Hallucination

Hallucination is a clinically serious qualitative disorder of perception, we can define it as the impression of a real perception without the action of the relevant stimulus. The patient is irrevocably convinced of the truth of the perceived phenomena and therefore acts in accordance with them. If the patient ignores the hallucination, or he knows that what he perceives is not real, it is a pseudo-hallucination. Hallucinations are divided into simple and complex.

Simplex hallucinations are predominantly at the sensory level. E.g. akoasmata, when the patient hears blows, lamentation, laughter, crying, etc., fotomas - the patient sees sparks, flashes, etc.

A complex hallucination is a delusional perception of one sense (e.g. hearing) or a combination of several senses.

Optical hallucinations

 * Extracampinic – the patient is able to see things outside his field of vision, or reach of your sense organ (Svoboda, et. al. 2012). So, for example, he can see what is happening behind his back without turning around, he can see at extreme distances, etc.


 * Microscopy – the patient perceives objects and persons smaller than they actually are.


 * Macropsia – the opposite of micropsia, the patient perceives everything magnified.


 * Microzoopsia – the patient hallucinates small animals, most often insects, often occurs in deliria tremens.


 * Autoscopic - the patient sees himself, the double can be transparent or faded.

Auditory hallucinations

 * - are the most common type of hallucinations, patients refer to them as voices.


 * Hallucination of music or singing


 * Voices


 * Imperative – the voice commands the patient
 * Teleological – the voice advises the patient, or scolds him
 * Antagonistic – the patient hears multiple voices

Olfactory hallucinations

 * - the content of olfactory hallucinations is most often unpleasant smells, the patient feels gas, rot, rotting meat, etc.

Gustatory hallucinations

 * - taste hallucinations are often associated with olfactory hallucinations, when the patient believes that his food is spoiled, poisoned

Hallucination visceral

 * - the patient experiences organ changes, e.g. a missing stomach, or the presence of things that should not be in the body, e.g. snakes in the intestines, an implant in the brain, etc.

Motor hallucinations

 * - the patient either perceives movements in a resting position or is actually moving, he may get the impression that he can fly, climb walls and ceilings, sometimes he may think that the furniture in the room is moving with him


 * Verbal motor hallucinations of Séglas - someone speaks through the patient's mouth


 * Graphic-motor hallucinations - someone uses the patient's hand to write


 * Hallucination of possession - the patient has the feeling that he is possessed by the devil, evil spirits and they perform movements with him.



Uncategorized Hallucinations

 * Inadequate hallucination – the patient is convinced that he perceives with another sensor, e.g. sees with his finger, hears with his knee ( synesthesia )


 * Kahlbaum's hallucinations - when the patient closes the door, for example, he hears threats, curses...


 * Intrapsychic hallucinations - typical exclusively for disorders of the schizophrenic circuit, the patient is convinced that someone is putting thoughts into his head or, on the contrary, stealing them, there is a delusion present

Related Articles

 * Perception and its disorders
 * Delusions