Auditory hallucinations in extreme conditions. Causes and manifestations of auditory hallucinations. Types of hallucinations according to the way they are perceived

Auditory hallucination- a form of hallucination when the perception of sounds occurs without auditory stimulation. There is a common form of auditory hallucination in which a person hears one or more voices. This may be associated with psychotic disorders, but voices can also be heard by people who do not have a diagnosable mental illness.

Types of auditory hallucinations

Simple auditory hallucinations

Acoasma

Non-speech hallucinations are characteristic. With this type of hallucination, a person hears individual sounds of noise, hissing, roaring, and buzzing. Often there are the most specific sounds associated with certain objects and phenomena: steps, knocks, creaking floorboards, and so on.

Phonemes

The simplest speech deceptions are typical in the form of shouts, individual syllables or fragments of words.

Complex auditory hallucinations

Hallucinations of musical content

With this type of hallucination, a game can be heard musical instruments, singing, choirs, known melodies or fragments thereof, and even unfamiliar music.

Potential causes of musical hallucinations:

• metal-alcohol psychoses: often these are vulgar ditties, obscene songs, songs of drunken groups.
• epileptic psychosis: in epileptic psychosis, hallucinations of musical origin often look like the sound of an organ, sacred music, the ringing of church bells, the sounds of magical, “heavenly” music.
• schizophrenia.

Verbal (verbal) hallucinations

With verbal hallucinations one hears individual words, conversations or phrases. The content of statements may be absurd, devoid of any meaning, but most often verbal hallucinations express ideas and thoughts that are not indifferent to patients. S.S. Korsakov considered hallucinations of this kind as thoughts dressed in a bright sensory shell. V. A. Gilyarovsky pointed out that hallucinatory disorders are directly related to the inner world of a person, his state of mind. They express disturbances in mental activity, personal qualities, disease dynamics. In particular, in their structure one can detect disorders of other mental processes: thinking (for example, its fragmentation), will (echolalia) and so on.

Exists a large number of types of verbal hallucinations, depending on their plot. Among them are:

• Commentary (evaluative) hallucinations. The opinion of voices about the patient's behavior is reflected. An opinion can have a different connotation: for example, benevolent or judgmental. “Voices” can characterize and evaluate current, past actions or intentions for the future.

• Threatening. Hallucinations can acquire a threatening character, consonant with delusional ideas of persecution. Imaginary threats of murder, torture, and discredit are perceived. Sometimes they have a clearly expressed sadistic overtones.

• Imperative hallucinations. A type of verbal hallucination that is socially dangerous. Contains orders to do something or prohibitions on actions, to commit actions that directly contradict conscious intentions: including attempting suicide or self-harm, refusing to take food, medicine or talking with a doctor, and so on. Patients often take these orders personally.

Potential Causes

One of the main causes of auditory hallucinations, in the case of psychotic patients, is schizophrenia. IN similar cases patients exhibit a consistent increase in the activity of the thalamic and subcortical nuclei of the striatum, hypothalamus and paraliminal regions; confirmed by positron emission and magnetic resonance imaging. Another comparative study of patients found an increase white matter in the temporal region and the volume of gray matter in the temporal region (in those areas that are extremely important for internal and external speech). The implication is that both functional and structural abnormalities in the brain can cause auditory hallucinations, but both may have a genetic component. It is known that affective disorder can also cause auditory hallucinations, but more mild than those caused by psychosis. Auditory hallucinations- relatively common complications of serious neurocognitive disorders (dementia), such as Alzheimer's disease.

Research has shown that auditory hallucinations, particularly voices commenting and voices telling people to harm themselves or others, are much more common in psychotic patients who experienced physical or sexual abuse as children than in psychotic patients who were not abused as children. violence. Moreover, what stronger shape violence (incest or a combination of both physical and sexual abuse of children), especially stronger degree hallucinations. If there were multiple episodes of violence, this also influenced the risk of developing hallucinations. It has been noted that the content of hallucinations in people who have been victims of childhood sexual abuse includes both elements of flashbacks (flashbacks of memories of a traumatic experience) and more symbolic embodiments of the traumatic experience. For example, a woman who had been sexually abused by her father since age 5 heard "men's voices outside her head and children's voices screaming inside her head." In another case, when a patient experienced hallucinations telling her to kill herself, she identified the voice as that of the perpetrator.

