The brain is a highly complex organ that is responsible for, among many other things, processing all sensory information, that is, controlling everything we perceive around us. But there are certain situations in which our brain plays with these perceptions , giving rise to the not very well known hallucinosis .

People who suffer or at some time have suffered from these hallucinations, refer to experience a series of visual and/or auditory illusions.

What is a hallucinosis?

Within this hallucinatory picture, hallucinosis is characteristic of non-psychiatric illnesses, and refers to the state in which a person may experience hallucinations but be fully aware that what they perceive is not real.

The difference with other hallucinations is that, in these cases, the person is able to discern perfectly that they are not real ; being completely capable of perceiving that something is not working properly and, consequently, asking for help.

During an episode of hallucinosis the patient is attentive and well oriented, and can even enter and leave this state with complete lucidity, being able to narrate in detail what he or she is perceiving in the hallucinosis at that precise moment.

Differences between hallucination, pseudo-hallucination and hallucinosis

In addition to being both auditory and visual, these three pictures have in common the fact that they appear in an external space and possess the properties of corporeality and objectivity typical of normal perceptions.

However, unlike hallucinations and pseudo- hallucinations, the person experiencing them is aware that it is a hallucination and therefore is quick to ask for help .

As for hallucinations and pseudo-hallucinations, these often occur in psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia or the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

However, hallucinosis is more typical of various diseases such as intoxication, consumption or deprivation of drugs and substances of abuse or the well known alcoholic hallucinosis. All of them are explained below.

Causes

As detailed above, hallucinosis is not typical of psychiatric disorders, but rather occurs as a consequence of situations of abuse of alcohol, psychoactive substances or drugs; although it may also occur, exceptionally, in some brain disorder .

1. Alcoholic hallucinosis

This type of hallucinosis consists of the perception of an object or phenomenon that is not present at that moment due to excessive alcohol consumption.

When this happens, the person becomes aware of the deception his mind is instilling in him and may associate it as something caused by his state.

The most typical cause of this symptom is related to the sudden elimination of excessive alcoholic habits , so it is common for these hallucinations to be experienced during withdrawal.

Patients who manifest this type of hallucinosis caused by alcohol should be attended to urgently in order to try to control the symptoms, since if they do not receive adequate treatment immediately, it may worsen, thus becoming a delirium tremens.

This syndrome is characterized as a severe condition that includes dehydration, fever, visual and auditory hallucinations , and can even lead to death from acute intoxication.

2. Substances of abuse or psychotropic drugs

Among all the harmful effects that the use and abuse of drugs and psychotropic drugs has on both the body and the brain, hallucinosis is one of the most common.

The most common hallucinogenic drugs are:

  • Ecstasy (MDMA)
  • Psilocybin (DMT)
  • Mescaline
  • Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)

Ecstasy, psilocybin and mescaline are made from certain species of hallucinogenic mushrooms and cacti, while LSD is obtained by synthesizing ergoline and tryptamines in a laboratory setting; this is far more potent than any of the above.

3. Brain disorders

There are certain brain diseases whose manifestations include episodes of hallucinosis. These disorders can be either neurological, genetic, or caused by brain injuries or tumors. These symptoms vary greatly depending on the patient and the severity of the disease.

Charles Bonnet syndrome or organic hallucinosis

One of the cases in which hallucinosis has an organic cause is in Charles Bonnet Syndrome, hence it is also known as organic hallucinosis. This name comes from the fact that there is something measurable, weighed, or quantifiable that causes this disease.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a disease associated with people who suffer from visual loss . In these specific cases, patients also present complex visual hallucinations.

This disorder affects people who are mentally healthy but suffer from significant visual loss. These patients repeatedly experience vivid and complex visual hallucinations, with the particularity that the characters or objects perceived are smaller than usual .

Since these are hallucinosis and not hallucinations, those who suffer them know perfectly well that they are not real, and since they are purely visual they do not affect any other sense.

People with Charles Bonnet Syndrome can experience a wide range of hallucinations. From the most common, such as complex color patterns and people , to animals, plants and animated objects.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome is associated with lesions of any segment of the visual pathway, and is usually caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and large visual field defects. Such hallucinations usually cease when the patient executes some eye movement.