[CopperStar]

I don't have schizophrenia, I have type 1 bipolar with psychotic features, although schizoaffective might be more fitting. I'm not going to get pushy with my new pdoc about diagnosis, though.

I hope this isn't super rude somehow, but I am extremely curious about what other people see when they have visual hallucinations.

Usually my psychosis only goes so far as to change the way real things look. Colors, textures, or suddenly the neighbor's house just looks huge. I'll be seeing real things but perceiving them differently.

However when I do get visual hallucinations, they are brief and just.. random as heck. The last time it happened I kept seeing geometric-looking ghost cats. It looked like they were fading in and out of another dimension or something. They weren't cute, scary, or anything at all. They didn't do any interacting. I would just suddenly see one sitting or lying somewhere, saw one go down the hallway and then disappear.

Just seems so random to me, maybe because psychosis is often to sensationalized in the media that I would have expected something like angels, demons, or just something that would seem more intense. But my brain produced.. cats.

Anyone comfortable enough and willing to share what sorts of things you see?

[justmeandmyhead]

Mine are random too. A few days ago I saw a ghost rat and butterfly, before I saw fish swimming in the air, I've seen it rain light, moons crash to the earth, demon figures. Just some examples.

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by justmeandmyhead

Mine are random too. A few days ago I saw a ghost rat and butterfly, before I saw fish swimming in the air, I've seen it rain light, moons crash to the earth, demon figures. Just some examples.

Thank you for replying. So I'm not the only one to see ghost animals.

[A18793715]

I feel cats rub against my leg that aren't there. Oddly, it happens a lot in my kitchen.

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[CopperStar]

Okay it's confirmed, even in the midst if psychosis, we all know cats are awesome.

[A18793715]

I wish I had a dog that would sleep with me. Hallucination or not.

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[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by A18793715

I wish I had a dog that would sleep with me. Hallucination or not.

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Yeah a chubby pug would be awesome. I also love German Shepherds but not enough space for one.

[MoonSunn]

I see faces, specially in textures like wood, clouds, trees, tiles.. I saw small objects that weren't there. Hmm. I see tracers behind vertical lines.. sometimes both horizontal and vertical. I see objects move or different hues on things.

Check this out, might help pinpointing what's going on

Disregard Everything I Say - The Visual Components of a Psychedelic Experience

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by MoonSunn

I see faces, specially in textures like wood, clouds, trees, tiles.. I saw small objects that weren't there. Hmm. I see tracers behind vertical lines.. sometimes both horizontal and vertical. I see objects move or different hues on things.

Check this out, might help pinpointing what's going on

Disregard Everything I Say - The Visual Components of a Psychedelic Experience

I get that, too, and it's freaky, because they move yet they don't move. The other night I was outside smoking cigarettes like usual, and I glanced over and the door mat was moving, like a few inches at a time in one direction, yet it never actually made any 'progress' as far as getting to a new location. But I was seeing it move. And it was the only thing moving. So it's freaky on two accounts because I swear I see it moving, yet logically I can conclude that it's not moving, and because my brain will have randomly picked one thing in the environment to be moving and nothing else.

This happened to me even when I was a little kid, though. Like the smoke detector on the hallway ceiling, would be moving towards my room for hours, completely freaking me out, and yet never actually getting to my bedroom.

[Secretum]

I see demons and people, usually. I had a period a few weeks ago when I saw giant spiders. Scary.

Usually they only last for a few seconds and then fade.

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by Secretum

I see demons and people, usually. I had a period a few weeks ago when I saw giant spiders. Scary.

Usually they only last for a few seconds and then fade.

That sounds awful. I wonder why some people have scary hallucinations vs not so scary? Is it the combination of anxiety and hallucinations at the time of the psychosis?

[MoonSunn]

Originally Posted by CopperStar

I get that, too, and it's freaky, because they move yet they don't move. The other night I was outside smoking cigarettes like usual, and I glanced over and the door mat was moving, like a few inches at a time in one direction, yet it never actually made any 'progress' as far as getting to a new location. But I was seeing it move. And it was the only thing moving. So it's freaky on two accounts because I swear I see it moving, yet logically I can conclude that it's not moving, and because my brain will have randomly picked one thing in the environment to be moving and nothing else.

This happened to me even when I was a little kid, though. Like the smoke detector on the hallway ceiling, would be moving towards my room for hours, completely freaking me out, and yet never actually getting to my bedroom.