Diagnosis and treatment methods

Pharmaceuticals

The main medications used in the treatment of auditory hallucinations are antipsychotic drugs, which affect dopamine metabolism. If the main diagnosis is affective disorder, then antidepressants or mood stabilizers are often additionally used. These drugs allow a person to function normally, but are not essentially a treatment, since they do not eliminate the root cause of the thinking disorder.

Psychological treatments

It was revealed that cognitive therapy helped reduce the frequency and distress of auditory hallucinations, especially in the presence of other psychotic symptoms. Intensive supportive therapy was found to reduce the frequency of auditory hallucinations and increase the patient's resistance to hallucinations, leading to a significant reduction in them negative impact. Other cognitive and behavioral treatments have been used with mixed success.

Experimental and alternative treatments

IN last years studied repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a biological treatment for auditory hallucinations. TMS affects the neural activity of the cortical areas responsible for speech. Research has shown that when TMS is used as an adjunct to antipsychotic treatment in difficult cases, the frequency and intensity of auditory hallucinations may decrease. Another source for unconventional methods is to launch an international voice-hearing movement.

Current Research

Non-psychotic symptoms

Research continues into auditory hallucinations that are not a symptom of a particular psychotic illness. Most often, auditory hallucinations occur without psychotic symptoms in prepubertal children. These studies found that a remarkably high percentage of children (up to 14% of respondents) heard sounds or voices without any external cause; although it should also be noted that "sounds" as psychiatrists believe are not examples of auditory hallucinations. It is important to distinguish auditory hallucinations from “sounds” or normal internal dialogue, since these phenomena are not characteristic of mental illness.

Causes

The causes of auditory hallucinations with nonpsychotic symptoms are unclear. Durham University doctor Charles Fernyhough, exploring the role of the inner voice in auditory hallucinations, offers two alternative hypotheses for the origin of auditory hallucinations in people without psychosis. Both versions are based on research into the process of internalization of the inner voice.

Internalization of the inner voice

• First level (external dialogue) makes it possible to maintain an external dialogue with another person, for example when a baby talks to his parents.
• Second level (private speech) includes the ability to conduct external dialogue; It has been observed that children comment on the process of play when playing with dolls or other toys.
• Third level (extended inner speech) is the first internal level of speech. Allows you to conduct internal monologues when reading to yourself or viewing lists.
• Fourth level (condensation of inner speech) is the final level of the internalization process. Allows you to simply think without the need to express thoughts in words to grasp the meaning of the thought.

Internalization disorder

Mixing

A violation may occur during normal process internalization of the inner voice when a person cannot identify his own inner voice. Thus, the first and fourth levels of internalization are mixed.

Extension

The disorder may manifest itself in the internalization of the inner voice when a second one appears. which seems alien to a person; The problem occurs when the fourth and first levels are shifted.

Treatment

Psychopharmacological treatment uses antipsychotic drugs. Research in psychology has shown that the first step in treating a patient is to recognize that the voices he hears are figments of his imagination. Understanding this allows patients to regain control over their lives. Additional psychological interventions may influence the management of auditory hallucinations, but further research is required to prove this.

Psychiatric and neurological patients sometimes complain of auditory hallucinations. This is a distorted perception of reality. A person hears sounds that do not exist in reality. There are many types this symptom. Therapy will consist of timely treatment underlying disease.

Diseases characterized by symptoms:

• schizophrenia;
• malignant neoplasms brain;
• hallucinatory-delusional syndromes;
• depressive states;
• bipolar affective disorder;
• dementia;
• Alzheimer's disease;
• various vascular diseases(atherosclerosis, circulatory insufficiency of some parts of the brain);
• chronic alcoholism.

What are auditory hallucinations

Auditory or acoustic hallucinations are a perception disorder when a person hears sounds without the influence of a stimulus on hearing aid. This means that reality is perceived distorted and incorrect.

Psychiatrists classify auditory hallucinations as productive symptoms, that is, they are a new phenomenon that appears as a result of illness and is absent in healthy people. Such hallucinations can be in the form of:

• sound;
• whistling;
• the sound of a vehicle braking;
• birds singing;
• words;
• a whole sentence.

