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Originally Posted by PurpleFlyingMonkeys
Please feel free to move/delete/edit this posting if it doesn't belong here. I am posting here because hallucinations can fall under many different diagnosis terms...
My questions is what exactly defines a hallucination? For instance... I myself have different varieties (I believe) of hallucinations. I have seen things and felt things that I know are not real. I have felt a spider crawl on me and felt and saw it bite me and watched it and touched it to see if it was real. It felt like it was there but I knew I was hallucinating. The spider eventually disappeared. I've seen large buffalo get hit by cars, things like that. Situations and visuals like these have happened numerous times during high stress.
What about the times where... Walls breath, you can see the ground shift, you are in a small room and you feel like it's moving under you like you're in a storm on a boat?
Or even less obvious as these.. Where you see things out the corner of your eye... You think you hear muffled noises all the time... Like when you leave the building and think you hear the phone ringing as you step out, when you open the door the phone isn't ringing... I go on cig breaks at work and every cig break I open the door 5-15 times to listen because I think I hear the phone...
So what is the difference? Are they all hallucinations? Is there a spectrum of hallucinations like there is dissociation? It's rather confusing when you always have experiences with the hallucinations listed directly above but only occassional experiences with the first description... Sorry if I'm making no sense, it doesn't make sense to me either lol! Thanks for any replies!!!
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purpleflyingmonkeys - everything you wrote about in general can be a hallucination or a mental disorder problem or a physical health problem or even a medication problem and for some people if they have used drugs or alcohol they can be side effects from past or present usage.
the only way to know for sure which they fall under is by the person having these problems is their contacting their treatment providers. treatment providers can take into consideration the persons health history and other information about the person coupled with diagnostic tests, then when all is said and done tell the person which they are experiencing - hallucinations, health (physical or mental or both) or anything else it may be.
in me those things you wrote about were part of my having -
bipolar disorder
seasonal depression
DID
medication reactions
A kind hearted friend spiking my drink at a party
Anxiety
not eating correctly on my busy days
not getting enough fluids while traveling
sleep deprivation when I have to man the phones for a week at a time
only a treatment professional can diagnose people. but in general a hallucination is anything thats not a reality. it can be a smell, something you taste, some people can even see their hallucinations and hear them and I have a schizophrenic who says he can hold, touch, converse with his hallucinated alter ego. who am I to say he cant right, All I know is that when his medication is working he doesnt have hallucinations.
by reading your past posts these can be just about anything in you and you know me I dont go around diagnosing online, I give you my standard suggestion -
you may want to consider contacting your treatment providers. they can talk with you and do some tests that will tell you what the problems are called in you.
