Hallucinations are perceptual disturbances that make a person hear, feel, smell, or see something that is not really there. Under certain conditions, hallucinations can cause threats to oneself and others.
Hallucinations are sensations created by a person's mind in the absence of a real source. These disturbances can affect the functioning of the five senses.
People with hallucinatory disorders often have a strong belief that what they are experiencing is a real perception, so that it often causes problems in everyday life.
Causes of Hallucinations
Hallucinations can arise due to various factors. Here are some of the most common factors that can cause hallucinations:
- Psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, dementia, and major depression with symptoms of psychosis
- Nerve and brain disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, migraine with aura, delirium, stroke, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease
- Consuming a lot of alcohol and illegal drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamines, and heroin
- Fever, especially in children or the elderly
- Sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy
- Serious illness, such as kidney failure or advanced liver disease, HIV/AIDS, brain cancer
- Severe head injury
- Electrolyte disturbances, eg hyponatremia and hypomagnesaemia
- Acid-base disorders
- Drug side effects
Different Types of Hallucinations what is needed Known
Based on the characteristics and causes, there are several types of hallucinations that are common, namely:
1. Auditory hallucinations (audio)
Auditory hallucinations are a type of hallucination that causes a person to hear voices that others do not hear. The sound can be instructions, conversation, music, or even someone's footsteps.
For example, a person seems to be able to hear other people walking in the attic, even though no one is there. This condition is a common symptom of people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or dementia.
2. Visual hallucinations
Visual hallucinations involve the sense of sight, which makes the sufferer seem to see something, but the object is not really there. Visual hallucinations can be objects, visual patterns, people, or lights.
For example, a person may see other people who are not actually in the room or see flashing lights that no one else can see.
3. Olfactory (olfactory) hallucinations
Olfactory hallucinations involve the sense of smell. In this condition, a person can smell the smell of perfume or even smell bad or feel that his body smells bad, when in fact it is not.
4. Taste hallucinations (gustatory)
Taste hallucinations involve the sense of taste which causes a person to feel the sensation that something eaten or drunk has a strange taste.
For example, a person complains of feeling or tasting a metallic taste when eating or drinking, even though the food or drink he consumes has a normal taste. This type of hallucination is one of the symptoms that often occurs in people with epilepsy.
5. Tactile (tactile) hallucinations
Tactile or tactile hallucinations involve physical contact or movement in an area of the body. For example, a person feels as if someone else is being touched or tickled, even though no one else is around.
In addition, a person with this condition can also feel that there are insects crawling on the skin or in the body, or feel as if there is a burst of fire burning his face.
In addition to severe conditions that cause hallucinations are often persistent, there are also temporary hallucinations that are not chronic. For example, hallucinations that appear when a family member has just died.
In this condition, it is as if a person hears the voices of his recently deceased family or sees them at a glance. This type of hallucination will usually disappear when the feeling of grief and sadness disappears slowly.
Hallucinatory disorder is a serious medical condition that requires immediate examination and treatment from a psychiatrist. In addition, people with hallucinatory disorders are not advised to live or travel alone.
With proper and fast handling, hallucinations are expected to be resolved immediately so as not to endanger the sufferer and others around him.