Why does this disease appear?

The causes of auditory hallucinations are diseases of various etiologies. Psychiatric diseases come to the fore:

• schizophrenia;
• depression;
• bipolar affective disorder, etc.

Other reasons:

• malignant tumors and brain metastases;
• inflammatory processes brain;
• violation cerebral circulation.

People suffering chronic alcoholism, during the period of delirium (popularly this condition is called “ delirium tremens") can hear "voices".

How do “voices” arise?

The exact mechanism of auditory hallucinations is unknown.

In the course of numerous experiments and studies, it was found that while the patient hears “voices,” Broca’s area is active in the cerebral hemispheres - the center of speech responsible for its reproduction; located in the cortex of the left frontal lobe (in right-handed people).

When a person simply thinks, he also activates Broca's center. This can be called inner speech. To understand that speech comes from the inside, there is a special department in the brain - the Wernicke center. It is located in the temporal and parietal lobes.

It is believed that the patient cannot recognize inner speech, but perceives it as external. That is, there is a dysfunction of the Wernicke center.

What can increase the likelihood of developing this symptom?

Relative risk factors for the development of auditory hallucinations:

• refusal to take prescribed medications;
• independent adjustment of doses of medications taken;
• simultaneous use of medications that inhibit each other’s effects.

There are no absolute risk factors for auditory hallucinations.

What types is it divided into?

Auditory hallucinations, like all others, are divided into elementary, simple and complex.

Elementary hallucinations are of two types: acoasms and phonemes.

Acoasms - noise, tapping, rumble, hissing, shooting, ringing - this is a separate sound. The symptom is found in the practice of psychiatrists and neurologists. An otolaryngologist or an ENT doctor may also encounter this (in Meniere's disease, this is a disease inner ear, non-inflammatory nature, leading to deafness).

Phoneme - individual words, shouts, pronouns, syllables - speech deception. Phonemes do not form speech; they are just individual elements that do not carry a semantic load.

Both acoasms and phonemes are periodic and constant.

Simple auditory hallucinations are a deception of perception that does not affect another analyzer. That is, the patient hears only the sound, but does not see the source.

There are several types of simple ones:

• musical (the patient hears the playing of a guitar, violin or piano, singing, popular or unknown melodies, excerpts of works or entire compositions);
• verbal or verbal (the patient hears conversations, whole phrases or just individual words).

Verbal hallucinations, in turn, are divided into three types:

• commenting or evaluative (patients with such hallucinations listen to voices that judge their actions, assign an assessment to actions, intentions or the past; such “voices” can be either friendly and encouraging, or judgmental and accusatory in nature);
• threatening (quite unpleasant for the patient; the patient hears threats at his own expense, promises of violence, etc.);
• imperative (hallucinations of this type can pose a threat not only to the patient, but also to the people around him).

Imperative hallucinations interfere with the treatment process: “voices” can simply prohibit the patient from listening to the doctor and following his instructions, taking medicines.

There are very rarely cases in the practice of psychiatrists when patients turn to them for treatment on the orders of “voices”. Such a person may not even realize that he is mentally ill.

Complex hallucinations are hallucinations that simultaneously affect the function of several analyzers. For example, a person not only hears the speech of his pursuer, but also sees him in his room.

What are the special types of auditory hallucinations?

Alenshtil's auditory hallucinations are hallucinations in the form of a knock on the door or a bell. Occurs in mental healthy person at the moment of intense anticipation of the corresponding sound.

Antagonistic (contrasting) hallucinations - a person hears several “voices” that express opposing intentions. For example, one “voice” suggests killing someone, and the second dissuades them.

Important! Auditory hallucinations are a symptom of a mental or neurological disease. They can occur in diseases such as schizophrenia, dementia, bipolar affective disorder, and brain tumors. A person hears sounds that are real only to him without the influence of an irritant on the hearing aid. In themselves, such perception disorders are not dangerous, but their content can cause the patient to harm himself or others. Any hallucinations should be a reason to consult a psychiatrist

Auditory hallucinations in older people

Elderly people may experience auditory hallucinations due to decreased blood supply, organic lesions brain, mental disorders, intake medicines with a side effect - hallucination.

