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Definition: hallucination from Philip's Encyclopedia

Apparent perception of something that is not present. Although they may occur in any of the five senses, auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations are the commonest. While they are usually symptomatic of psychotic disorders, hallucinations may result from fatigue or emotional upsets and can also be a side effect of certain drugs.

Hallucinations

From The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
Hallucinations are involuntary sensory experiences that are perceived as emanating from the external environ-ment, in the absence of stimulation of relevant sensory receptors. Hallucinations can occur in a variety of contexts but are perhaps most striking and debilitating in the context of schizophrenia, in which they are generally experienced as real and emotionally significant, are related to concurrent delusions, and represent a manifestation of psychosis. Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modality and can involve multiple modalities. Auditory hallucinations are the most common in schizophrenia and other illnesses that are traditionally termed psychiatric, and visual hallucinations are the most common in illnesses termed neurological. Hallucinations can be described at multiple levels of analysis, including cognitive, neurochemical, computational, and social/psychological. This article presents a functional neuroanatomic approach to hallucinations describing and analyzing them…
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Full text Article hallucinations

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
The perception of things that are not objectively real. A hallucination (from a Greek term meaning ‘to wander in the mind’) is technically defined as a sensory perception that has no external cause. That is, it represents the perception by any of the senses of something that does not exist outside…
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Full text Article Hallucinations

From Encyclopedia of the Human Brain
GLOSSARY Hallucinations are involuntary sensory experiences perceived as emanating from the external environment, in the absence of stimulation of relevant sensory receptors. They were first defined in this manner in 1837 by Esquirol, who differentiated them from illusions, which are perceptual…
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A hallucination can be defined as ‘A sensory perception (see s. 1 ) that has the compelling sense of reality of a true perception but that occurs without external stimulation of the relevant sensory organ’ (American Psychiatric Association 1994). A French psychiatrist, Jean-Etienne Esquirol, in a…
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The descriptive and analytic framework employed in this article represents one approach to hallucinations. Others tend to be complementary, rather than exclusive, with their boundaries increasingly blurred as convergence and integration occur. The resulting interdisciplinary synthesis has enhanced…
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For hallucinations in the setting of schizophrenia, medications that alter transmission of dopamine and related neurotransmitters, termed neuroleptics, are the mainstay of treatment. In other settings, the first step in the treatment of hallucinations is to address the condition that underlies their…
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Full text Article Hallucinations

From The Concise Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science
Hallucinations are involuntary sensory experiences that are perceived as emanating from the external environment, in the absence of stimulation of relevant sensory receptors. Hallucinations can occur in a variety of contexts but are perhaps most striking and debilitating in the setting of…
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Brain regions active in a schizophrenic...
The variety of forms, contents, and settings of hallucinations can be described and analyzed in a number of ways, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Of these, a functional neuroanatomic approach, based on evolving data, is perhaps most heuristically satisfying. In order to present such an…
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Full text Article Hallucinations

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Hallucinations are compelling perceptual experiences that may be visual, tactile, olfactory, or auditory, but that lack a physical stimulus. Hallucinations are false perceptions, but they carry the force of reality. Generally not positive experiences, hallucinations are often described as…
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Full text Article Hallucination

From Human Diseases and Conditions
A hallucination (huh-loo-suh-NAY-shun) is something that a person, while awake, perceives as real but it is not; it is usually caused by an outside stimulus 1506 . A good magician can make audience members think that they are seeing something they really are not, such as an animal disappearing into…
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Full text Article Hallucination

From Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health
A hallucination is a sensory perception without a source in the external world. The English word hallucination comes from the Latin verb hallucinari , which means “to wander in the mind.” Hallucinations can affect any of the senses, although certain diseases or disorders are associated with specific…
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