Hallucinations are false, distorted sensory experiences that appear to be real perceptions. English word"hallucination" comes from the Latin verb hallucinari, which means "to wander in the mind." This emotional experiences, which are generated by the mind, and not by any external stimuli. They are olfactory, visual, auditory and tactile.
It is important to distinguish between hallucinations and illusions (delusions), the terms are often confused in popular journalism. Hallucination is a distortion of sensory perception that is perceived as reality. For example, older people often have visions of dead loved ones. An illusion is an erroneous or false interpretation of real events. For example, a traveler in the desert sees a pool of water, but in fact, this is just a mirage caused by the refraction of light as it passes through layers of air of different densities. The bluish color is a real sensory stimulus, and the perception of it as water is an illusion.
A delusion is a false belief that a person maintains despite evidence to the contrary. For example, some claim that they saw unidentified flying objects, although these could be ordinary airplanes, weather balloons, or satellites.
Symptoms of hallucinations
It is difficult to describe “typical” hallucinations, as they vary in duration, quality, and how patients experience them. Some visions last only a few seconds. However, some patients with Charles Bonnet syndrome experienced visual hallucinations a few days. In people taking psychotropic drugs, they lasted several hours.
There is not always a connection between cause and emotional response. Only 13% of patients rate them as pleasant, and 30% find them terrible. Most patients with narcolepsy, alcoholic hallucinosis, or post-traumatic disorders talk about unpleasant, frightening hallucinations.
They occur after emotional stress, stress, medications, severe fatigue or mental illness, during periods of consciousness. Appear as visions, sounds, voices, tactile sensations, smells, sounds. Patients suffering from dementia and schizophrenia experience fear of hallucinations. Visions are possible healthy people after nervous overload, fatigue or caused intentionally by taking drugs, meditation.
Statistics
Many researchers believe that statistics are underestimated for several reasons:
- Fear of being branded “crazy”;
- Some types, mainly in the elderly, have not been sufficiently studied;
- Many people are afraid to admit to taking drugs.
Based on a few studies (13 thousand adults surveyed) in 2000, the following statistics are known:
- 6% of adults experience once a month, 2% - once a week;
- 27% experience hallucinations during the day;
- 3% experience tactile hallucinations, 3% visual, 0.6% auditory. Tactile, associated with drug use.
There is no evidence that hallucinations occur more frequently in certain ethnic groups and are not associated with gender. Demographic characteristics the following:
- The child has. Hallucinations occur in children under eight years of age. About 40% have schizophrenia (all types), the child has visual or auditory predominance;
- Eye diseases – 14% of patients receiving medications for glaucoma or age-related macular degeneration experienced distinct vision vision;
- Alzheimer's disease - in 40% in the later stages;
- Addiction. Among schoolchildren and students, hallucinogens are the third most consumed drug (after marijuana and alcohol). Most high level in the Caucasus, in men aged 18-25 years;
- In healthy people, they occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep or vice versa. This condition is not considered pathological;
- Migraine. 10% of patients experience visual visions before the onset of an attack;
- Epilepsy. 80% of sufferers experience visual, olfactory, and auditory disturbances before an attack;
- Post-traumatic – after traumatic injuries, 60% experience auditory injuries.
Auditory disorders can be in the form of individual sounds or verbal - commenting, threatening, ordering. The patient listens, unable to resist. Sometimes they end in criminal acts or suicide.
Visual are the second most common, after speech. They can be elementary (flashes, smoke) or objective: visions of animals, imaginary characters, devils, landscapes, internal organs. Vision of plot scenes, duality of objects. Highlight:
- Microscopic – objects and people of reduced size;
- Macroscopic – gigantic visions;
- Autoscopic – observation of one’s double;
- Adelomorphic - distortion of the shape and color of objects;
- Charles Bonnet - true distortions due to damage to the auditory or visual analyzer.
Olfactory – sensation unpleasant odors(smell of a corpse), which do not exist. Accompanied by organic brain damage. Often appear together with taste.
Tactile - sensation on the body of insects, liquids, internal crawling of animals or insects. Occurs with lead poisoning, delirium, schizophrenia. These include the symptom " foreign body“- sensation of a thread, wire in the mouth or other organs.