The most common reasons for older people are:

• isolated auditory hallucinosis of Charles Bonnet - develops after 70 years of age against the background of decreased hearing. At the beginning they appear as acoasms, which over time turn into phrases and sentences with a semantic load. It is extremely rare that “voices” are imperative in nature. Most often, a person “hears” condemnation, threats and insults addressed to him;
• hallucinations as a symptom mental illness(for example, schizophrenia);
• hallucinations in Parkinson's disease (a disease characterized by the destruction of motor cells in the brain that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine);
• side effects of medications (drugs that lower blood pressure - antihypertensives, some antibiotics, psychostimulants, tranquilizers, anti-tuberculosis drugs).

Treatment consists of prescribing antipsychotics. In case of hallucinations from medications, the attending physician should discontinue or replace the drug that causes such an unpleasant syndrome.

It is noteworthy that with Charles Bonnet hallucinosis, the symptoms lose their intensity over time, and attacks become increasingly rare. Big problem problems begin to arise from the cognitive function of the brain (memory, attention, etc.).

Auditory hallucinations in children

It is not uncommon for children to experience the first years of school. During this period, the child is under significant pressure. The student experiences overwork and stress, often anxiety about grades. This condition leads to the child beginning to hear unreal “voices.”

Other causes of auditory hallucinations in older children include:

• fever;
• food, drug poisoning;
• neurological disease;
• puberty(time of hormonal changes in the body);
• drinking alcohol and narcotic substances(relevant for high school students);
• depressive disorder;
• insomnia;
• severe physical and psychological injuries.

Hallucinations in a child should alert the parent. You should consult a doctor immediately to avoid a delay mental development, neurological diseases.

When and which doctor to contact

If a person is bothered by auditory hallucinations, then this is a cause for concern. You must make an appointment with or.

What first aid can be given to a person?

The sequence of actions during an attack should be as follows:

• call an ambulance;
• protect the patient from himself and others;
• try to calm down.

It is impossible to independently provide medical first aid to a person with hallucinations. This can only be done by doctors using specific medications.

How is diagnosis made?

An experienced specialist will only be able to suspect that a patient has auditory hallucinations based on behavior.

Such patients are always on guard, they are constantly listening to something, staring into the empty space of the room. They can whisper something, answer an invisible interlocutor. Under the influence of imperative hallucinations, a person may try to jump out of a window and harm himself or others.

It will be very important for the doctor to understand what kind of hallucinations he sees: true or false. With false hallucinations, the source of the “voices” will be directly in the human body. The patient will claim that they are speaking in his head, his spine. No projection on appearance. False hallucinations or pseudohallucinations have a more unfavorable prognosis and are included in the Kandinsky-Clerambault syndrome (a combination of hallucinations, delusions and phenomena of automatism, when patients are haunted by a feeling of “made” movements or thoughts).

Treatment tactics

For Alzheimer's disease, dementia and others it is necessary to use specific drugs, which improve the course of the underlying disease, while eliminating attacks.

Doctor's advice! Don't be afraid to use antipsychotics. Despite the fact that they have side effects, these drugs do an excellent job of improving the patient’s condition and quality of life.

What could be the consequences?

Auditory hallucinations are not an independent disease, so they have no direct complications. However, if you do not resort to therapy this state, as well as the disease that causes such a symptom, the consequences can be depressing.

The progression of the disease leads to social maladjustment and loss of self-care skills.

We must not forget that in some cases, auditory hallucinations can prompt a person to attempt suicide.

How to prevent the occurrence

There is no specific prevention. Warning similar conditions boils down to the need for timely treatment of specific diseases.

What to Expect After an Episode of Auditory Hallucinations

The prognosis depends on the root cause of the appearance, since they are just a symptom and do not act independent disease.

In situations resulting from taking medications or fatigue, the prognosis is quite favorable, since you just need to stop taking medications, rest and reduce the impact of stress on the body.

However, when mental disorders It is necessary to take medications that eliminate the productive symptoms of the disease. Such drugs have significant side effects and are used exclusively under the prescription of a psychiatrist.

