Psychopathologies of the imagination: types, characteristics and symptoms

There are a series of mental disorders in which, with greater or lesser frequency, a series of symptoms can arise in a comorbid way that constitute some of the psychopathologies of the imagination. For example, it occurs with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, mood disorders, and some sensory impairments.

The psychopathologies of the imagination are a series of "perceptual deceptions" in which a person perceives a series of images in his mind that are not actually physically present, so those perceptions are not real, but are the product of his imagination; although the person experiences the perception of those images as hers were real.

In the following lines we will see in greater detail What are the main psychopathologies of the imagination? and what are its characteristics.

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What are psychopathologies of the imagination?

The psychopathologies of the imagination, also known as "perceptual delusions", are a set of psychopathologies in which a person perceives a series of images that are products made in her mind, although she experiences them as if they were real

. Therefore, it is a perceptual interpretation, which has turned out to be misleading, of an image experienced cognitively in terms of sense-perception.

The explanation of a phenomenon as particular as that of the psychopathologies of the imagination could be because perception and imagination present the same norms within their process through the functioning of the human mind. In these cases, in addition, the sensory organs in charge of perception and imagination do not have any alteration that justifies this anomaly, so this may be a key feature in differentiating psychopathologies of imagination from distortions perceptual.

However, it should be noted that on some occasions the psychopathologies of the imagination could come to be caused by some alteration or dysfunction in the sensory organs for various reasons (p. For example, due to the voluntary or accidental ingestion of a toxic substance, due to brain dysfunction, among others).

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Types of psychopathologies of the imagination

In this section we will subdivide the psychopathologies of the imagination into two large categories: the first would be that of pseudoperceptions or anomalous images; and the second, that of hallucinations.

1. Abnormal images or pseudo-perceptions

In this subcategory of psychopathologies of the imagination will be included a group of abnormal mental images that can be mistaken for real perceptions, since its processing in the brain is quite similar to that of an authentic perception.

These images have one of the two characteristics mentioned below:

• The first is when they occur in the absence of stimuli that can activate or trigger them.
• The other is when they are activated or maintained without the stimulus that produced that image is no longer present.

1.1. Hallucionoid images

These types of images are produced in the mind of the subject in the absence of some concrete and real stimulus that can activate them, so that they are autonomous and subjective, although they have characteristics similar to those of a real image of the exterior that is perceived by the subject, making it difficult for him to differentiate them.

These images They normally occur in cases where the person suffers from some type of central nervous system condition, being generally very simple images and lacking any kind of emotional meaning (p. g., lights, flashes, etc.) or could also occur in an auditory modality (p. g., simple noises, isolated sounds, etc.). In these cases the person is aware that they are the product of her imagination.

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1.2. Hippopotamic and hypnagogic images

Both hypnopompic and hypnagogic images are one of the extremely common psychopathologies of the imagination among the general non-clinical population, since It is estimated that approximately 70% of the population has experienced them, so they are not usually part of a mental disorder that requires any type of treatment.

These anomalies were called in the first texts on the subject as "physiological hallucinations", because they occur around the sleep, that is, between sleep and wakefulness or vice versa, being moments in which people are in a state of semi-consciousness.

A hypnopompic image is made up of those images that the subject perceives in a brief period elapsed between a state of sleep and that of waking., being a type of pseudo-perception, since the images that the subject perceives are not really in front of him. People who experience hypnopompic images often think that it was a dream they experienced while they were sleeping.

On the other hand, a hypnagogic image is about those images perceived when a person is asleep, in a short temporary period of transit, which passes from wakefulness to sleep.

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1.3. Post-images or consecutive images

This type of psychopathology of the imagination is reflected in those images that are usually produced as a consequence of excessive sensory stimulation just before they are experienced by the subject.

Its great difference with eidetism is that the representation of these consecutive images or post-images could not be evoked after a time, while in eidetism it could. On the other hand, it is also common for these images to have opposite properties with respect to those of the original image.

