terrified of being left alone at night, but can also scream and wet the bed during sleep, it is very important to find out the reason for this condition. It is important not to judge or reproach anyone for showing fear. Remember that you need to listen to your child with full attention and, most importantly, understanding, since if left unattended, such a condition in the future can develop into a phobia and lead to serious changes in the child’s psychological state.
According to some experts, treatment of hallucinations in children does not cause such an urgent need as in adults, since they tend to outgrow it. But there is an opinion that it is unlikely to completely get rid of them, and under certain circumstances they may arise again.
First aid for hallucinations
The first thing to do when symptoms of this phenomenon appear is to take into account that for the patient everything that happens is reality. Therefore, you need to follow the following recommendations that can minimize possible conditions:
- Under no circumstances should you even try to somehow dissuade the patient that everything that happens to him is unreal.
- It is necessary to find a way to help the person cope with the feelings or sensations that have gripped him. For example, if he has a strong impression that vampires can come to him at night and drink his blood, then together with him he needs to come up with means of “saving” him from them.
- It is necessary to create conditions under which the hallucination would not be terrible either for the person who came under its influence or for the people around him.
- Make fun of his feelings.
- Show irritation in response to groundless fears.
- Convince the patient that everything that happens to him is a figment of his imagination.
- Focus attention on what is happening to him. For example, to find out the source of “suspicious” sounds.
- It is especially important during this period not to raise your voice unnecessarily towards the patient. In this case, it is recommended to create in him the feeling that you will do everything possible to “save” him.
- In special cases, when the patient is overly excited, you can try to calm him down with the help of various sedatives, walk around with guests or play soothing music for him. In some cases, you may need to call a doctor.
Treatment methods
Today there are several methods for treating hallucinations. But it should be borne in mind that if their cause is a mental disorder, then therapy should be started only after consulting a psychiatrist. Treatment is mainly aimed at stopping the attack and eliminating the delusional state. For this purpose, the patient is given an injection of the drug “Aminazine” or “Tizercin”, combining it with the drug “Trisedil” or “Haloperidol”. The treatment regimen may also include the use of antipsychotic and atypical antipsychotic drugs.
But, as practice shows, a healthy lifestyle, reducing the amount of stress and refusing to use hallucinogens will reduce the manifestation of hallucination in a person several times, or even allow one to forget about its existence altogether.