Auditory hallucinations are a type of productive pathology in psychiatry in which the patient hears various sounds in the absence of a real source. Important characteristic heard precisely as hallucinations - the patient is convinced of their truth. He will never describe imaginary sounds with the word “seemed.”

Types of auditory hallucinations

What is directly audible can be different - the sound of the wind, the sound of a car, the singing of birds, and most characteristically - voices. The characteristics of the voices are also different:

• Voices commenting on the patient's behavior. In most cases, those commenting on hallucinations have a sarcastic tone, which causes dissatisfaction and aggression. If the circumstances are unfortunate, this aggression can spill out on the patient’s relatives.
• Voices talking to each other on topics unrelated to the patient. It's relative without dangerous look auditory hallucinations, in most cases perceived by the patient as a kind of radio.
• Voices repeating the patient's thoughts or confirming his ideas. This is a rather dangerous type of hallucination and can provoke aggressive behavior. In the case of repetition of thoughts, it seems to the patient that all his thoughts, even impartial or intimate ones, are being disclosed publicly. He may have a desire to eliminate the “witnesses” of mind reading. And if thoughts are confirmed by voices, any, even the most incredible, ideas, when repeated for a long time, seem like reality to the patient. The fleeting thought that his wife might cheat on him, under the influence of hallucinations, turns into a fait accompli. And the fact may be followed by retribution, also invented under the influence of hallucinations.
• Commanding (imperative) voices. The most dangerous type of auditory hallucinations, since the patient lacks criticality. He believes everything he hears in hallucinations, which means he carries out all their orders. And orders can be very different - from cleaning the apartment to going and killing grandma. The combination of delusions and imperative hallucinations is most often a symptom of a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia.

Causes of auditory hallucinations

When deciding how to treat hallucinations, it is extremely important to find out their cause in each case. It is she who plays a decisive role in choosing treatment tactics. The causes of hallucinations can be divided into several main groups:

1. Hearing aid malfunction. this is a fairly common reason. If he complains about voices old man who uses a hearing aid – first of all, you need to check the quality of its operation.
2. Side effects of drugs. Some psychotropic drugs, in overdose or as side effects, can cause hallucinations. Hallucinations are also possible with an illiterate combination of drugs. This happens especially often when self-medicating. When contacting a doctor regarding symptoms of hallucinations, be sure to present full list medications taken by the patient.
3. Alcohol intoxication and delirium. In this case, recognizing the cause is not difficult. It is necessary to distinguish between hallucinations during alcohol intoxication and delirium. During intoxication, they develop at the height of intoxication, especially when consuming surrogate alcohol, and are neutral in nature. In delirium, hallucinations of a threatening nature occur when alcohol is withdrawn after prolonged use. How to treat auditory hallucinations in this case is quite clear.
4. Auditory hallucinations as a symptom of mental illness. The most common and most difficult option to treat. It is in this case that all the variety of auditory hallucinations arises. They can be a manifestation of schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases.

Treatment of auditory hallucinations

Treatment approaches may vary significantly depending on the cause of the hallucinations. Let's consider how to treat auditory hallucinations according to the reasons listed above.