Kinesthetic - movement, against the will, of individual parts of the body.
With infectious, inflammatory lesions of the brain, hallucinosis occurs - olfactory, visual visions combined with delirium against the background of clear consciousness.
There is atherosclerotic hallucinosis in the elderly, which is accompanied by dementia, memory loss, and apathy. Perceptions relate to everyday problems and objects. More common in women.
A child’s visions are associated with knowledge of the world around him. For young children, this process of getting to know reality is considered normal. Such conditions are still being studied.
Causes of hallucinations
Various reasons are offered for explanation, but none are common to all groups of patients. Common reasons:
- Drugs. Hallucinogens – ecstasy, mushrooms, LSD. Other drugs, like marijuana, have hallucinatory effects. Withdrawal of these drugs can cause visual and tactile visions, just like in alcoholics - delirium tremens. Some teenagers know how to induce hallucinations by inhaling solvents, acetone or individual species glue.
- Stress. Severe and prolonged stress leads to impaired consciousness.
- Insomnia and/or exhaustion. Physical and emotional exhaustion blurs the line between sleep and wakefulness.
- Meditation and/or sensory deprivation. The brain compensates for the lack of external stimulation with memories of the subject. This species occurs in blind and deaf people.
- Electrical or neurochemical brain activity. Sensory sensations, an aura, appear before a migraine attack. Olfactory and tactile auras warn of the onset of an epileptic attack.
- Various types of mental illnesses, of which 70% suffer from schizophrenia.
- Injuries and inflammations of the brain due to impaired brain function.
Diagnostics
Differential diagnosis can be difficult, but anamnesis helps the doctor narrow down the list possible diagnoses. If the patient is brought to the hospital unconscious, the accompanying persons can provide the necessary information. Before a psychiatric examination, it is necessary to perform a medical examination, which includes:
- Lab tests;
- X-ray examination;
- Neurological examination.
If there is a suspicion that the person is suffering from dementia, mental disorders or he is delirious, the doctor conducts standard assessment mental state. It is based on the following features:
- Patient's appearance;
- Cognitive, speech skills;
- Content of thinking;
The scale assesses the condition: delirium, dementia, schizophrenia, severe depression. In elderly patients medical examination includes specialized psychiatric consultation as well as routine vision and hearing screening.
Treatment of hallucinations
Hallucinations are a manifestation of the underlying disease. Depending on this, treatment consists of anticonvulsants, antidepressants, psychotropic drugs, neurosurgical and otolaryngological methods, as well as drug addiction therapy. Visions associated with normal sleep and wakefulness are not subject to specialized treatment.
Psychiatric patients should be treated by a psychiatrist. Psychotropic drugs are prescribed: tizercin, haloperidol, relanium. Single, transient episodes can be attributed to short-term factors: sleep disturbance, overwork, meditation. You can do without treatment.
However, if general state cannot recover on his own, he needs to consult a therapist or psychologist. It is necessary to determine the cause and create a treatment plan.
Forecast
Usually chronic visions caused by schizophrenia or other mental illness, can be controlled with medication. If the visions do not disappear, the patient should be taught the correct attitude towards them. Disorders associated with lack of sleep or severe stress cease after the cause is eliminated.
According to statistics from scientists, one fifth children Eleven to thirteen years old suffer from hallucinations, usually auditory ones. hallucinations It turned out that modern children can hear not only sounds, but also voices.
Today we will talk about what to do if your baby is hallucinating, and what danger this phenomenon.
Hallucinations are vivid images and sounds that appear randomly. In fact, they do not exist - they are just figment of the imagination those people who see or hear them.
Are hallucinations dangerous?
Young children may experience hallucinations due to poisoning body, with an increase in body temperature and with mental disorders. In this case, hallucinations stop immediately as soon as state the baby is stabilizing.
They can also appear in healthy babies during the period of reaching biological maturity. This is primarily due to the change hormonal levels body. Experts are confident that hallucinations caused by this reason will go away on their own over time, without causing any harm health child.
