Sensory hallucinations are false perceptions that can affect sight, sound, and touch. They can be caused by mental illness, drug use, or medical conditions. Treatment depends on the cause.
Sensory hallucinations are visions or sounds a person experiences that are not really present or are distorted. In a sense, they are believable lies of the brain to the eyes or ears. Hallucinations can also affect a person’s sense of touch and can include things like the sensation of insects crawling all over the body. These experiences are completely believable and can be very scary for those who experience them.
Common causes of sensory hallucinations are schizophrenia, PTSD, the manic stage of bipolar disorder, and taking drugs with hallucinogenic properties, such as LSD. Other prescribed drugs such as morphine can cause temporary hallucinations. They can also occur when a person is intoxicated or during alcohol withdrawal. High fever, dementia, severe head injury, or serious illnesses such as end-stage renal failure can also cause a person to see or hear things. Additionally, they may be associated with long-term use of some stimulants, such as cocaine.
Most often, these perceptions are transient. Those who experience them know later that what they saw or heard was not real. In some cases, such as dementia or schizophrenia, people have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is not, because hallucinations are frequent.
Some hallucinations involve seeing or hearing people or voices. This is more common with schizophrenia and dementia. Most others involve seeing or hearing distortions of what is actually there. In this case, a person might look at a light bulb and see butterflies coming out of it or listen to a song and be convinced that it is much slower or faster than it actually is.
Often, sensory hallucinations can completely reduce a person’s ability to function, when fictitious perceptions are indistinguishable from what is real. Those who experience them due to mental illness have a good chance of recovery through treatment and drug therapy. Unfortunately, those with dementia may not have a good chance. When addicts are able to stop taking drugs or end their addictions, the hallucinations almost always stop, although they may initially get worse as the person goes through withdrawal.
Medical professionals diagnose sensory hallucinations by asking patients specific questions. However, not all people will answer truthfully, as some think these visions give them insight into the world. This is often true when the hallucinations are relatively friendly and the person experiencing them feels they have a sacred duty in the world. This is also the case when the patient suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and believes that the health care provider is going to harm him in some way.
The questions asked usually concern things like whether a patient hears a voice, feels touched, or sees a person. When the patient answers honestly, the doctor may ask him if he has had a recent traumatic event or head injury and what prescription or recreational drugs he has been taking.
Medical causes other than psychiatric illness will likely be investigated to rule out serious health problems. Your doctor may do blood tests and a physical exam. How hallucinations are treated varies significantly depending on the cause.
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