1. Hallucinations due to a malfunction of the hearing aid. The most favorable variant of diagnostic results. It is treated by replacing or repairing the device. Depending on the type of hearing aid, they can independently imitate noise or reproduce voices due to the fact that the device tunes to a radio wave and transmits it to the patient.
2. Recognize hallucinations that are side effect the effects of drugs or their combinations can only be determined by a specialized specialist. This specialist is not always your local therapist. You may need to contact a psychiatrist, cardiologist, narcologist or other doctor related to the diseases and medications you are taking. Be sure to keep a record of all medications you take - names, doses and frequency of administration per day. This is especially important in the case of elderly patients who may confuse the medicine or take it again. It is convenient to make a special “prescription calendar” in which to mark the medications taken. When you visit your doctor, be sure to show him this “calendar” or just a list of medications.
   The occurrence of hallucinations as a result of taking medications indicates a severe overdose or long-term use drugs that do not combine with each other. This condition cannot always be eliminated only by stopping medications or changing combinations. Intoxication may be required to speed up the elimination of substances that cause hallucinations. Treatment in this case occurs in inpatient conditions. Subsequently, the patient is discharged for further treatment at home and a suitable regimen and combination of medications is recommended to continue treatment.
3. Auditory hallucinations during alcohol intoxication or delirium occur acutely and are combined with delusional ideas, visual hallucinations, persecution mania. In this case, treatment must be immediate and very active. The patient must be hospitalized. Active detoxification therapy, infusions of nutrients and saline solutions for the speedy removal of toxic substances from the patient’s body. With severe aggressiveness, motor agitation, obsessions persecution, it is possible to prescribe tranquilizers and antipsychotics. In the future, full psychosocial rehabilitation of the patient, his involvement in work, and preventive work with the family are necessary.
4. Auditory hallucinations in mental illness are part of a broad symptom complex called productive symptoms. In addition to auditory hallucinations, it includes other types (visual, tactile, pseudohallucinations), crazy ideas various kinds, obsessive states. Hallucinations in combination with these symptoms - alarm signal, indicating the presence of severe mental pathology. In persons young they may primarily indicate schizophrenia. In the elderly may be a manifestation of Alzheimer's disease or senile dementia. The specific nosology can be clarified only with a thorough examination. The choice of treatment tactics also depends on final diagnosis. In most cases, treatment for such severe symptoms occurs in a hospital. To relieve hallucinatory phenomena, antipsychotics are used, in particular new generation atypical antipsychotics. In case of severe psychomotor agitation, it is necessary to prescribe tranquilizers. In the case of pathology in the elderly, treatment to relieve acute hallucinosis is the same as in young people. Further therapy depends on the nosology - there are specific drugs for, nootropics for dementia, etc.

Target primary treatment– reduce the severity or completely eliminate hallucinations. At home, follow-up treatment takes place with scheduled medication. In most cases, such patients need lifelong treatment. It is very important to train relatives to recognize the symptoms of exacerbation and monitor the patient’s condition.

Auditory hallucinations are considered one of the most common symptoms of various mental and physical diseases. The patient clearly hears sounds, noises or voices that do not actually exist. Despite the apparent harmlessness of this phenomenon, auditory illusions can cause a lot of problems for the patient, cause many unpleasant situations and even aggressive behavior.

Note! Auditory hallucinations can be classified as subjective sounds. They are audible only to the patient, which makes diagnosing and treating this disease very difficult.

Types of auditory hallucinations

There are several types extraneous sounds, spontaneously manifesting itself in the patient’s consciousness:

• Tinnitus. Standard noise effects resembling buzzing, clicking, whistling, ringing, etc.
• Acoasma. More specific sounds: creaking, drops, music, etc.
• Phonemes. The most dangerous hallucinations that can carry a certain meaning and directly influence human behavior. These can be individual words, phrases or voices, which clearly indicates mental problems.

In addition, any illusions (including acoustic ones) are usually divided into true and false:

True hallucinations occur when a person hears all kinds of non-existent sounds in the surrounding space and tries to organically fit them into his worldview. The patient is completely confident in the reality of these sounds and never questions them.

Hallucinations false most often for the patient it comes from within. Moreover, sounds are not always heard in a person’s head. Intrusive and commanding voices can come from the stomach, chest, and any other place on the body. Such illusions are considered to be the most dangerous for the life of the patient and the people around him.

Reasons for appearance

In order to correctly diagnose the type of anomaly and determine approaches to its elimination, it is necessary to understand as clearly as possible the causes of auditory illusions. Various factors can provoke this phenomenon:

• Strong overwork, nervous or physical exhaustion. Overvoltage can cause disruptions in the normal functioning of the brain and changes in a person’s consciousness.
• Feverish states, heat. They can cause disturbances in certain body systems. In some cases, this manifests itself in the form of auditory or visual illusions.
• Tumors in the area of ​​the brain. The tumor can put pressure on certain areas of the auditory system or brain.
• Mental disorders: schizophrenia, psychopathy, all kinds of syndromes.
• Ear diseases, inflammatory processes and even sulfur plugs may well disrupt the functioning of sound-conducting channels and cause extraneous noise.
• Malfunctions of electronic hearing aids. The most harmless reason, which can be eliminated by replacing or repairing the device.
• Use psychotropic substances . Drug addiction or treatment certain drugs may affect brain activity person in a similar way.
• Alcohol abuse. Attacks of delirium tremens often result in visual or auditory hallucinations.

