Schizophrenia: Helping Someone Who Is Hallucinating

The most common type of auditory hallucinations in psychiatric illness consists of voices. Voices may be male or female, and with intonations and accents that typically differ from those of the patient

Symptoms of psychosis include:

• difficulty concentrating.
• depressed mood.
• sleeping too much or not enough.
• anxiety.
• suspiciousness.
• withdrawal from family and friends.
• delusions.
• hallucinations.

1. Approach the person quietly while calling his or her name.
2. Ask the person to tell you what is happening.
3. Tell the person that he or she is having a hallucination and that you do not see or hear what he or she does.
4. Talk with the person about the experience, and ask whether there is anything you can do to help.

It could mean you touch or even smell something that doesn’t exist. There are many different causes. It could be a mental illness called schizophrenia, a nervous system problem like Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, or of a number of other things. If you or a loved one has hallucinations, go see a doctor

Among those with delirium, visual hallucinations are the most common type of hallucination. In fact, Webster and Holroyd14 reported psychotic symptoms in 43% and visual hallucinations in 27% of such patients.

Musical hallucinations usually occur in older people. Several conditions are possible causes or predisposing factors, including hearing impairment, brain damage, epilepsy, intoxications and psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder

Some simple interventions

1. Social contact. For most people who hear voices, talking to others reduces the intrusiveness or even stops the voices.
2. Vocalisation. Research shows that ‘sub-vocalisation’ accompanies auditory hallucinations (Bick and Kinsbourne, 1987).
3. Listening to music.
4. Wearing earplugs.
5. Concentration.
6. Relaxation.