Hallucinations

CLINICAL DIAGNOSTIC MANUAL

Hallucinations are sensory perceptions that occur without a real external stimulus, affecting any of the five senses, although auditory and visual hallucinations are the most common in clinical contexts.

These experiences can be extremely vivid and convincing for the person experiencing them, causing significant disruption to their daily life.

Hallucinations can be symptoms of various mental, neurological, and medical disorders, and their presence requires a thorough evaluation to identify the underlying cause and plan appropriate treatment.

Pathology	Symptoms and Clinical Signs	Suspected Diagnosis	Confirmed Diagnosis
Mania	Elevated or irritable mood, increased energy, reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts	Episodes of exaggeratedly optimistic or irritable behaviour, accompanied by hallucinations	Clinical evaluation, DSM-5 criteria
Hypomania	Similar to mania but less severe, not significantly interfering with daily life	Episodes of increased energy and euphoria, not reaching the severity of mania, possible hallucinations	Clinical evaluation, DSM-5 criteria
Acute schizophrenia	Auditory or visual hallucinations, delusions, disorganised speech, odd behaviour	Persistent psychotic symptoms interfering with daily life	Clinical evaluation, patient history, DSM-5 criteria
Major psychotic depression	Severe depressed mood, mood-congruent hallucinations, feelings of worthlessness or guilt	Deep depression with psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions	Clinical evaluation, DSM-5 criteria, depression scales