What are Hallucinations?

Types of Hallucinations

Visual Hallucinations

Visual hallucinations involve seeing objects or scenes that are not actually present. Common examples include seeing people, animals, or shapes that others do not see.

Auditory Hallucinations

Auditory hallucinations are characterized by hearing sounds, voices, or conversations that are not real. This is one of the most common types of hallucinations and can be distressing.

Olfactory Hallucinations

Olfactory hallucinations involve smelling odors that do not exist. These smells may be pleasant or unpleasant and can cause confusion and discomfort.

Tactile Hallucinations

Tactile hallucinations refer to the sensation of physical contact or movement on the skin that is not actually happening. For instance, a person may feel bugs crawling on their skin.

Gustatory Hallucinations

Gustatory hallucinations involve tasting something that isn't actually in the mouth. This can result in strange or unpleasant taste sensations.

Hallucinations Causes

• Gustatory: Having a taste in the mouth that has no origin (the rarest type of hallucination)
• Schizophrenia: More than 70% of people with this disease have visual hallucinations and between 60% and 90% hear voices. But some can also smell and taste things that are not there.
• Parkinson's disease: Up to half of the people with Parkinson's disease condition sometimes see things that are not there.
• Alzheimer's disease: Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, especially dementia with Lewy bodies. They cause changes in the brain that can lead to hallucinations. When your illness is advanced, it may be more likely to happen. Migraines About a third of people with this type of headache also have an "aura," a type of visual hallucination. It can look like a crescent of multicoloured light.
• Brain tumour: Brain tumor Depending on where you are, it can cause different types of hallucinations. If you are in an area that has to do with vision, you may see things that are not real. You can also see spots or shapes of light. Tumours can induce scent and flavor sensations in certain areas of the brain.
• Charles Bonnet syndrome: This condition causes people with vision problems, such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, or cataracts, to see things. At first, you may not realize that it is a hallucination, but eventually, you realize that what you are seeing is not real.
• Epilepsy: The seizures that accompany this disorder can make you more likely to have hallucinations. The type you get depends on your brain that the seizure affects.
• Sensory diseases: People with vision or hearing loss may have hallucinations. This may be due to brain changes in sensory processing regions or in visual or auditory information that the brain receives.
• Dementia and other brain disorders: Dementia progressively damages the brain, including the regions involved with sensory processing. People with intermediate or late-stage dementia may experience auditory and visual hallucinations. Sometimes they see people who have died. In other cases, their hallucinations can terrify and trigger feelings of paranoia and panic that make it difficult for them to trust caregivers.
• Drugs: Drugs called hallucinogens can induce hallucinations. These medications temporarily change the way the brain processes and sends information, causing unusual thoughts and experiences. LSD, sage, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and certain mushrooms are common hallucinogens.

Hallucinations Symptoms

The symptoms of hallucinations vary depending on the type and severity but may include:

• Seeing or hearing things that are not there
• Feeling sensations on the skin that aren't real
• Experiencing unusual tastes or smells
• Feeling confused or distressed by the hallucinations
• Difficulty distinguishing between reality and hallucinations

How to Diagnose Hallucinations

After asking about your symptoms, medical history, and lifestyle habits, your healthcare provider will probably do a physical exam and order some tests to rule out medical or neurological causes of your hallucinations. Diagnostic tests can include:

• Blood tests to look for metabolic or toxic causes.
• Electroencephalogram (EEG) to check for abnormal electrical activity in your brain and to check for seizures.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look for structural problems in the brain, such as a brain tumor or stroke.

Hallucinations Treatment

Treatment for hallucinations depends on the underlying cause:

• Medication: Antipsychotic medications may be prescribed for hallucinations related to mental health conditions.
• Therapy: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other forms of psychotherapy can help manage the symptoms and address underlying issues.
• Addressing Underlying Conditions: Treating the root cause, such as a medical condition or substance use, can alleviate hallucinations.
• Supportive Care: Providing a supportive environment and coping strategies to help manage symptoms.

When to Visit a Doctor?

It is sensible to see a doctor after any hallucination, even if there are no other symptoms. It is particularly important to seek medical attention if someone with a disease that can cause hallucinations experiences worsening hallucinations or other changes in mood or behavior.

Not all hallucinations need care, especially if a single experience is a hallucination. A hallucination is not a medical emergency, but only a doctor can determine if it indicates a serious health problem.

Can Hallucinations be Prevented?

An important aspect of helping a loved one who is experiencing hallucinations is ensuring that treatment is available. Here are some more practical steps to help your loved one cope with hallucinations.

• hum or sing a song several times
• listen to music
• reading (forward and backward)
• talk to others
• exercise
• ignoring voices
• medication (important to include)