Yesterday I was looking at a poster on the wall and there were 4 of it layered on top of another but each in other direction, like one 20cm to the right, one 20cm up.. Each was another shade of neon, like pink, yellow, green.. and everything together, the wall also, breathing.

Something similar happened a year ago, I was on some psychedelic and there was a poster of a music band.. I could see it waving, but also the faces of the band members.. one had one eye.. another's eyes were swapping..

I think the psychedelic and schizophrenic view have a lot in common.

''That sounds awful. I wonder why some people have scary hallucinations vs not so scary? Is it the combination of anxiety and hallucinations at the time of the psychosis? ''

My 5 cents.. I also take hallucinogens a lot and I used to think seeing spiders or other deemed 'unpleasant' things means a bad trip.. it doesn't. We gave it that etiquette (ok, spiders, natural danger).. it stopped scaring me and I don't think I'm having a bad trip seeing these things.. similarly, when I don't ingest anything and see things, I treat it the same way, so nothing is scary.

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by MoonSunn

Yesterday I was looking at a poster on the wall and there were 4 of it layered on top of another but each in other direction, like one 20cm to the right, one 20cm up.. Each was another shade of neon, like pink, yellow, green.. and everything together, the wall also, breathing.

Something similar happened a year ago, I was on some psychedelic and there was a poster of a music band.. I could see it waving, but also the faces of the band members.. one had one eye.. another's eyes were swapping..

I think the psychedelic and schizophrenic view have a lot in common.

''That sounds awful. I wonder why some people have scary hallucinations vs not so scary? Is it the combination of anxiety and hallucinations at the time of the psychosis? ''

My 5 cents.. I also take hallucinogens a lot and I used to think seeing spiders or other deemed 'unpleasant' things means a bad trip.. it doesn't. We gave it that etiquette (ok, spiders, natural danger).. it stopped scaring me and I don't think I'm having a bad trip seeing these things.. similarly, when I don't ingest anything and see things, I treat it the same way, so nothing is scary.

The notion of being able to decide how I am going to feel about something boggles my mind. It sounds like a super power haha.

[Yerfderf]

I agree with Moonsunn on the psychedelics helping to teach me that they're hallucinations and how to get out of a bad mindset. I used to see very religious things. pentagrams, angels and demons. Walls breathe, things appear to move, like what was already said.

I used to see shadow people that I would call "Observers" because they never interacted, they just watched me from a distance. All sizes, some stories tall.

I also have a rainbow static over my vision at most times. I had a hand on my left shoulder for about 6 years until I found the right medications. I don't condone anyone, especially people with mental illness, to use psychedelics.

[CopperStar]

Originally Posted by Yerfderf

I agree with Moonsunn on the psychedelics helping to teach me that they're hallucinations and how to get out of a bad mindset. I used to see very religious things. pentagrams, angels and demons. Walls breathe, things appear to move, like what was already said.

I used to see shadow people that I would call "Observers" because they never interacted, they just watched me from a distance. All sizes, some stories tall.

I also have a rainbow static over my vision at most times. I had a hand on my left shoulder for about 6 years until I found the right medications. I don't condone anyone, especially people with mental illness, to use psychedelics.

I had an experience with shrooms once in an attempt to have a euphoric psychosis. I wanted it to be meaningful and pleasant for once, instead of just chaotic mental illness stuff that was scary or problematic. Honestly it went rather well. Unfortunately though the euphoria did not carry over into future episodes of psychosis. My psychosis from mental illness continued to be completely random and troublesome, as well as meaningless. So I sorta feel like psychedelics and mental illness psychosis are worlds apart, even if they both include hallucinations.

[chasms]

rats,cats,dogs,people,all as shadow. oncei hallucinated a sunburn skkin peel on my arm, i was highthough at the time

[MoonSunn]

I tripped about 30 times with various psychedelics. I found that most of the things I saw/felt was more severe than what I experience naturally. More detailed and complex. I assume in case it progresses, I could be experiencing this day to day. For now I am stuck with mild imagery, but I must say some is indeed similar to the psychedelic experience, in my experience acid felt more like sz than shrooms.

When I learned to overcome bad-trip anxiety, specially in crowded places, I learned how to keep calm and easy going when things go this way naturally. I also used my psychedelic experience to explain myself what is happening to me. I can't say this will work for everyone, let alone that someone struggling with psychosis should do more of whatever causes it. Perhaps even reading guides on how to have a good trip can be of help.