Hallucinations
People report hallucinations as one of the most common reasons why they seek treatment by a psychologist or psychiatrist. Hallucinations can actually involve any of the senses. The most commonly reported hallucinations are auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations. Medical conditions can cause hallucinations as can psychiatric/psychological disorders.
When people are trying to fake being disabled, hallucinations are frequently what they report are going on. The most commonly faked hallucinations are reports of seeing dead people or hearing dead people.
Real hallucinations may indeed involve seeing former family members, but hallucinations are accompanied by more symptoms than just hallucinations alone. What people miss when they attempt to fake the hallucination is the package of symptoms.
Visual hallucinations often involve seeing dream images when not dreaming. These are the result of impaired rapid eye movement stage of sleep. It takes place over a period of weeks to months, although in some cases can occur in as little as 5 to 10 days with a medication like an antibiotic. In fact, it’s often a side effect of a medication like an antibiotic. It goes away after the medication has been completed and is no longer in the system. People may often have periods during the hallucination where they can’t seem to move. They may have a falling sensation or a flying sensation. These hallucinations often occur just as sleep is starting or ending and the person is already in bed. They are a sleep disturbance.
Another type of visual disturbance misconstrued as a hallucination is a floater. This is a sediment from the aquious humor of the eye which has been dislodged and now floats. Although it’s behind and within the eye. The person sees it as outside themselves. It’s often described as spiders or roaches on the walls. It’s frequently a sequella of head injury.
Auditory hallucinations range from actual conversations between people to sounds in the environment. The most common one is someone’s name being called when no one is there. As an occasional event, it has little meaning. As it increases in frequency it may signal hearing difficulty, sleep disturbance, or psychiatric problems. Noises are the same. Buzzing noises, known as tinitis, can be extremely irritating. Some are due to hearing loss produced as side effects of medications which are toxic to the hair cells in the inner ear. They signal eventual hearing loss. Depending on age, other noises may represent other toxic body states such as kidney disorders or liver disorders and the body’s difficulty with filtering out the wastes in the system.
More unusual hallucinations come from illegal drug use. As brain cells are killed off, visual, auditory and, in some cases, tactile hallucinations develop. Even when the drugs are discontinued the chemical effects can last for some time which the brain heals. This is especially true with the designer drugs, with methamphetamine, and with some of the natural hallucinagenics which can be fatal. It’s not pleasant to watch someone attempting to rip their skin off because they think there are bugs or snakes burrowing under it. Tactile hallucinations do not appear to be pleasant in the least.
I’ve had visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory hallucinations. So I can discuss those experiences personally and know what those experiences are like. My family has some rare medical problems. If they are not correctly treated we develop severe sleep problems and depression. Medication for depression or psychotherapy will not fix the underlying medical condition which is a gastrointestinal disorder which disturbes the neurotransmitters in the brain. It causes vitamin deficiencies, oral lesions, skin lesions, and lots of changes throughout the body. It causes scary dream images, auditory command hallucinations, and hallucinations of my name being called. It causes depression and insomnia. Knowing the events weren’t real and were hallucinations didn’t make them any less frightening. There were times when the visual hallucinations were pleasant, bunnies hopping all over the walls, and the voice was positive not negative, but still vague in quality. There were other times when I could see shadows or could see things moving that were stationary. Knowing what these things are like helps me when someone comes in and tells me they are hallucinating. I know all about hallucinations. I come from an entire family that has them. It’s not like we don’t talk about it. We compare notes. I know the difference between my hallucinations and those of people who are depressed or schizophrenic. There are differences in the quality, and the substance of the hallucinations.
My olfactory and gustatory hallucinations are related. In 1985 I was assaulted when I came home one evening from work. A man hit me in the face breaking my glasses into my face and I fell backwards. He stole my purse. He got all of $10. In the process of breaking my glasses into my face my olfactory nerve was partially severed. The olfactory nerve controls your sense of smell. I have a significant loss of sense of smell. Smell is significantly connected to the sense of taste by 85%. When I lost my sense of smell I lost most of my sense of taste. What I got instead were hallucinations. In the presense of strong odors I have a smell. It isn’t the smell that’s there, it’s a different smell. It’s a hallucination. When I taste a strong taste, it’s not the taste that it’s supposed to be, it’s a different taste. It’s a hallucination. Now it’s been 20 years and I’m used to the changes, but my diet tends to be rather bland tasting foods as a result. The good news is that if someone hasn’t taken a shower in a couple of weeks and has been sleeping outside I really can’t get how bad it is, just a minute fraction. So there are some benefits.
