Hallucinations - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Hallucinations are imaginary perceptions, perceptions without an object, sensations that occur without stimuli. Hallucinations are a deceit, a mistake, an error of perception of all sense organs, when the patient sees, hears or feels something that is not actually.

The functioning of the brain is not fully understood, namely in the unknown and the most extraordinary and mysterious is hidden. Hallucinations are from this area. The brain shows us pictures that are not. Auditory hallucinations are perceived as a voice "from above".Hallucinations have been known since time immemorial. They were given special significance. In the rituals of ancient Indians, shamans used "sacred" mushrooms to flow into the trance and evoke "visions."These mushrooms were considered divine, images and statues of mushrooms are found in ancient temples. Maya widely used hallucinogenic drugs mushrooms, herbs, tobacco, cacti) for religious and medical purposes, to relieve pain. Many famous talented people experienced hallucinations( alcoholism, opium, schizophrenia, psychosis) and at the same time gave the world new literary genres - Edgar Poe, Hemingway, Jonathan Swift, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Gogol, Yesenin, Guy de Maupassant;masterpieces of art - Vincent van Gogh, Goya;Vrubel;music - Chopin;mathematics - John Forbes Nash, Nobel laureate for developments in the field of game theory and differential geometry. Interlacing the spiritual world, the real world and the world of perceptions under the influence of the psychotic process in geniuses become unpredictable and stunning. But in the end they lead to degradation and devastation.

Paintings of artists with hallucinations

There are hallucinations: visual, olfactory, auditory, taste, general feelings( visceral and muscular).

Causes of hallucinations

Visual hallucinations is a vision of the visual images of colored bright or faded, immobile and whole scenes in which the patient can participate in the absence of them in reality.

Visual hallucinations

It is possible that they appear in alcohol poisoning( as a symptom of white fever), drugs and substances with psychostimulating effect( LSD, cocaine, hashish, opium, amphetamines, beta adrenoblockers, sympathomimetics), M-anticholinergic agents( atropine,scopolamine, antiparkinsonics, phenothiazines, central muscle relaxants - cyclobenzaprine, orfenadrine, tricyclic antidepressants, plant toxins - datura, belladonna, mushrooms - pale toadstool), some organic compoundstin. Visual hallucinations in combination with auditory hallucinations can be with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Lewy body disease, occlusion of the posterior cerebral artery( peduncular hallucinosis).

Auditory hallucinations - the patient hears sounds that are not really there - words, hail, voices that can order, scold, praise. Occur in schizophrenia, alcoholic hallucinosis, poisoning with psychotic substances, cocaine, Lewy body disease, simple partial seizures.

Olfactory hallucinations - a sense of smell in its absence. It occurs when the temporal lobe of the brain is affected, schizophrenia. In schizophrenia, unpleasant odors are most often felt, putrid, rotten. In herpetic encephalitis, simple partial seizures, olfactory hallucinations can be combined with taste.

Flavors - the sensation of an unpleasant taste irritant, pleasant or disgusting taste in the mouth. Because of this, the patient can refuse to eat.

Tactile hallucinations - the patient feels non-existing objects - with alcohol withdrawal syndrome, combined with visual and auditory hallucinations.

Body hallucinations - unpleasant sensations in the body - current flow, bursting of bubbles in the intestines, touching the body, grasping the arms, legs - with schizophrenia, encephalitis.

Hallucinations are true and false. The patient sees the true hallucinations from the outside, the hallucinatory images are of the nature of reality, precisely projected in space. False hallucinations do not have a projection in the outer space, the patient sees and hears them inside the head - a hallucination is projected in the head, and not perceived by the senses.

Hallucinations are simple and complex. Simple hallucinations capture the reflections of one sense organ. The combination of hallucinations of two or more sensory organs is called complex. If you see a devil, hear his footsteps, feel the cold on his back, hear his whisper - you experience a complicated hallucination. For the development of a complex hallucination, self-hypnosis, personality, psyche, and psychological complexes are important. The content of hallucinations is diverse, peculiar and unexpected, it arises from the mental reserve of the unknowable sphere of mental activity.

Diseases in which hallucinations occur

There are hallucinations in schizophrenia, epilepsy, brain tumors, alcoholic psychosis, infectious diseases, syphilis of the brain, herpetic encephalitis, cerebral atherosclerosis, cocaine poisoning, LSD, mescaline. Hallucinations occur with hypothermia.

Hallucinatory-paranoid syndrome - the patient sees hallucinations( intimidating - murders, violence, threats) takes them for a reality and tells their content - nonsense. It develops with alcoholic psychoses, schizophrenia, syphilis of the brain.

Hallucinosis - a syndrome characterized by the presence of pronounced and persistent( usually auditory) hallucinations - more often with alcoholism, syphilis.

Alcoholic delirium is an alcoholic psychosis characterized by true visual hallucinations, delusional disorders, behavioral changes, motor anxiety. Develops against a background of abstinence or hangover. Initially, there are illusions, and then true hallucinations. More often the patient sees small animals, insects, less often snakes, devils, people. Visual hallucinations can be combined with auditory, olfactory, tactile. The patient is excited, his movements correspond to visions in hallucinations. Delirium is hallucinatory.

