This article examines the incidence and causes of hallucinations, as well as detailing the different types of hallucinations. It also describes the nurse's role when caring for a patient who is experiencing hallucinations.

Previous studies suggest that paranormal beliefs, cognitive processes, and psychotic-like experiences are correlated. To further explore this connection, research was conducted to examine whether beliefs were correlated with, or predicted by executive functioning, metacognition, delusions, hallucinations. A convenience sample of 180 people completed five measures- evaluating functioning deficit...

Command hallucinations are auditory hallucinations that instruct a patient to act in specific ways; these commands can range in seriousness from innocuous to life-threatening. This article summarizes two areas of research regarding command hallucinations: rates of compliance with command hallucinations; and factors associated with compliance. Researchers have reported rates of compliance rangin...

Insomnia is common in people experiencing psychosis. It has been identified as a contributory cause of paranoia, but any causal relationship with hallucinations has yet to be established. We tested the hypotheses that insomnia i) has a cross-sectional association with hallucinations ii) predicts new inceptions of hallucinations and iii) that these associations remain after controlling for depre...

OBJECTIVE To examine the hypothesis that the "natural" combination of delusions and hallucinations in psychotic disorders in fact represents a selection of early subclinical hallucinatory experiences associated with delusional ideation, resulting in need for care and mental health service use. METHODS In the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology study, a prospective, 10-year follow-up...

Sir: Emslie et al. recently reported results of 2 controlled studies of venlafaxine in children and adolescents. In one study, 2 of 169 subjects experienced hallucinations as an adverse event. In the other study, 1 of 86 patients experienced hallucinations. The nature of these hallucinations was not specified in either article. The adult literature describes antidepressants with serotonin reupt...

OBJECTIVE To assess hallucinations in Parkinson's disease (PD), we developed a novel practical rating scale that evaluates five items including variety, frequency, and severity of hallucinations, caregiver burden levels, and psychiatric status at nighttime. METHODS Forty-one PD patients and their caregivers were examined regarding the status of the hallucinations associated with PD. RESULTS...

Hallucinations have been described in various clinical populations, but they are neither disorder nor disease specific. In schizophrenia patients, hallucinations are hallmark symptoms and auditory ones are described as the more frequent. In Parkinson's disease, the descriptions of hallucination modalities are sparse, but the hallucinations do tend to have less negative consequences. Our study a...

OBJECTIVE To study complex visual hallucinations in visually impaired individuals. METHODS A prospective comparative study involving structured history taking and cognitive assessment in 48 consecutive visually impaired individuals with best-corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or worse and an age-matched cohort of 48 consecutive patients with visual acuity of 20/40 or better in at least 1 eye. ...

AIM Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are characteristic symptoms of narcolepsy, as are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and sleep paralysis. Narcolepsy patients may also experience daytime hallucinations unrelated to sleep-wake transitions. The effect of medication on hallucinations is of interest since treatment of narcolepsy may provoke psychotic symptoms. We aim to analyze t...