Whenever I've not known what sights (especially in peripheral vision or shadowy areas) or sounds (often at a distance, in another room) are, my mind has always been quick to whip up an--usually creative--explanation. Wind becomes cheering crowds. Breeze in a tree becomes a string quartet. Sunlight & shadows become wolves approaching the house. You get the idea.

People always found this "quirk" delightful & said it was just a sign of the artist in me (I'm in theatre). Now of course I'm told they're probably hallucinations since my bipolar II dx nearly 3 yrs ago.

I don't know. These go back as far as I remember, way predating the depression which settled in by 15. I would check the strange events out when I got older & figure, when there were no crowds, no string quartets, that chances were I was imagining things. So am I really hallucinating?

Both pdoc & tdoc have explained the difference. I don't understand.

I've never heard voices telling me to do anything, violent or otherwise. While I've had a few unpleasant whatever-they-ares, I just haven't been willing to add yet another drug into the mix for what I don't consider a condition that requires managing. I'm not aware of my experience of this becoming any worse since childhood.

I hope you'll let us know how this goes & how you decide to deal with it. I must say, your "events" intrigue me. I want to know what they are too...so many possibilities in the theatrical realm that I'm fascinated on several levels!