First Year of the Degree Programme

in Psychology
English for Psychology
Course Unit I
Attention and Perception

1.3. Hallucinations and

Delusions
 1.3. Hallucinations and Delusions. Introduction

Can you distinguish between hallucinations and

delusions?
A person experiences hallucinations when he senses
(sees, hears, feels, smells, tastes) things that do not
exist.
They have false perceptions of sight, hearing, touch,
smell, or taste.
A person experiences delusions when s/he holds beliefs
that are false, inaccurate or exaggerated.
They believe things about themselves and about
others that are not true, that are not really
happening.
 Causes of Hallucinations

Caused by:
Being drunk, being high on drugs, or coming
down from such drugs as marijuana,
LSD, cocaine, PCP, amphetamines, heroin,
ketamine.
Delirium or dementia (especially visual
hallucinations).
Epilepsy that involves a part of the brain
called the temporal lobe (especially odor
hallucinations).
Fever, especially in children and the elderly.
 Causes of Hallucinations

Narcolepsy: a neurological disorder marked

by a sudden recurrent uncontrollable
compulsion to sleep.
Psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia
and psychotic depression.
Sensory problem or disability, such as
blindness or deafness.
Severe illness, including liver failure, kidney
failure, AIDS, and brain cancer
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
 Recognizing and Understanding Hallucinations

1. Visual hallucinations: false perceptions involving

the sense of sight
Seeing colours, shapes, flashes of light
Seeing objects, people, human-like figures that are
not really there
Somebody standing before the victim: a person
who has died, fantastic beings
Ghosts, apparitions, fairies, etc.
A religious figure: an angel, a saint, a demon
People who suffer from visual hallucinations may
keep their eyes on something that nobody else can
see.
 Recognizing and Understanding Hallucinations

2. Auditory hallucinations

Hearing sounds, such as music, footsteps,

windows or doors banging that do not really
exist

Hearing voices:

These voices may be critical, complimentary,

neutral, or may command the victims to do
something that may cause harm to
themselves or to others.

Command hallucinations
 Recognizing and Understanding Hallucinations

3. Tactile hallucinations: false perceptions of touch

in or on the body
Victims touch, scratch or brush things off
themselves.
The sensation of something (insects) crawling on or
under the skin
The sensation of somebody touching your body
 Recognizing and Understanding Hallucinations

4. Olfactory hallucinations: false perceptions

involving the sense of smell
Phantosmia: smelling odors that are not present
Unpleasant smells are more common: manure,
rotten food, sewage /su:d/, etc.
People suffering from this type of hallucination
tend to sniff, holding their nose up.

Manure: solid waste from animals, especially horses, which is
spread on the land in order to make plants grow well.
 Recognizing and Understanding Hallucinations
5. Gustatory hallucinations: perceptions of taste
without stimuli
Usually the taste of something strange or unpleasant

Gustatory hallucination is the sensation of tasting

something that isnt really there, typically an
unpleasant flavor.
Gustatory hallucination can be a symptom of certain types of
epilepsy, or schizophrenia.

Example: The patient complains that his food tastes

rotten, although the flavor seems normal to everyone
else at the table.
http://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/2008/gustatory-
hallucination/
 Writing Exercises on Hallucinations

After reading about hallucinations, do this

writing exercise:

Describe the case (tell the story) of Matthew,

a 35-year-old man who experiences
hallucinations
 Delusions

I am Elvis.
Delusions several definitions from medical dictionaries:

An unshakable theory or belief in something false or

impossible, despite evidence to the contrary.
A false belief that is strongly held in spite of
invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of
mental illness.
A false belief that is firmly maintained in spite of
incontrovertible and obvious proof to the contrary and
in spite of the fact that other members of the culture do
not share the belief.
A false belief that is resistant to reason or contrary to
actual fact.
A persistent aberrant belief or perception held
inviolable by a person despite evidence that refutes it.
 Delusional Disorder. Definition and types:

Delusional disorder: a mental disorder marked by

well-organized, logically consistent delusions with
no other psychotic feature.
Delusion of persecution (Paranoid delusion): a
delusion that one is being attacked, harassed,
cheated, persecuted, or conspired against.
Delusion of grandeur (Grandiose delusion):
delusional conviction of one's own importance,
power, or knowledge, or that one is, or has a
special relationship with, a deity or a famous
person.
 Types of delusional disorder

Erotomanic delusion: a delusional conviction that

some other person, usually of higher status and
often famous, is in love with the individual.
Delusion of jealousy: a delusional belief that one's
spouse or lover is unfaithful, based on erroneous
inferences drawn from innocent events imagined to
be evidence and often resulting in confrontation with
the accused.
Mixed delusion: one in which no central theme
predominates.
Somatic delusion: a delusion that there is some
alteration in a bodily organ or its function.
 Other types of delusion:

Delusion of control: the delusion that one's

thoughts, feelings, and actions are not one's own
but are being imposed by someone else or some
other external force.
Belief that ones thoughts or actions are being
controlled by outside, alien forces. Common
delusions of control include thought broadcasting
(My private thoughts are being transmitted to
others.), thought insertion (Someone is planting
thoughts in my head.), and thought withdrawal
(The CIA is robbing me of my thoughts.).

http://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/2008/delusion/ and
other websites
Writing Exercises on Delusions

After reading about delusions, do this

writing exercise:

Describe the case (tell the story) of

Caroline, a 45-year-old woman with
delusions
 Hallucinations and Delusions
Some case studies

In history
Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
Joshua Norton (1819-1880)
Anna Anderson (1896-1984)

In literature
Don Quixote
 Delusion of grandeur:
Norton I, Emperor of the
United States and
Protector of Mexico
Joshua A. Norton
(1819-1880)
Reading and Writing Exercise

Please listen to this audio an

write an answer to the
following questions:

http://www.voanews.com/learnin
genglish/home/The-Man-Who-
Declared-Himself-Emperor-of-the-
US-128561083.html
Joshua A. Norton (1819-1880)
After listening to the story of
Emperor Norton I of the
United States, discuss the
following issues:
What type of delusional
disorder did Norton
suffer?
What was the cause of
his condition?
Was there any
intelligence in his
delusional disorder?
What problems or
matters concerned him?
How did people respond
to Nortons delusion?
Hallucinations
and Delusions:
Joan of Arc
 Hallucinations and
Delusions
Joan of Arc: A case
study

Appearance of Saint
Catherine and Saint
Michael to Joan of Arc,
by Stilke Hermann
Anton
Leave your home and
fight for the Kingdom
of France.
 Hallucinations and
Delusions

Joan of Arc, by
John Everett
Millais (1865)
Instruction and
guidance for her
mission
 Anna Andersons (1896-
1984) claimed to be
Grand Duchess
Anastasia of Russia
(1901-1918).
 Hallucinations
and Delusions

Don Quixote