Parents must remember that if the baby complains of extraneous sounds or visions, this may indicate serious violations in psyche baby, so you need to immediately seek help from a specialist. According to scientists, such hallucinations may be a consequence of the development of a certain illnesses or even genetic predisposition crumbs to mental illness.
What should parents do to help their baby?
You should not panic, because the child is looking at the reaction of the parents. Talk to the baby and under no circumstances laugh at him problem;
Make an appointment for your child psychiatrist. It is this doctor who will determine the cause of hallucinations and prescribe the necessary therapy;
Reduce load on the psyche of the little ones: try to walk more, don’t allow them to watch TV for a long time. Monitor your sleep patterns;
Dedicate your all free time to kid, give him love and care;
Take time every day to creation: draw, sing, sculpt, dance. These activities allow you to relax and reduce stress, which can cause hallucinations.
Thank you
The site provides background information for informational purposes only. Diagnosis and treatment of diseases must be carried out under the supervision of a specialist. All drugs have contraindications. Consultation with a specialist is required!
Illusions– this is an inadequate perception of actually existing objects and events. In very young children, illusions are a variant of the physiological norm, since it is in this way that fantasy and some other functions of thinking are formed. Children early age They are not critical of what they come up with; they perceive reality through the prism of their fantasies and inventions. In this regard, a child with a fine nervous organization often has physiological illusions. These illusions can be quite unpleasant when they are combined with anxiety or fearfulness.
Hallucinations- these are spontaneously appearing, very colorful types of objects, events that do not really exist. Hallucinations in children are a sign of psychosis. However, they are absent in neuroses. In children, both illusions and hallucinations are characteristic of psychoses caused by intoxication of the body or infection, with high body temperature, in moments of clouding of consciousness, with schizophrenia. In children, such hallucinations are most often unclear in form and content and may vary.
According to data obtained by Dutch scientists, ten percent of schoolchildren in the first and second grades suffer from time to time auditory hallucinations. Fifteen percent of all are interfered with by these phenomena. The rest calmly tolerate the presence of “voices”; it does not bother them.
Nineteen percent of respondents said that such phenomena interfere with thinking. At the same time, hallucinations occur equally often in children of both sexes. But the girls felt anxious and afraid. Surprisingly, the appearance of hallucinations is more common among children living in villages. But urban children experience more severe violations.
According to other surveys, about sixteen percent of completely healthy adolescents and children suffer from auditory hallucinations from time to time. According to scientists, this phenomenon gradually disappears without special treatment. But, according to other scientists, the presence of “voices” may indicate a child’s predisposition to certain mental illnesses.
Before use, you should consult a specialist.Reviews
Children never deceive or invent, they have an open perception! They have not yet entered our illusory, unreal, advertising, money-based, artificial WORLD! You yourself overcame the fear of the dark.....or you just forgot something one day, switched your attention, your parents convinced you) you can’t forget fears, you need to overcome them yourself, face a childhood nightmare face to face, I’m afraid you’re the only one helpless, turn to God, for the strength to illuminate the darkness, otherwise one day it will be too late...........
The kids are all creative, just hang in there. My son is only three years old, and he’s already making up such stories that mom, don’t worry. And I can imagine what he will come up with in another two years. Therefore, if the child is mentally healthy, develops normally and everything is fine with him, then these hallucinations and inventions are nonsense. It's bad if fears begin. It's harder to fight fears. Mine, sometimes, begins to be afraid of all sorts of nonsense. Or maybe he's making this up too? I don't understand often.
Illusions- erroneous perception of really existing objects and phenomena of reality. In young children, illusions can be physiological, which is associated with the characteristics of the child’s imagination. A young child is characterized by a lack of criticism of the products of the imagination and a tendency toward an imaginative, fantastic perception of the surrounding reality. Therefore, an impressionable, easily excitable child may experience so-called physiological illusions. However, the combination of these illusions with fear takes on the character of painful phenomena.
Hallucinations- involuntarily arising, vivid, sensory images of objects and phenomena that are objectively absent in the perceived environment. Hallucinations are typical symptom psychoses and are not observed in neuroses. In children, hallucinations and illusions most often occur during infectious and intoxication psychoses, at the height of febrile states, during periods of fluctuations in clarity of consciousness, as well as in schizophrenia. In young children they are characterized by uncertainty, lack of delineation, and inconstancy.
