Posted by margaretmarburg on July 28, 2001, at 4:08:42
In reply to Re: Hallucinating, Dissociating? - HELP!, posted by Elizabeth on July 27, 2001, at 20:58:19
> > I have on two occasions, seen what I thought were bugs on the wall and on my shower curtain. They seem to shimmer or sparkle or flash in many colors before my eyes and during the time, I believe that they are real.
> That goes beyond hallucination into the realm of delusion.
It depends. When my migraines first appear, I believe at first that there's something going on outside me (e.g., at first I think that the words in a book I'm reading are printed incorrectly, rather than that I'm experiencing a negative scotoma). It's only after I realize it's a migraine that I know it's "in my head." This is not a delusion. It's misinterpretation in my visual processing areas.
I doubt thinking hallucinations are "real" is inherently delusional. The brain automatically interprets inputs as external or internal, and if it misinterprets a signal as external, most people would think it was "real."
If you persist in that belief when the evidence accumulates that you're hallucinating - that'd be delusional. If Katt said now that the shimmering bugs were real, that would seem delusional to me.
On the other hand, to be perfecty honest I don't think I've ever mistaken a clear positive scotoma for reality (unlike negative scotomas). At least not for more than a second or two. and Katt says she saw them for a full 20 seconds and was clearly terrified - that seems like maybe it's more a hallucination than a scotoma, but maybe not (I've never had a positive scotoma look like anything I COULD interpret as real, like a bug). Whatever the case, it still doesn't strike me as delusional.
poster:margaretmarburg
thread:71917
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010725/msgs/72208.html