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Hallucinations beyond Voices: A Conceptual Review of the Phenomenology of Altered Perception in Psychosis

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posted on 2024-08-06, 11:54 authored by Elizabeth Pienkos, Anne Giersch, Marie Hansen, Clara Humpston, Simon McCarthy-Jones, Aaron Mishara, Barnaby Nelson, Sohee Park, Andrea Raballo, Rajiv Sharma, Neil ThomasNeil Thomas, Cherise Rosen
Recent psychiatric research and treatment initiatives have tended to move away from traditional diagnostic categories and have focused instead on transdiagnostic phenomena, such as hallucinations. However, this emphasis on isolated experiences may artificially limit the definition of such phenomena and ignore the rich, complex, and dynamic changes occurring simultaneously in other domains of experience. This article reviews the literature on a range of experiential features associated with psychosis, with a focus on their relevance for hallucinations. Phenomenological research on changes in cognition, perception, selfhood and reality, temporality, interpersonal experience, and embodiment are discussed, along with their implications for traditional conceptualizations of hallucinations. We then discuss several phenomenological and neurocognitive theories, as well as the potential impact of trauma on these phenomena. Hallucinations are suggested to be an equifinal outcome of multiple genetic, neurocognitive, subjective, and social processes; by grouping them together under a single, operationalizable definition, meaningful differences in etiology and phenomenology may be ignored. It is suggested that future research efforts strive to incorporate a broader range of experiential alterations, potentially expanding on traditional definitions of hallucinations. Relevance for clinical practice, including emphasizing phenomenologically responsive techniques and developing targeted new therapies, is discussed.

Funding

United States Public Health Service

National Institute of Mental Health

European Commission

History

Available versions

PDF (Published version)

ISSN

1745-1701

Journal title

Schizophrenia Bulletin

Volume

45

Issue

1

Pagination

10 pp

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Copyright statement

Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Language

eng

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