Emotional (affective) disorders. Features of emotions children of the first 3 years of life determine the structure of emotional disorders in this age stage. Emerging in the 3rd year of life, transient reactions of protest, refusal, various shapes negativism, tearfulness, irritability, whims should not be regarded as pathological emotional disorders. Occurring sporadically and without disturbing the child’s contact with the surrounding reality, they carry physiological nature and are associated with the age phase of the child’s development.
One of the most common symptoms affective disorders in young children is night terror. The most typical occurrence of night terror is during the first age crisis (2-4 years). It manifests itself as a state of acute excitement, accompanied by screaming, crying, and vegetative reactions. The child is restless, has an expression of horror and fear on his face, he screams and often wakes up. The content of night fears in young children is usually little differentiated and more often comes from the plot of stories and fairy tales of others. A symptom of night terror may be a manifestation neurotic state in an impressionable, easily excitable child, as well as the initial manifestation of a mental (schizophrenia) or neurological (epilepsy) disease.
Features of fears in children is their tendency to generalize and relapse. The duration of night fears, the absence of complete awakening, the spread of night fears into the daytime, the gradual complication of their content, the presence of vegetative reactions (diffuse redness or pallor, sweating, rapid heartbeat, respiratory distress), as well as an obsessive nature, are unfavorable for the prognosis.
Along with typical night terrors Young children often have a fear of loneliness (the child is afraid to be alone) and a fear of the dark. They can also be observed in healthy but impressionable children; they often occur with congenital nervousness, as well as along with other symptoms characteristic of mental illness.
Emotional lability is common symptom affective disorders in young children. Emotional lability manifests itself in instability of mood with an unexpected easy transition from high to low - from laughter to tears and vice versa. The mood changes quickly, spasmodically and without external reason. Emotional lability is characteristic of cerebrasthenic conditions in children with damage to the central nervous system, and is also observed after somatic and infectious diseases.
With organic brain damage, epileptiform syndrome states of a melancholy-irritable nature with anger, indignation, and aggressiveness may develop. They often occur in paroxysms and are called dysphoria. In some cases, children experience complete indifference, indifference, and indifference. They are passive and spend most of their time in bed. This condition is called apathetic-abulic syndrome. It occurs most often with damage to the fronto-limbic parts of the brain and is observed in children with cerebral palsy, in some forms of oligophrenia and other diseases.
As soon as the baby is unwell, which manifests itself in the form of a rise in temperature, parents immediately seek to resort to the use of all available and possible means and ways. Typically, antipyretic drugs are used, which, at the same time as being beneficial, can cause significant harm to the baby’s body. Sometimes when high temperature a symptom such as the appearance of hallucinations in the baby is diagnosed. What does this mean, and whether it is possible to resort to the use of antipyretic drugs, we will find out further.
What should parents do if their baby has a high temperature?
Before resorting to help, parents must understand what a high body temperature is. This is a protective reaction of the body in response to various factors, which provide irritant effect. If a child’s temperature rises, this does not mean that the cause of this phenomenon is a disease. There are many reasons why a child's body temperature may rise. These include:
- teething;
- overheating of the body;
- hypothermia with subsequent development of the disease;
- removal of a tooth;
- recent vaccination;
- colds.
The main responsibilities of parents when it is discovered that their child’s temperature is rising is to measure it regularly. It is necessary to monitor the thermometer values, and if the mercury goes beyond 38 degrees, you will need to give the baby an antipyretic and also call ambulance. If the thermometer readings are up to 38 degrees, it is prohibited to give antipyretics, but you can bring down the temperature with the help of lotions.
Sometimes situations arise in which an increase in temperature is accompanied by the appearance of hallucinations in a child, as well as the development of seizures. In this case, even if the thermometer reading is below 38 degrees, you should also immediately give your baby antipyretics.
It is important to know! Delirium, hallucinations, convulsions - all this dangerous consequences developing disease that need to be removed immediately. If it is not possible to bring down the temperature with the help of antipyretics, you should not increase the dosage, you need to call an ambulance.
