The 17 types of hallucinations (and their main characteristics)

When we think of hallucinations, a person who is going through an episode of mental disturbance caused by trauma, hallucinogens, or illness psychological. But did you know that we can experience a certain degree of hallucination at any time? Everything will depend on the psychological impact that an event has on us.

Of course, most people who suffer from hallucinations are due to having some type of mental illness, among the most common we can highlight: schizophrenia, depressions, anxieties, fears or psychotic episodes. However, the fatigue that we subject our brain to with the demands of daily life, can lead us on a very similar path in terms of generating hallucinations.

This is because there are different types of hallucinations that have their own characteristics and that you will be able to know below in this article.

What are hallucinations?

It is a subjective sensory representation that can only be experienced by the person who suffers them and lives it as a realistic experience, even though there is no apparent external stimulus or reason causing the appearance of these. However, this does not prevent the person experiencing these hallucinations from perceiving them as any other element. from the outside, since it does so with the same receptor channels for common stimuli that we can all distinguish.

This sensory alteration was conceptualized for the first time in 1830 under the term ‘perception without object’ by the French psychiatrist, Jean Étienne Dominique Esquirol, also known for founding the ‘maison de santé’ or psychiatrists.

Today we know that it is not necessary to suffer from some kind of mental disorder to have some hallucination and also that they not only manifest visually or audibly (as present in most cases), but can be seen in all senses and demonstrations. Thus it is important to know how to recognize when one of these hallucinations is expected and when it is necessary to go to a psychological specialist.

Why do hallucinations originate?

There are several reasons why people often have hallucinations, usually related to a brain alteration or affection, which generate the activation of certain e and the overexcitation of the synapse neuronal. This phenomenon can have different causes and origins, such as the following.

1. Mental disorders

It is the most common cause of the origin of hallucinations, since these present a disturbance or disfigurement of the correct neuronal functionality of the brain and its parts. It is more evident in the diseases of schizophrenia, dementia, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, depression and degenerative diseases.

2. Brain injuries

These can be due to a fetal malformation, birth problems, genetic or organic diseases such as cancer, tumors or epilepsies. Which affect the lobes of the brain or its main structures.

3. Consumption of drugs

Drugs have hallucinogenic effects thanks to their psychoactive components, which allow the person to experience all kinds of sensations.

4. Excessive stress

When we subject our body to a quantity of stress excessive, we deprive him of having adequate rest, which can cause hallucinations as a sign of his exhaustion, since we are in constant tension, anxiety and worry.

Types of hallucinations and their characteristics

Below you will learn about the different types of hallucinations that can be present in the daily lives of the affected people

1. According to the degree of complexity

In these, hallucinations are measured by their severity and perceptual intensity.

1.1. Simple hallucinations

Also known as elemental hallucinations, they are the most common and mild of hallucinations and occur on different occasions. General noises, hissing, buzzing, glare, glare, spots, or blurring of vision (also called photopsies) are treated.

1.2. Complex hallucinations

These are more serious hallucinations, since they are more formed or scenic representations. Such as figures, shapes, music, voices, of tangible sensation, for what they experience as part of the objects of reality.

2. According to its sensory modality

These are the best known types of hallucinations, as they are experienced through the senses.

2.1. Visual hallucinations

This, together with the auditory one, are the most common types of hallucinations. In this type of hallucination, the person can see things that are not in the environment, from ways without sense or lights, even people, entities, objects and himself as if he were outside his body (autoscopy).

2.2. Auditory hallucinations

As we mentioned before, they are another of the most common and can be presented with a reassuring content or a threatening (which occurs in most cases) although this usually manifests itself more commonly in people with schizophrenia. They are experienced in different ways:

• In the form of threats or orders to harm third parties

• As an 'internal voice' that directs the person

• Believe that others are talking about him

• As murmurs and whispers

• Like random words with no clear meaning

• As background noises (common sounds, buzzing, hissing, etc.)

2.3. Olfactory hallucinations

They are one of the least frequent and are usually a manifestation of the severity of a person's schizophrenic state or due to excessive drug use. In this, strong and unpleasant odors are experienced, along with migraines.

2.4. Taste hallucinations

They are also rare and are usually accompanied by the olfactory, in the same way, unpleasant flavors or any other type that are not present are experienced.

2.5. Haptic hallucinations

Known as tactile hallucinations and refer to skin sensations, that is, to sensations that they experience on their skin, body or within the internal organism. They can be of several types:

2.5.1 Passives

These are experienced when people feel that someone did something to their skin, such as touching, wetting, burning, etc.

2.5.2. Active

In this, it is the individual who feels that he is touching or grasping an object or being that is not in his environment.

2.5.3. Thermals

This type of hallucination causes the person to experience different degrees of body temperature that do not coincide with what is in the environment or that magnifies the real temperature of the same.

2.5.4. Paresthetics

During this hallucination, the person may feel a kind of subtle or intense tingling run through their skin. This type of hallucination is more common in people who use drugs or have other psychotic disorders.

2.3. Somatic hallucinations

In this, body sensations appear that can be mild or more extreme, such as feeling that a muscle is numb or that there is paralysis. But sensations of petrification, tearing, twisting, or dissection are also often experienced.

2.4. Kinesic hallucinations

Also called as kinesthetic hallucinations, it is related to the movement of one's own body, so the person can feel that he is moving, levitating or moving without having any control.

3. According to its etiology

These hallucinations are determined according to how they appear in the person experiencing them.

3.1. Physiological hallucinations

They are related to corporal mirages, that is, unusual images or noises are experienced depending on the physical condition that the person has at that moment. These usually occur when the body is under extreme stress or position (such as dehydration, disorientation, lack of oxygen or water).

3.2. Functional hallucinations

These hallucinations occur when a factor triggers a stimulus similar to your sensory range. That is, for example, that a visual element can trigger the hallucination of a related vision or, when you touch someone's skin, you feel that his own hand burns.

3.3. Organic hallucinations

These hallucinations are caused by some brain somatic disease, which is causing the alteration of the synapse (tumors, epilepsies or degenerative diseases).

3.4. Reflex hallucinations

It is similar to functional hallucinations, except that on this occasion, the triggering stimulus and the generated hallucination do not have the same sensory field. For example, seeing a piece of furniture and believing that a melody is coming out of it.

3.5. Environmental hallucinations

This type of hallucinations are manifested in people who have an overload or a lack of stimulation sensory, because they are exposed to overwhelming elements or on the contrary, they are in isolation total.

3.6. Negative hallucinations

In this type of hallucination, the person believes that an object that is present in her environment (which can be tangible, verifiable and observable) does not really exist, since she is not able to perceive it.

3.7. Extracampine hallucinations

The perception here is altered at the level of the field of vision, so the person may believe that everything is out of the reach of her since she cannot determine where the object really is.

3.8. Dream hallucinations

These are the most common among people who do not have any cognitive impairment, who do not use drugs or have some type of disease. They are given before sleep or before waking up.

3.8.1. Hypnagogic

These are the ones that manifest themselves between the waking-sleep stage, that is, before we fall asleep completely and can be visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

3.8.2. Hypnopomical

These hallucinations (visual, kinesic and auditory) manifest before waking up, so it is related to what we also know as 'sleep paralysis'.

Have you had some kind of hallucination?