Definition of Hallucination
Hallucination is a perception of the mind in the conscious state of a person without an external stimulus. In common terms, the mind visualizes a situation or an object even though the object does not exist. This type of perception of the mind can be compared to dreams but the only difference between the two is that dreams occur when one’s mind is at rest and sleeping. However hallucination occurs when a person is awake. Another difference is that hallucinations can affect any of the sensory modalities like vision, sound, tactile, thermoceptive, olfactory and gustatory.
Hallucination is classified generally into two vast types. The first type is called as Hypnagogic hallucination and the second one is called the Hypnopompic hallucination. The first type which is called the hypnagogic hallucination occurs during the transitional state between sleep and wakefulness. It also refers to the onset of sleep and waking up. The second type which is known as Hynopompic hallucination is the stage where a person leads out of sleep and wakes up. Though both the hallucinations are twins and have a relationship, they are not the same and not to be confused with each other. Some of the other types of hallucinations include auditory hallucination, olfactory hallucination, tactile hallucinations and many more.
The auditory hallucination is also known as Paracusia, is the one in which a person has imaginary notions of hearing to a particular or different voices. It is more associated with other mental disorders like mania or schizophrenia. Other auditory hallucinations include musical ear syndrome and exploding head syndrome. These hallucinations are mainly caused by the lesions, tumors and several other reasons like hearing loss and epileptic activities. These hallucinations are confined only with sound and do not indicate other signs of mental disorder or illness.
The olfactory hallucination is the hallucination of smells that are not present. This hallucination is called Phantosmia. It is a disorder of smelling odors that do not exist. It is mainly due to the damage of tissues in the nerves present in the olfactory system. It can also be caused by toxins, infection, brain tumor or drugs.
These are just some of the hallucinations that affect a person. Hallucinations can affect a person’s daily routine and his mental presence at a place. There are several stages for hallucination. The first stage is where a person has sudden thoughts of images or forgotten memories. The second stage starts when a person begins to make frequent checks on reality. The third stage marks its presence when a person starts to feel hallucinations as real. The pen ultimate stage occurs when the hallucinations distort the real thoughts and take over the person. The last stage is the most violent one where all the perceptions of a person are destroyed.
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Works Cited