Posted by paxvox on April 7, 2003, at 18:37:59
In reply to Re: how does one know if they're hallucinating » Dreamerz, posted by Dinah on April 7, 2003, at 18:20:34
OK, I assume you ARE being serious Dr.? I cannot say from a clinical psychiatric viewpoint, however, I am a child of the early 70's so........
So, I guess that the two might be related somehow. How would one tell? That's hard, as I have encountered people in a "separate reality" (read the book by the same name for more insight Carlos Castanotos I think). The FEW times I had hallucinations that were induced by outside influence, I knew what I saw was not real, however, in my altered perception, it did not really matter. They WERE real then. Reality in general in not as objective a thing as we would like to believe. Human nature clearly demonstrates that some of us have NO CLUE who or where we are for most of our lives. I have gone days in a daze (not drug induced this time) where I felt totally dissassociated, even to the degeree that I wasn't "me". These generally were preceeded by or led to panic attacks, which were terribly scarey times. I have not had one since I have been on benzos (attacks). I still get that "feeling" sometimes, however, when I just know things aren't right. My perception is definitely affected. I get a flushed then tingly feeling (like the creeps, I guess) then feel as if I have had a few beers (as in my thinking is cloudy and my reactions are slow). So, to parallel this to hallucinations. I KNOW when I am having one of these "phasings", and I KNOW that I will eventually return to "normal". I guess it may be the same way for those with minimally affected disorders. However, for the truly delusional psychotic, they probably don't know that they are hallucinating. Perception is reality, even in our world of psychosis.
PAXor is it?
poster:paxvox
thread:217111
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030407/msgs/217129.html