Alcoholic hallucinosis - alcoholic psychosis - in the evening or at night during insomnia, anxiety, fear and auditory deception are acute. The sense of threat already comes from the delusional perception of the "altered reality of the world."Voices often swear, argue, an evil voice swears with a good one. The feeling of fear grows and the patient tries to escape. It develops at the height of drinking-bout or with abstinence. Acute hallucinosis lasts from 2 days to a month, subacute - 1 - 3 months, chronic - from 6 months.

Prison hallucinosis is a delusional perception of reality with auditory hallucinations - whispering, harassment.

Chronic tactile hallucinosis - the patient constantly feels that the skin crawls and under the skin creeps, worms - with organic brain lesions, senile psychoses.

In some cases of tetraethyl lead poisoning( contained in leaded gasoline), there is an acute psychotic state with a consciousness disorder and hallucinatory experiences - often imperative auditory hallucinations and tactile - the taste of the hair in the mouth.

With syphilis of the brain there are auditory hallucinations in the form of separate sounds and words, exclamations, visual hallucinations of unpleasant content.

In the hallucinations of addicts are combined and auditory and visual images, unreal, angry scary beings, delirium of persecution, jealousy.

Visual hallucination of the polynucleon .

When decompensated cardiovascular diseases, there is a mood disorder, a sense of anxiety, fears, insomnia and hallucinatory manifestations. With the improvement of the physical condition and the normalization of blood circulation, all mental disorders go away.

Rheumatic diseases of the heart and joints develop irritability, intolerance, tearfulness, sleep disturbances, deceptions of perception, especially in the evenings, rarely inflow of hallucinations.

Auditory and visual hallucinations are possible in malignant formations. In the development of the role plays a role in the toxicity of the disease, exhaustion, brain damage, the use of narcotic substances as analgesics.

In case of infectious diseases - typhus and typhoid fever, malaria, pneumonia - there may be influxes of visual hallucinations, illusory perception of surrounding objects and fragmentary delusional statements about exciting, frightening scenes, attack of monsters, death. With a drop in temperature, everything disappears.

Amenia is a severe form of impairment of consciousness, characterized by a violation of the integrity of the perception of the object, a violation of the synthesis of perceptions, a violation of thinking, speech, orientation in oneself and space, hallucinations. Occurs with endogenous psychoses( traumatic, infectious, toxic).Can be fatal. For the period of amenia, the survivors develop amnesia( loss of memory).

Hallucinations are a symptom of mental illness - schizophrenia, psychosis.

Hallucinogenic fungi

Millennia known fungi that can cause hallucinations.

Hallucinogenic fungi - Psilocybe - number more than 20 species, grow on soil, dead plants, branches, wetlands, peat, manure, on humus forest. Mushrooms contain psychoactive substances of the group of tryptamines - neurotoxic poison, which causes hallucinations, psychoneurosis, drug dependence and death.

Psilocybe

Red fly agaric is a very powerful hallucinogen, some people of Siberia call it "fungus of the insane," when used as a food, there is trembling, excitement, visual hallucinations.

Amanita

Medications that cause hallucinations

Some medications can cause hallucinations - narcotic analgesics, some antibiotics and antiviral drugs, sulfonamides, antituberculosis, anticonvulsants, antihistamines, antiparkinsonics, antidepressants, cardiotropic, antihypertensives, psychostimulants, tranquilizers, mescalin, cocaine,crack, LSD, PCP, psilocybin.

Examination of a patient with hallucinations

In the photo to the left A patient with poisoning with mushrooms and hallucinations.

Relation to hallucinations can be critical and not critical. A person can understand that the voices and scenes he hears are not real, but can consider them a real reality. More real scenes that correspond to reality - visions of relatives, for example. Patients experiencing hallucinations can distinguish hallucinations from reality, or may not, feel something like precursors before the occurrence of a hallucination. Others may notice the presence of hallucinations on the behavior of the patient - gestures, facial expressions, words and actions that do not correspond to the surrounding reality. If a person himself is not able to assess his condition about this, one should take care of others and take them to a doctor - a psychiatrist, a neurologist for a comprehensive examination.

At the pre-hospital stage, the main thing is to protect the patient and others, to prevent dangerous traumatic actions and deeds.

It is important to clarify the nature of hallucinations for diagnosis and for methods of care, patient supervision. The examination includes tests and procedures performed if any of the diseases listed above are suspected.

To which doctors to consult if hallucinations occur

Doctors may need help:

- Neurologist
- Psychiatrist
- Narcologist
- Oncologist

Treatment of hallucinations

Depending on the underlying disease, individual treatment is performed. In acute conditions, hospitalization is necessary. In severe hallucinations, neuroleptics, sedatives, tranquilizers, detoxification therapy are used. The main thing is to call the doctor in time.

Consultation of a physician on the topic of hallucinations

Question: Can there be hallucinations in a healthy person?
Answer: Healthy people may have illusions - visual, auditory, taste, tactile - this is a distortion of perception of the real objects of the world around them. Floating water may seem like a conversation, a hanging robe in a dark room can be mistaken for a person, an incomprehensible shadow in the twilight under a bush for animals. Illusions can also be in infectious diseases, poisoning, exhaustion. There is an illusion when an inappropriate perception is added to the perception, sensation.

Doctor neurologist Kobzeva S.V.