Auditory Hallucinations Essay

590 Words2 Pages

Auditory and visual hallucinations have been occuring on and off in Ms.M’s life long before the diagnosis of schizophrenia was being made. The characteristics of the images that she described remain the same (eg. Shadow-like, human figures, moving, etc) throughout the years. However, she said that she has not been hearing voices for 2 years. It seems like the treatments she received neither lessen nor worsen her visual hallucinations but improve her auditory hallucinations. In fact, it remains doubtful regarding to the improvement in her auditory hallucinations because she was still noted talking and laughing to herself prior to this current admission. She might be actually still hearing voices and was trying to converse with the voices. …show more content…

First, irritation of the primary visual cortex and visual association cortices. (Teeple 2009) This eventually makes the visual intergration system of the brain goes haywired. One of the common examples regarding to such irritation is seizure activity, where spontaneous and synchronised impulses are fired.
The second mechanism is regarding to the pathological lesion of the visual system. Literatures highlight deafferentation as one of the common lesions seen in patient with visual hallucination regardless of the etiology. Molecular changes that occur during deafferentation leads to a hypersensitive state of the neurons and subsequently the cortical releases phenomonon. This is suggested to be rather similar to the phantom limb pain experienced by the post-amputation patient. (Burke 2002)
On the other hand, lesion occuring outside the visual system have also been implicated in the role of generating visual hallucinations. One of them is the lesion in the reticular activating system (RAS). Working together with neurohormonal system, RAS acts as a facilitory system which receives and relay informations from the sensory organs to regulate the various state of conciousness . Therefore, any injury or lesion in the brianstem (eg. Peduncular hallucinosis) might be able to lead to visual hallucinations. (Cogan

Show More
Related

  • Movie Review: Drop Dead Fred

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    5). While Schizophrenia has been most commonly treated with the use of anti-psychotic medications for decades, cognitive therapy provides an alternative and cognitive psychologist would undoubtedly disagree with Elizabeth’s mother’s decision to medicate her. The way a cognitive psychologist would treat Elizabeth is by the use of therapy and encouraging her to talk about her behaviors and problems as they do not believe that Schizophrenia “is a biological illness that one either has or does not have” (Freeman, 2014, para. 7) and instead the symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions simply represent the patient’s thoughts and feelings (Freeman, 2014). For example, “an individual troubled by hearing voices will be helped to understand what’s triggering these voices, and to develop a more confident, empowering relationship with them” (Freeman, 2014, para.

    Read More

  • The Complexity of Arnold-Chiari Malformation

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    may also be affected in deleterious ways. They can have blurred vision, decreased sensation of limbs, unable to locate them without looking, decreased sense of taste, ringing of the ears etc. 2. What is the difference between a '' and a ''? Two ideas about the nervous system that can be better understood from these observations are the concepts of having and locating the I-function. It seems that the I-function here is very often affected in terms of voluntary movement.

    Read More

  • Case Study of Gerald: Living with Schizophrenia

    2528 Words  | 6 Pages

    My patient Gerald –according to the video- is diagnosed with a textbook case schizophrenia. He exhibits paranoid thinking and his speech is disorganized, his thoughts are loosely connected, and he has formed delusions, he exhibits mood disturbances, and exhibits disordered behaviors (Schizophrenia: Gerald, Part 1). The goal for Gerald is multi-factorial; first, it is important to place into context that Gerald’s schizophrenia is refractory to pharmacological management. Due to Gerald’s complex presentation of multiple symptoms, the goal for the interaction is improved m...

    Read More

  • Hemineglect

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hemineglect does not just present itself visually, but also through other senses such as motor neglect, auditory neglect, representational neglect and also personal neglect (Plummer, Morris, & Dunai, 2003). Hemineglect is not a result of sensory disorder. It is not uncommon to receive left hemisphere lesions or trauma and gain hemisphere remission. It does seem however that it is easier to treat and rehabilitate patients to a full recovery if this damage has occurred, compared to right hemisphere damage. Hemineglect is present when there is damage to the dorsal/ visual pathway in the brain which leads from the occipital lobe of the brain to the parietal lobe.

    Read More

  • Schizophrenia and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    The characteristic symptoms start between the age of 18 and 30. Symptoms include hallucinations and/or delusions. Hallucinations can have various modes. Auditory hallucinations are the most common. These may involve hearing a voice or voices talking to each other and/or to the patient. Visual hallucinations are less common and involve the patient believing they see an object that is not present. Tactile hallucinations are the least common and involve the patient thinking that someone or something is touching them (Nienhuis).

    Read More

  • Phantoms in the Brain

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...f extremely specific case studies how the brain is flexible, has a perceived self image, goes to great lengths to preserve this self-image, and is even willing to fool itself in order to do so. Phantom limbs are presented as the brain’s confabulation mechanism to deny the destruction of a part of the body’s self-image combined with neural remapping that allows the brain to perceive sensation when there is none – a key part of the self-deception mechanism. When the body is damaged, this self-deception occurs so that the brain does not have to entirely alter its existing structure, and the pain felt by phantom limb patients is one of the brain’s mechanisms for deceiving itself. Since pain is fabricated by the brain, fabricating it in conjunction with subconscious psychological denial of the truth of the situation is what, in the end, causes phantom limb sensations.

