Hallucinations in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians: Findings from the second Australian national survey of psychosis

Recent evidence suggests that the expression of some, but perhaps not all, hallucinations in people with psychotic disorders may vary across cultures (e.g. Luhrmann et al., 2015). For example, both visual and olfactory hallucinations are relatively rare in Tamil Brahmin (India), compared to Iban people (Sarawak) or European Australians, whilst the frequency of auditory hallucinations with running commentary or 3rd person conversations is similar between these groups (e.g. McLean et al., 2014). Using extant data collected as part of the second Australian National Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP; Morgan et al., 2012) we explored this issue further by comparing hallucinatory experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; that is, people who did, or did not, identify themselves as being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent.
Source: Schizophrenia Research - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research