Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology Body image distortions Hyperschemazia, or the perceived magnification of body parts, can occur with a variety of organic and psychiatric conditions. When part of the body is painful it may feel larger than normal. When there is partial paralysis of a limb, the affected segment feels heavy and large, … Continue reading Body image distortions

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology The patient’s attitude to hallucinations In organic hallucinations the patient is usually terrified by the visual hallucinations and may try desperately to get away from them. Most delirious patients feel threatened and are generally suspicious. The combination of the persecuted attitude and the visual hallucinations may lead to resistance … Continue reading Attitude to hallucinations

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations First mentioned by Aristotle, these hallucinations occur when the subject is falling asleep or waking up respectively. It has been suggested that hypnopompic hallucinations are often hypnagogic experiences that occur in the morning when the subject is waking and dosing-off again, so that they actually … Continue reading Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology Autoscopy or phantom mirror-image Autoscopy, also called phantom mirror-image, is the experience of seeing oneself and knowing that it is oneself. It is not just a visual hallucination because kinaestethic and somatic sensation must also be present to give the subject the impression that the hallucination is oneself. This … Continue reading Autoscopy

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology Extracampine hallucinations The patient has a hallucination that is outside the limits of the sensory field. For example, a patient sees somebody standing behind them when they are looking straight ahead or hear voices talking in London when they are in Liverpool. These hallucinations can occur in healthy people … Continue reading Extracampine Hallucinations

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology Functional Hallucinations An auditory stimulus causes a hallucination but the stimulus is experienced as well as the hallucination. In other words the hallucination requires the presence of another real sensation. For example, a patient with schizophrenia first heard the voice of God as her clock ticked; later she heard … Continue reading Functional Hallucinations

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology Hallucinatory syndromes Hallucinatory syndromes, also termed hallucinosis, refer to those disorders in which there are persistent hallucinations in any sensory modality in the absence of other psychotic features. The main hallucinatory syndromes that are identified are: alcoholic hallucinosis; these hallucinations are usually auditory and occur during periods of relative … Continue reading Hallucinatory syndromes

Source : FISH ’S Clinical psychopathology The sense of ‘presence’ It is difficult to classify an abnormal sense of presence because, although it is not strictly a sense deception, it cannot be regarded as a delusion either. Most normal people have from time to time the sense that someone is present when they are alone, … Continue reading SENSE OF PRESENCE