    Read More

  • Macbeth and His Mental Deterioration

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    Visual Hallucinations: Differential Diagnosis and Treatment. N. p. : Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., 2009. PDF. The. Patrick, Christopher J., Don C. Fowles, and Robert F. Krueger. "

    Read More

  • Essay On Synesthesia

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being a psychology student, one learns many amazing things that can happen to people. One of them includes synesthesia. Synesthesia is a natural occurrence where a person experiences multiple senses at one time. For example, somebody with synesthesia may see a color when somebody is talking to them. Another example is when they touch something, they also experience smell. This happens without the person trying at all. One of the most popular types of synesthesia is Grapheme. This means that people see letters and numbers in colors automatically without any effort. Most people with synesthesia experience it their whole life, so what implications does it have on synesthetes childhood, especially when being and school with other children who are considered typical students? We will look at several studies that have observed children with synesthesia and their experiences in the education system.

    Read More

  • Causes Of Synesthesia

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bargary and Mitchell (2008) presented a review of the anatomical origins of synesthesia that considered possible molecular mechanisms for structural differences between synesthetic and non-synesthetic brains. They concluded that these structural differences are the primary cause of developmental synesthesia. But researchers by the name of Kadosh and Walsh (2008) challenge that conclusion by stating the study done by Bargary and Mitchell only shows the correlation between anatomy and synesthesia, but does not establish a casual relationship. They hypothesis that cortical disinhibition could be the primary cause of synesthesia. They stated that molecular mechanisms might affect the level of inhibition in synesthesia during early development stages. Developmentally speaking, these molecular differences can also lead to a lack of relative neuronal specialization during sensitive periods. Electroencephalography studies found that compared to non-synesthetes, synesthetes who see color when hearing tones or spoken utterences (hearing-color synesthesia) showed differences in auditory-event related potentials in response to letters, words, pseudo-words or tones (Bargary & Mitchell, 2008). The differences evoked potentials as early as 100 ms after stimulation

    Read More

  • “Psychosis and delusional states and their relationship with normal anomalous experiences”

    1905 Words  | 4 Pages

    Delusion and hallucination in their different forms are the major symptom of psychotic disorders. There is a growing evidence however that these symptoms are not exclusively pathological in nature. The evidences show that both delusion and hallucination occur in a variety of forms in the general population. This paper presents and analyzes the relationship between the above major psychotic symptoms with normal anomalous experiences that resembles these symptoms in the normal population.

    Read More

  • The Censor David Lewis Analysis

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his essay “Veridical Hallucination and Prosthetic Vision” David Lewis demonstrates through a vignette called “The Censor” why a suitable pattern of counterfactual dependence is required to for a subject to experience ‘genuine sight’. A subject’s experience of a scene has counterfactual dependence if, and only if, the subject is capable of distinguishing the scene from possible alternative scenes. If the scene were different, the subject would have a different experience. Thus, the subject’s particular experience is dependant on the particular scene being for the eyes. If the subject would be unable to distinguish the scene from possible alternative scenes, then according to Lewis, even if all other requirements for genuine sight are fulfilled (such as a standard casual process, rich

    Read More

  • Peyote Information

    1885 Words  | 4 Pages

    “… There is a feeling of strange intoxication and shifting consciousness with minor perceptual changes. There may also be strong physical effects, including respiratory pressure, muscle tension (especially face and neck muscles), and queasiness or possible nausea… After this the state of altered consciousness begins to manifest itself…..among the possible occurences are feelings of inner tranquility, oneness with life, heightened awareness, and rapid thought flow…these effects will deepen and become more visual. Colors may become more intense. Halos and auras may appear about things. Objects

    Read More

  • Black Swan Psychology

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    (Sacks, 2012) The person experiencing them is convinced that what they are seeing or smelling is real, and become very confused as to what is reality and what is not. These most commonly occur in people who suffer from a mental illness such as schizophrenia or various types of psychotic disorders. In this article the author discusses how hallucinations are becoming more common amongst people today, and the different scenarios where they are more present. Hallucinations can occur when experiencing migraines, seizures, or even consuming too much of a particular medication. (Sacks, 2012)

    Read More

  • John Nash, A Beautiful Mind

    1632 Words  | 4 Pages

    One common symptom is delusions, which are false beliefs that the person holds and that tend to remain fixed and unshakable even in the face of evidence that disproves the delusions (Cicarelli, p. 557). Other common symptoms include speech disturbances, in which people with schizophrenia make up words, repeat words or sentences persistently, string words together on the basis of sounds, and experience sudden interruptions in speech or thought. The thought patterns of those with schizophrenia are also significantly disturbed, as they have difficulty linking their thoughts together in logical ways (Cicarelli, p. 557). Individuals with schizophrenia may also experience hallucinations, in which they hear voices or see things or people who are not really there. Hearing voices and emotional disturbances are key symptoms in making a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

    Read More

  • Hallucinogenic Plants

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...es his "meditation". Before visions appear, there are flashes and disturbances in color, which are not explainable. The visions often follow a sequence from geometric figures to unfamiliar objects that vary with the individual.

    Read More

More about Auditory Hallucinations Essay

Open Document