1.4. Eidetic and mnestic images

In this case we are talking about images about memories of our past that are presented in our mind in a transformed way, and could have been produced based on personal wishes, being of a subjective nature and, in addition, the subject experiences it with a very low sharpness and vividness.

Eidetic images deal with a series of very particular amnesic images and can be considered as a type of sensory memory, consisting of mental representations identical, or almost, of some sensory impression that have remained as if they were fixed in the mind of the subject. Likewise, the subject can evoke them voluntarily or they could also enter his mind involuntarily.

1.5. Parasitic images

Its main difference from mnesic images is that parasites are involuntary and autonomous; Whereas from the consecutive images or post-images they come to be differentiated because the parasites are subjective, the person himself being aware that they have been a product of her mind.

However, they are similar to the others in that they have also occurred as a consequence of some stimulus that the subject has perceived but that is no longer present in the image, this characteristic being in turn a distinction with respect to illusions.

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2. Hallucinations

Now we go to the other large subgroup that we have classified within the psychopathologies of the imagination, hallucinations, the most characteristic disorders within this group of psychopathologies.

However, despite having an important diagnostic value, hallucinations do not always occur within a disorder mental, being able to appear in some occasions in healthy people at a mental level, but who are under stimulating conditions peculiar.

When a person experiences some kind of hallucination, He manages to give reality and body to images that his memory is remembering without being perceived at that time through the senses, so the hallucinations, in truth, are the fruit of your mind.

A hallucination is about a type of cognitive or mental representation that has characteristics similar to those of a perceived or imagined image, occurring if There is a stimulus that has triggered it or that can provoke its perception and, despite it, they have the same impact on a cognitive level as if they were perceived in a way real. On the other hand, a hallucination cannot be voluntarily controlled by the person experiencing it, so that it is considered to be intrusive.

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Characteristics of hallucinations

To better understand what one of the most relevant psychopathologies of the imagination consists of, such as hallucinations, we are going to briefly explain some of its most important characteristics.

The first is that hallucinations are about a group of images with a high degree of intensity, so the person considers that they have acquired a perceptual character, believing that they are actually perceiving on the outside, although in reality they are being created only in their imagination.

A second very relevant characteristic of hallucinations is that they deal with a rather sensory and non-perceptual phenomenon, as the subject who experiences them might come to believe.

The third characteristic that should be highlighted about hallucinations is that They have objective qualities, that is, they have a corporeity, and they also have specialty, so they appear in the space in front of the subject. According to Jaspers, hallucinations, in this sense, would be new perceptions, which have not been able to arise from real perceptions and that have been presented simultaneously to the real perceptions that are in front of the subject.

On the other hand, these characteristics raised have not been exempt from criticism by those who argue that When a patient hallucinates, he is able to distinguish easily between his hallucinatory experiences and his imagination. Another criticism in this regard states that it is a way of conceptualizing incomplete, inaccurate hallucinations, which can be contradictory.

There is a very relevant consideration regarding hallucinations on the part of Reed, among others. This researcher considers that the fundamental characteristic of hallucinations is that the hallucinating individual maintains a conviction of the reality of the experience, so the subject thinks that these hallucinations are real perceptions.

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Classification of hallucinations

There are three fundamental ways to classify hallucinations, these being the following.

According to its complexity, is the first of the modalities of classification of hallucinations, being able to divide them between elemental or complex hallucinations.

Another way to classify hallucinations is according to its contents, which may be in the following ways:

• Religious and / or cultural content.
• Wishes, fears, memories, experiences, etc.
• In relation to the content of some delusion or other psychopathology.
• In relation to very stressful or shocking special life situations.

The third classification of hallucinations would be according to their sensory modality, then being able to be visual, auditory, tactile, taste, olfactory, kinesthetic, etc.

On the other hand, there are a number of phenomenological variants of hallucinatory experiences that should be mention, these being the following: reflex, functional, negative hallucinations, autoscopies and hallucinations extracampinas.