Hallucinations mean when you hear, see, smell, taste, or feel things that do not exist in real rather they are in your mind. They are the sensations or perceptions that occur while the person is fully awake. They seem to be real for the person who has these hallucinations. They can be threatening or pleasant. But sometimes they are related to your past.
Delusions are something different. It is a false belief that persists despite the evidence. But hallucinations are all in your brain. Delusions are misfunctioning of your thought processes and conclusions.
What are the causes of hallucinations?
The specific cause behind hallucination is still unknown. But the health experts associate them with certain psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia-a mental illness characterized by disordered thoughts and behaviors. Abuse of drugs can also be associate with hallucinations. Other than that side effects of medicines, sensory loss, sleep deprivation, and severe fatigue can all be associated with hallucinations.
Some of the causes of hallucinations are;
- Mental disorders like bipolar disease, schizophrenia
- Drug abuse
- Middle or inner ear disease
- Migraine
- Eye diseases like glaucoma
- Epilepsy
- Sleep deprivation
- Stroke
- Depression or stress
What are the commonly associated symptoms of hallucinations?
- Hallucination can accompany some other important symptoms and medical conditions, like;
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Confusion and forgetfulness
- Delusions
- Difficulty in performing daily tasks like writing, reading.
- Difficulty in speech or thinking
- Mood instability
- Insomnia or sleep disturbances
- Weakness or loss of strength
Hallucinations can be diagnosed and treated by a specialist doctor, known as a Psychiatrist.
What is the meaning of a Psychiatrist?
Psychiatrists are specialist doctors who can help in the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders.
The psychiatrist can first diagnose whether you hallucinate or not. And what is the cause or trigger behind your hallucinations? Then they give you treatment for this medical condition.
What are the complications caused by hallucinations?
There are some underlying causes of hallucinations. If you don’t seek treatment for them, the underlying condition may become serious. These complications can cause permanent damage. Once the underlying cause is diagnosed, it is important to follow the complete treatment plan to get rid of the root cause. Otherwise here are some common complications that can be associated with hallucinations;
- Coma
- Brain damage
- Drug overdose
- Suicide
- Increased risk of injury
- Harming oneself or others
- Accidents or falls
What are some common types of hallucinations?
- Auditory: Hearing voices or sounds that no one else can (the most common type of hallucination). The voices can be critical, complementary, or neutral, and may make potentially harmful commands or engage the person in conversation.
- Visual: Seeing people, colors, shapes, or items that aren’t
- Tactile: Feeling sensations (like something is crawling under your skin) or as if someone is touching you.
- Smell: Smelling something that has no physical source (less common than visual and auditory hallucinations)
- Gustatory: Having a taste in your mouth that has no source (the rarest type of hallucination)
- hallucinations due to drug abuse: Any of the above-mentioned type of hallucination due to drug abuse
- hallucinations and sleep: Some people experience hallucinations just as they’re falling asleep or as they start to wake up.
- hallucinations due to fever in children
- Charles Bonnet syndrome: Some people with visual impairment may experience temporary visual hallucinations.
- hallucinations in older people with delirium (disturbance in mental function)
It depends on the type of hallucinations and the underlying cause behind them. Your family and medical history are also very important while dealing with hallucinations.
Here are some of the treatments for this medical condition.
- Psychotherapy: it is more like counseling of the patient after knowing the reason or trigger of hallucinations. The therapist also asks questions related to the hallucinating experience and guides the patient.
- Self-treatment: In this plan the patient is advised to keep him/herself busy in reading, listening to music, or any different activities and to ignore the voices. And try to remain calm as much as they can.
- Medication: Antipsychotic medications are one of the best ways to treat hallucinations.
This is a brief overview of this psychotic medical condition. You should know the simple symptoms of this medical condition. Because usually people can’t understand why this is happening to them and link this condition with the existence of some supernatural entity. But the reality is something different. The problem is with your brain. So it is better to get in touch with a health specialist when you feel any of these symptoms. You can consult the best Psychiatrist in Karachi through Marham for further details. Because your mind also needs treatment as your body does.