ISLAMABAD, August 18 (online): Hallucinations are sensory perceptions that appear in the absence of stimuli. Although they are often associated with illnesses such as schizophrenia, these phenomena can occur in the absence of mental ill health. But what explains these uncanny occurrences?
There are many types of hallucinations. They can be visual (sight hallucinations), auditory (sound hallucinations), olfactory (smell hallucinations), gustatory (taste hallucinations), ortactile (touch hallucinations).
For every sense, a form of hallucination is possible. The reason for this is that these phenomena are “ghost sensations” perceptions of stimuli in the absence of actual external stimuli.
More often than not, when people think of hallucinations, they associate them with illnesses that can involve psychosis, such as schizophrenia, or neurocognitive disorders, such as forms of dementia.
Hallucinations are also associated with the use of mind-altering drugs, including LSD and DMT.
But hallucinations are not always due to psychotic disorders or psychedelics. Sometimes, they occur in the absence of these factors.
A study suggests that hallucinations are far more common among people without psychotic disorders than scientists had previously thought.
The study author analyzed data that they had obtained through the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a nationally representative study of mental health in England.
These data included information on the mental health of 7,403 people aged 16 years and older throughout 1 year.
Dr. Kelleher and DeVylder found that visual and auditory hallucinations were almost equally prevalent among participants with borderline personality disorder and those with a non-psychotic mental illness.
They also found that more than 4% of all the survey respondents — including those who had no diagnosed mental health issues — reported experiencing visual or auditory hallucinations.
Stay tuned to Baaghi TV for latest news and updates!
