Visual hallucinations can be caused by various factors, including dementia, drug abuse, and medical problems. They can be distorted or completely false, and may also involve other sensory hallucinations. Treatment depends on the cause, and in some cultures, visual hallucinations are deliberately cultivated for religious purposes.
Visual hallucinations are visual sensations that are distorted or completely false in nature, occurring without any stimulus to explain the visions. There are a number of reasons visual hallucinations can occur, ranging from dementia to drug abuse, and they can be a sign that someone is experiencing a serious underlying medical problem if they occur without a clear explanation. It is also possible to experience other types of sensory hallucinations during a visual hallucination. Thus, people may feel as though they may touch objects in the vision or may report odors that are not connected to any known stimuli.
In some types of visual hallucinations, the vision is simply distorted. People can see halos, streaks of color, tracers, and other artifacts in their vision that don’t actually exist. These types of visual hallucinations are often associated with recreational drug use and can also be caused by certain prescription drugs or medical problems such as a high fever. Distorted vision can last from a few seconds to several days, depending on the cause.
In other visual hallucinations, the visions are completely false. People can see people, animals, or objects that aren’t there, or can be transported to scenes that don’t actually exist. A common type of visual hallucination seen among elderly patients is hallucination of a dead loved one; people may claim to be able to see a dead spouse, for example, and may even continue to hallucinate talking.
Stress, fatigue, and mental illness can cause visual hallucinations, as can neurological conditions, medications, and eye conditions. Finding the cause of visual hallucinations is important, as it may be treatable. For example, if someone is experiencing visual hallucinations due to an impingement on the optic nerve, surgery might be done to release the nerve and restore vision. In cases where the condition is not curable, being aware that a patient may be hallucinating can be important for healthcare professionals. For example, patients on medications that cause hallucinations may appear to be behaving erratically or irrationally, but this is due to things only they can see.
In some cultures, historically, people deliberately cultivated visual hallucinations, believing they were sent by higher powers to provide religious information or insight. Sometimes a specific member of society was designated as the recipient of such visions, while in other cases groups ingested hallucinogenic drugs in order to experience the visions together. Some cultures still maintain the practice of using such drugs in a religious context.
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