Prevalence and characteristics of multi-modal hallucinations in people with psychosis who experience visual hallucinations

Hallucinations are “a sensory experience which occurs in the absence of corresponding external stimulation of the relevant sensory organ, has a sufficient sense of reality to resemble a veridical perception over which the subject does not feel s/he has direct and voluntary control, and which occurs in the awake stat e ” (David, 2004; p.108). Accordingly, hallucinations are more likely to be present if they have the following elements: (i) that they are experienced as percepts (and not as generated by the person), (ii) that they lack a representation in the external world (and so are not distortions or illusio ns), and (iii) that they are experienced during full consciousness and not on the boundaries of sleep and waking (like dreams) and (iv) are not perceived to be under direct, voluntary control (like mental imagery).

Source: Psychiatry Research - August 13, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Robert Dudley, Charlotte Aynsworth, Rea Cheetham, Simon McCarthy-Jones, Daniel Collerton Source Type: research