Hallucinations are one of the main symptoms of many mental illnesses. People hear different voices in their heads and see things that are not really there. Some disorders cause severe vocal and visual hallucinations, while others cause this symptom to be less pronounced. With regard to schizophrenia, in this case, hallucinations are the leading symptom. It can appear at the earliest stages of the development of the disease.

Today, scientists agree that the hallucinatory factor combines a wide range of mental disorders, but can also be a consequence of the life experiences of people who do not suffer from any of the known mental illnesses.

Study of hallucinations

A scientific work was carried out in which this symptom was considered against the background of various clinical pictures in psychiatric practice. Several groups of patients with different mental disorders were compared at once, one of which was patients with schizophrenia. During the study period, 43 articles on hallucinations were studied. Four key states were taken as a basis:

  1. Patients taking drugs and alcohol.
  2. Patients with non-clinical conditions.
  3. People with neurological pathologies.
  4. Individuals with other mental disorders and medical conditions.

As a result, it was possible to find out that auditory and visual hallucinations are symptoms not only of schizophrenia, schizotopic and schizoaffective disorder, but also of bipolar disorder, dissociative disorder, unipolar depression, bulimia nervosa, anorexia, post-traumatic stress disorder and split personality.

Other pathologies with a symptom of hallucinations

Doctors also noted that people with physiological diseases can see and hear what is not there. Thus, people with acquired deafness may experience auditory hallucinations, and patients whose vision has been severely impaired or whose optic nerves have been damaged suffer from visual hallucinations. This condition was given the name of the hallucinations of Charles Bonet. Among other pathologies of a non-mental nature, in which this symptom may develop, the following are found:

  • metabolic disorders;
  • pathologies of the thyroid gland;
  • acute lack of vitamins D and B12;
  • Hashimoto’s disease;
  • Pradera-Valli syndrome;
  • autoimmune diseases;
  • AIDS and HIV;
  • narcolepsy and other forms of sleep disorders;
  • dementia;
  • Parkinson’s disease.

Neurological diseases, such as tumors, epilepsy, vascular diseases, brain injuries, such as concussion, should also be included in this category.

What else is important to know?

Hallucinations, which are most often associated with schizophrenia, turn out to be no less common among other psychological pathologies. The study found that this symptom occurs in 95% of other mental disorders, while 85% was assigned to neurological diseases, 66% to drug and alcohol addictions, and 52% to non-clinical conditions.

Hallucinations in schizophrenics: how are they similar and how are they different from other mental disorders?

So, we can note the conclusions that if the disease is diagnosed at a young age, then it is likely that it will begin to develop immediately — from childhood or adolescence. And if the disease begins development with acute psychosis, then the symptoms will develop for several more weeks or even months. Therefore, it is very important to diagnose the disease in a timely manner and, of course, send the person for rehabilitation to the appropriate clinic.

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