Diseases with Visual Hallucinations
- Anna
- Dec 25, 2022
- 2 min read
What causes Visual Hallucinations
Hallucinations are experiences that involve the perception of something not present without external stimulus in any of the five senses. Visual hallucinations are experienced by patients with conditions of psychiatry, neurology, and ophthalmology. The cause of visual hallucination can be separated into three categories, which are psychophysiological, psycho-biochemical, and psychodynamic. Psychophysiology is when there is a disturbance of brain structure, the psycho-biochemical is when there is a disturbance in neurotransmitters, and the psychodynamic is when unconsciousness emerges. To conclude, hallucinations can be a result of those three processes.
IMG Credit: neurosciencenews.com
Which diseases have visual hallucination as a symptom?
Hallucination is a primary feature of psychiatric illnesses, so when diagnosed with psychosis (schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder), hallucination can be present. The majority of psychotic disorders are auditory, but there may also be visual. 16%-72% of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder reported visual hallucinations. Visual hallucinations with schizophrenia tend to image pictorial scenes such as family members, religious figures, and animals. The research has found that the global severity of illness was significantly higher in patients with schizophrenia and visual hallucination than in people with not.
Delirium is a syndrome where a serious change happens in mental abilities which results in a lack of awareness of the surroundings. It is caused by myriad medical conditions, metabolic disturbances, infections, and drug effects. It carried clear symptoms like hallucinations. Many patients have experienced sensory misperceptions. The psychotic symptoms had 43 percent and visual hallucinations in 27 percent. Delirium with alcohol or intoxication brings visual hallucinations which are often reported to see crawling insects. Misperceptions like crawling insects can be more frequently occur to patients who have cocaine abuse.
Prominent symptoms of dementia include visual hallucinations and cognitive fluctuations. Visual hallucinations occur in more than 20 percent of patients diagnosed with DLB, Dementia with Lewy Bodies. It is the second most common form of dementia. Visual hallucinations involve seeing objects move when they are actually still and seeing complex scenarios of people and objects that are not even present. Visual hallucinations are important clinical clues indicating when diagnosing dementia or not.
Migraines: Visual hallucinations associated with migraines can be a classical aura of migraines as well as less common symptoms. 31 percent of people with migraine have an aura, which is a feeling that seems to surround a person or place. Nearly all, 99 percent of people with an aura have visual symptoms. The visual symptoms start as a flickering, uncolored, unilateral zig-zag line in the center of the visual field. It lasts less than 30 minutes with a maximum of 60 minutes. Variations of the classical picture like colored patterns also occur.
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