When falling asleep

Oddly enough, but exactly When falling asleep, auditory hallucinations most often disturb patients. It would seem that the body, tired during the day, is as relaxed as possible and is preparing to get a long-awaited rest, but that was not the case. A person begins to hear non-existent sounds or voices.

In medicine, such hallucinations have a separate name - hypnagogic. Their main danger is that at the moment of their appearance the patient, as a rule, is alone and in complete silence. The lack of distractions makes a person more vulnerable and unable to resist the voices giving him orders.

Symptoms and signs of hearing hallucinations

The volume of acoustic illusions depends on their type and the patient’s character traits. Sometimes the patient hears a barely audible whisper, in other cases - loud orders that are almost impossible to resist. IN the latter case The patient most likely develops one of the varieties of schizophrenia.

Sometimes the patient hears voices, but is not the subject of their discussion. It is as if he hears from the outside a conversation between two or more non-existent people on abstract topics. Such hallucinations are considered completely harmless, although they cause a lot of inconvenience to both the patient and those around him.

Disturbances are considered more dangerous when the patient hears voices repeating him own thoughts and beliefs. At the same time, it seems to the patient that these thoughts (often very intimate and impartial) are heard by everyone around him. This can become a reason for aggression.

Note! In some cases, auditory hallucinations can be confused with manifestations of an “inner voice” or actual tinnitus resulting from various diseases.

Diagnostics

Auditory hallucinations are not an independent disease, but only a symptom of another disease. Doctor diagnoses mandatory will begin with collecting an anamnesis. This can be quite difficult to do, since the patient may have an extremely negative and skeptical attitude towards his pathological condition. If the patient does not want to contact the doctor, you can try interviewing the closest relatives.

In order to exclude organic nature pathologies will be assigned lab tests urine, blood, spinal cord . Older patients using hearing amplification devices should additionally check the correct operation of the electronic device.

The presence of acoustic hallucinations can also be guessed from the specific behavior of a person. The patient may hesitate to answer, clearly listening to something. When talking with such a patient, the doctor needs to try to win him over as much as possible and establish a trusting relationship.

Treatment of auditory hallucinations with homeopathy

Along with traditional medicine, modern homeopathy can offer a number of drugs that can help eliminate such an unpleasant and sometimes dangerous disease for the life and health of the patient:

• Elapse(Elaps). Indicated for extraneous noise, clicking, unbearable itching in the ears. It will help eliminate attacks of deafness at night, accompanied by crackling and roaring in the ears.
• Curare(Curare). Helps eliminate whistling or ringing noises, sounds reminiscent of animal cries.
• Valerian(Valeriana). The drug is recommended for patients who have tinnitus, acoustic illusions, hyperesthesia ( increased sensitivity sense organs).
• Eupatorium purpureum(Eupatorium purpureum). Effective when various kinds auditory hallucinations, sensations of constant ear congestion, crackling sounds when swallowing.
• Galvanism(Galvanism). Suitable for patients who hear the sounds of gunshots, explosions, the playing of a brass band, or the sound of bells.
• Anacardium(Anacardium). The drug helps patients who experience voices imposing strange orders or whispering blasphemies.
• Carboneum sulfuratum(Carboneum sulphuratum). Helps eliminate burning ears, singing voices or harp sounds.

Contact qualified specialists able to select the most suitable one for your clinical case drug and prescribe correct dosage and course of admission.

Many psychiatric illnesses are difficult to treat, since patients in most cases are confident in their health and do not consider what is happening to them as a sign of some serious disorder. That is why the diagnosis of such pathological conditions often occurs too late. One of the serious psychiatric disorders is considered to be hallucinations, which can be symptoms of many ailments. Today we will try to understand the features of such a pathological condition as auditory hallucinations, we will consider possible reasons their appearance, and also discuss the symptoms of such a disorder.

How do auditory hallucinations manifest themselves, what are their symptoms?

With auditory hallucinations, patients hear the most different sounds, which can take the form of coherent speech or noise. Their volume may vary, sometimes the hallucinations are very quiet, in other situations they are loud. IN certain cases patients hear speech that has a commanding character.