Reasons for the development of hallucinations in children
Hallucinations in children are a temporary clouding of consciousness, as a result of which the child hears extraneous sounds and sees objects that do not exist in reality. When hallucinations appear, the child can talk, which confirms his condition.
Hallucinations can occur both due to problems with the nervous system and when the temperature rises. Hallucinations at high temperatures are explained by the fact that clouding of consciousness occurs against the background of deteriorating health, weakness and aching muscles. With such symptoms, the baby’s mind, or more precisely, his nervous system, ceases to control consciousness, as a result of which the child becomes delirious.
It is important to know! Leaving a child alone in a state of delirium is strictly prohibited. This phenomenon is temporary, so when he comes to his senses, he may get severely frightened.
One of the most dangerous species Hallucinations in children are manifested at night. Usually in the evening there is an increase in temperature, as a result of which the appearance of hallucinations is possible, especially if the child has a tendency to experience them. During high temperatures, almost all children are at risk, especially if the thermometer shows over 39-40 degrees. When hallucinating, the child does not understand what is happening to him; in this state, he can simply rave, talk, scream, or pee.
It is important to know! The main cause of hallucinations in a child is elevated temperature up to 39 degrees is the presence of an ailment of a psychological nature.
If a child periodically shows signs of hallucinations, parents should take the child to the doctor and have him/her examined. full examination brain. Typically, children who tend to be delirious in their sleep without a fever have problems with school performance. To find out the exact causes of delirium in a child, you need to contact an experienced, qualified specialist. The study may require a brain scan. What should parents do if their child is delirious with a fever?
First of all, it is important to know that you should not try to bring him to his senses, since as a result of such actions the baby may get severely frightened. If he has high fever, it is necessary to apply lotions, but only in the absence of febrile convulsions. In case of severe fever, you need to give your child an antipyretic in the form of syrup or rectal suppositories. It is not recommended to give tablets in this condition, as he may choke.
The difference between illusions and hallucinations
Illusion differs from hallucinations in that it is an inadequate perception of the reality of existing objects and events. For small children, illusion is physiological norm, because on its basis fantasy and thinking develop.
A hallucination is a spontaneous manifestation of various objects and events that do not exist in reality. If a child has problems with hallucinations, this indicates a disorder of the nervous system and is a sign of psychosis. It is important to note that children with nervous system disorders may experience both hallucinations and illusions. This manifestation is especially relevant in case of infection of the body, increased body temperature, as well as schizophrenia.
To prevent the baby from developing hallucinations, it is necessary to mandatory Visit doctors regularly and undergo examinations. If there are complaints, doctors should be notified, which may require a more detailed examination.
Features of temperature reduction
Parents always need to remember that resorting to lowering the temperature should be done in exceptional cases. If a child is under 3 years old, then it is necessary to bring down the fever when the thermometer readings are above 38 degrees, and over 3 years old - when the readings are above 38.5-39 degrees. To reduce extreme heat, it is recommended to initially resort to the use of traditional methods. To reduce extreme fever, the following procedures are available:
- Rubbing. Small children can be wiped with a damp cloth soaked in warm water. In this case, lotions should be applied to the forehead and limbs. If such actions cause discomfort to the baby, you should not continue the actions. For older children, you can use rubdowns using vinegar or vodka lotions. First you need to prepare a solution in which the fabric will be wetted and applied to the body. The temperature will drop quite quickly, but will also rise just as quickly if the procedures are stopped.
- Application medications. If rubbing does not have the desired effect, the child should be given an antipyretic. To do this, you can use medications, such as in the form of suppositories. rectal use, and in the form of syrup or suspension. If the high fever continues to rise, then you cannot hesitate, you must immediately call an ambulance.
What actions are prohibited at high temperatures?
If your baby has a fever, you should not overheat him. This is the first serious mistake that parents make. The child needs to provide an influx fresh air, as well as optimal temperature conditions. Don’t forget to keep your baby hydrated, since even with a slight increase in the thermometer readings, fluid in the body evaporates. Dehydration is one of the hazardous phenomena, which may cause harm internal organs and even death.
