Can hallucinations physically harm the individual with schizophrenia?

Hello Ashley,

 What an intriguing but nonenetheless very important question.

( Comment made by me as a non expert but 'very interested' retired doc, non psych.)

Firstly  I would suggest that any immediate physical harm arising to the individual  actually experiencing the hallucination,would most likely occur secondary to powerful fear induced reflex responses ( 'flight or fight') triggered by (eg one scenario ):a scary threatening apparition.

So, yes, a 'natural' avoidance response might mean dashing out into traffic, accelerating dangerously in a car if 'being given chase' (unreal) and many other scenarios where the person would be putting themselves, (and quite  possibly bystanders) in danger.The unreal would be more real than reality This is one situation when obvously hopefully timely external professional intervention would come to the rescue.

The person who asked the question on your blog though may have meant something different??....whether perceived  hallucinatory attacks could cause physical damage directly (toxins,bites, stings eg perhaps) These thoughts would seem to come from  someone with some insight, puzzling, worrying and grappling to make sense of such  distorted perceptions. In that case they would feel very anxious and scared, and might suffer physically from  those natural feelings (fear, sleeplessness, fatigue, heart racing, sweating)

Hopefully they should seek out and gain comfort by networking and professional and family support, and optimal medication.

Just my take on this..

Sorry so long,

Keep, up the good work!

Chris

UK 

PS from Chris

Hello Ashley,

Have just found time to visit your blog again, and read your answer so see I have just echoed the same points albeit less succinctly!

I am wanting to learn more and understand better, as someone 'living alongside'.

While not physical harm exactly, it seems to me a very cruel and disabling effect on someone caught up in the intrusive grips of active psychosis must surely be the disruption of 'life as they know it' and where they are at. (often such crucial stages,college,career,relationships, family, job...)

 Presumably while experiencing frequent hallucinations the usual reassuring stabilising day to day experience,time tracking,'memory laying' and new learning would all be suspended or falsely represented, like a daytime nightmare to negotiate..... Huge courage and effort must be required, whatever else it takeson the road to recovery!!

I often feel it here on this site .....

Hope many visit your blog.Ashley. It is very special, as you must be!

Chris UK

Hi Valash,

I've had this question in a similar vein when I first started blogging for the Connection.

The hallucination is so vivid and feels so real that it is possible to feel you have been "pushed" by someone or something that has pushed you.  Of course this has not actually happened, yet you're convinced it has, possibly due to a self-fulfilling suggestion that you've been pushed.

People have had hallucinations where others are stabbing or spitting on them, and if you're not aware that this isn't real, you could think it's actually happening.

Regards,

Christina