Sometimes an inner voice or tinnitus that is associated with the most common symptoms are mistaken for hallucinations. different problems with health.

With true hallucinations, the patient hears a voice or noise and understands that there is no real object capable of making such sounds. Some of these disturbances may be expressed in speech commenting on the patient's behavior. At the same time, hallucinations are sarcastic in nature, which provokes aggression and discontent.

Some patients hear voices that repeat their thoughts or confirm ideas. It is believed that this type of violation is one of the most dangerous, because it can cause aggressive behavior. The patient believes that his thoughts (including intimate and impartial ones) are heard by others.

In certain cases, auditory hallucinations are imperative; in other words, they order a person to perform certain actions, and he obeys them. This type of illness is common symptom schizophrenia.

Why do auditory hallucinations occur, what are the reasons for this?

There are many factors that can trigger the appearance of auditory hallucinations. And from correct definition The root cause of the development of such a disorder depends on the success of the therapy.

In certain cases, the occurrence of auditory hallucinations can be explained quite simply. So, if a person who uses a hearing aid complains about noises, sounds and voices, it may well be that their appearance is explained by a malfunction of this mechanism.

Sometimes auditory hallucinations are a side effect of certain medications. Thus, certain medications that have psychotropic properties can provoke the appearance of voices in the head. Quite often, such a violation occurs when trying to self-medicate. Therefore, if hallucinations occur, you should consult a doctor and show him a complete list of medications that the patient takes.

Hallucinations can also be caused by alcohol intoxication or delirium. In these cases, it will not be difficult for the doctor to recognize the factor that provoked the disorder.

However, it is necessary to differentiate intoxication from delirium. In the first case, the hallucination occurs at the peak alcohol intoxication, this phenomenon especially often develops when consuming surrogate alcohol, and is quite neutral in nature. With delirium, the patient is bothered by hallucinations of a threatening nature; they occur against the background of alcohol withdrawal after prolonged consumption. Treatment of such disorders is not particularly difficult.

Finally, it is worth considering auditory hallucinations, which are a symptom mental illness. This option disorders are considered the most common and at the same time the most difficult to treat. A patient with mental illness may experience a wide variety of auditory hallucinations. This symptom can develop in schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, Alzheimer's disease and others. pathological conditions.

When searching for the cause of auditory hallucinations, doctors take into account general state body and the presence of other ailments in the patient. So, if patients with complaints of voices and sounds in the head also suffer from cardiovascular diseases, they have been diagnosed with a tumor of the temporal lobe, or a variety of abscesses, then correction of such conditions can help get rid of hallucinations. In addition, such a disorder often develops against the background of temporal arteritis, migraine, ailments of the sensory organs and brain damage.

If you have complaints about auditory hallucinations, you should not panic and immediately think about schizophrenia. Consult a doctor, for example, a general practitioner. He will already refer you to a more specialized specialist, not necessarily a psychiatrist, perhaps to a neurologist or cardiologist. And in some cases, the initial treatment is enough to determine the cause of hallucinations and select the optimal remedy for their correction. Sometimes eliminating certain irritations (for example, stopping medications) is enough to correct the problem.

Thus, auditory hallucinations can occur according to the most various reasons. When they appear, it is better to consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Treatment of auditory hallucinations

Making a diagnosis and determining treatment is the responsibility of a qualified medical personnel. An experienced doctor-therapist must collect the patient’s complaints, analyze the changes occurring with the patient who contacted him.

Moreover, he is not the only one who corrects auditory hallucinations in humans - treatment is prescribed various specialists by field of medicine. In particular, psychiatrists provide assistance. Its task is to eliminate from the patient those drugs that themselves can cause side effects auditory hallucinations and prescription of antidepressants.

A patient using a hearing aid is also advised by a phlebotomist. It happens that replacing the device makes hallucinations disappear.

The patient himself can study advice on Internet resources and check some harmless ways, as in particular, a receiver working around the clock. For some, this technique helps after 3-4 weeks of use. Auditory hallucinations disappear.

Ekaterina, www.site

P.S. The text uses some forms characteristic of oral speech.