Hallucinations: Symptoms, Types, Causes, Treatment

Hallucinations are sensations or impressions that appear real but are not. They're produced by the brain and can have the same consequences on individuals as reality.

A hallucination can be tasted, heard, smelled, felt, or seen. They may be enticing or frightening, tied to feelings, images, or past experiences, or they may have no connection to any of those things. Hearing voices, seeing things, lights, or people who aren't there, as well as the experience of itchy skin, are all common hallucinations.

Delusions, altered eyesight, and dreams are not the same as hallucinations, though. Delusions are beliefs or judgements that are unfounded in reality. The simplest way to distinguish between hallucinations and delusions is to say that the former is due to erroneous sensory input, while the latter is incorrect beliefs.

Positive symptoms of disorders like schizophrenia can disrupt a person's life. (Image via Pexels/Cottonbro)

Altered eyesight can cause vision changes, including floaters, spots, and light flashes. While you're sleeping, dreams happen, and they're definitely not a break from reality.

What are the Symptoms of Hallucinations?

The signs are quite prominent and visible. (Image via Pexels/Cottonbro)

Depending on the underlying disease, sickness, or condition, hallucinations may be accompanied by additional symptoms.

Commonly occurring brain symptoms may also impact other bodily systems. These symptoms may coexist with other psychological or cognitive disorders, such as:

Anxiety, agitation, or irritation
Mood, attitude, or behaviour changes
Confussion, oblivion, or disconnection
Delusions
Remembering, thinking, speech, comprehension, writing, or reading challenges
Increased awareness or arousal
Depression or elation of mood

Hallucinations may occasionally be signs of a serious illness that need to be assessed right away in a hospital emergency room. Seek out urgent medical attention if you see any signs of a break from reality.

Types of Hallucination

Can all our senses be affected by hallucination? (Image via Pexels/Cottonbro)

Although the most common symptoms are probably seeing things or hearing voices, hallucinations can also affect other senses besides sight and hearing too.

Each of our five senses has the potential to experience these positive symptoms. Psychosis, a term used to describe a separation from reality that happens with many types of mental and other diseases, frequently includes the aforementioned symtoms.

In essence, people commonly experience one or more of the following five categories of hallucinations:

1) Auditory (sound) hallucinations

Hallucinations involving sound are the most prevalent kind. This entails hearing unreal sounds like music, footsteps, or banging doors.

When nobody has spoken, some people can still hear voices. Voices can be neutral, negative, or positive. They might order you to perform something that could be dangerous for you or other people.

2) Visual (sight) hallucinations

It entails the perception of unreal objects, figures, people, animals, or lighting. A specific type may give you the impression that someone is standing behind you or in the same room as you.

3) Tactile (touch) hallucinations

You may experience unreal touching or movement in your body. This might include sensations of your internal organs shifting or of bugs crawling on your skin.

4) Olfactory (smell) hallucinations

It entails smelling things that aren't there or that nobody can smell. What is that unpleasant stench? It might be an olfactory hallucination for certain people. Olfactory hallucinations are typically unpleasant for humans, as opposed to catching an unexpected whiff of a delectable pie or a fragrant flower.

5) Gustatory (taste) hallucinations

These frequently produce odd or unpleasant flavors. These are frequently characterized by a metallic taste and are fairly typical epilepsy symptoms.

Causes

Although the precise cause is unknown, hallucinations can be linked to certain psychiatric problems or physical ailments.

That can be related to substance misuse and withdrawal, adverse drug effects, sensory loss, sleep deprivation, and extreme exhaustion. Psychiatric illnesses like the following may result in hallucinations:

Bipolar disorder
Psychotic depression
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizophrenia
Schizotypal personality disorder

Sometimes they're unrelated to disease or medication and can be brought on by suggestive influences.

A person may describe an auditory hallucination, for instance, in religious cultures where hearing God's voice is common. Due to increased anxiety, a person who's sleeping in a home may believe it to be haunted or may hear noises or see ghostly figures.

Treatment and Therapy

Even if the symptoms are severe, they are treatable. (Image via Pexels/Cottonbro)

The cause often determines the course of treatment. Once the underlying problem has been treated, hallucinations brought on by transient conditions like an infection, a high temperature, or extreme dehydration go away. People with chronic illnesses that cause such symptoms may benefit from a combination of therapy and medication.

People with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms may benefit from taking antipsychotic drugs to lessen their frequency and intensity. If antipsychotic medicine doesn't help, your doctor may advise you to go ahead with a more specific medical treatment like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

Takeaway

It's crucial for people who experience symptoms of psychosis to discuss them with their loved ones and medical staff. They can be controlled with treatment, but if left unattended, they can worsen or become hazardous.

No matter how trivial or atypical you may think a symptom is, talk about it with your healthcare professional. It's crucial to be with and communicate with someone you can trust, as the symptoms related to a psychotic break can make you feel anxious, paranoid, and afraid.

Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.

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