A Comparative Study of Nature and Types of Hallucination Across Different Kinds of Psychosis
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ISSN 2394 - 2053 (Print) ISSN 2394 - 2061 (Online) www.ojpas.com A comparative study of nature and types of hallucination across different kinds of psychosis Dhrubajyoti Bhuyan1, Abstract Sandipan Nayek2, Hiranya Saikia3 Introduction: Hallucination is a fundamental psychiatric symptom often regarded as 1Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, a hallmark of psychosis. It can be found in schizophrenia, other psychoses (including Assam Medical College & Hospital, Dibrugarh, delusional disorder, acute and transient psychosis, post-partum psychosis), affective Assam, India, 2Post Graduate Trainee, disorders, dementia, substance induced psychotic disorders, and delirium. Department of Psychiatry, Assam Medical Aims and objective: This study is a systematic attempt to study and compare College & Hospital, Dibrugarh, Assam, India, the nature and types of hallucination across three different study groups, namely 3Senior Lecturer (Biostatistics), Department of schizophrenia, mania, and other psychosis. Community Medicine, Assam Medical College Materials and methods: The study was conducted in a total of 90 randomly & Hospital, Dibrugarh, Assam, India selected patients of schizophrenia, mania, and other psychotic disorders, i.e. 30 in each study group. The nature and types of hallucination were assessed by using the Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). Results and observation: Hallucination was found in 66.67% cases of Correspondence: Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bhuyan, schizophrenia and 53.33% cases of other psychosis while in case of mania only Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, 13.33% had hallucination. Hallucinations of schizophrenia were more prominent Assam Medical College & Hospital, with frequency of hallucination being present every weeks. In majority of cases of Barbari, Dibrugarh-786002, Assam, India. schizophrenia (53.33%) and other psychosis (33.33%), sound was more or less like [email protected] real voices whereas special quality of sound (not much like real voices) was found in majority of mania (ten per cent) patients. Received: 3 August 2016 Revised: 1 November 2016 Conclusion: In mania, auditory hallucination is comparatively rare as compared to Accepted: 2 November 2016 schizophrenia or other psychosis. Hallucinations in schizophrenia were found to be Epub: 12 November 2016 more mood incongruent as compared to mania and other psychosis. Keywords: Schizophrenia. Mania. Delusional Disorder. Introduction bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. In a series of 100 current patients experiencing auditory hallucinations, Hallucination is defi ned as a perception without an object by all of which were described as ‘hearing voices’, 61 suff ered Esquirol in 1817. According to Jaspers in 1962, hallucination from schizophrenia and 78 from schizophrenia-related is a false perception which is neither a sensory distortion conditions.[3] Auditory hallucinations occur when there is a nor a sensory misinterpretation but occurs simultaneously combination of vivid mental imagery and poor reality testing with and alongside real perception. Hallucination is a in the auditory modality.[4] Some auditory hallucinations are fundamental symptom in psychiatry. Conventionally, considered to be ‘fi rst rank symptoms of schizophrenia’;[5] hallucination is counted as a psychotic feature. But it these are audible thoughts, voices heard arguing with each can be found in a variety of conditions. It can be found other, and voices commenting on the patient’s behaviour. in schizophrenia, other psychoses (including delusional Visual hallucinations are characteristically found in organic disorder, acute and transient psychosis, postpartum states but rarely can be found in functional psychoses. Visual psychosis), aff ective disorders, hallucinations induced by hallucinations occur in occipital lobe tumours involving the psychoactive substances, delirium tremens and organic visual cortex,[6] Alzheimer’s disease,[7] senile dementia,[8] delirium, borderline personality disorder, posttraumatic multi-infarct dementia,[9] Pick’s disease,[10] and Huntington’s stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, chorea.[11] It can be also found in elderly patients with a wide Parkinson’s disease, eye problems (visual hallucination). Th e variety of medical conditions even without any psychiatric International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia (IPSS) estimated history.[12] Olfactory hallucinations occur in schizophrenia, that 70% of schizophrenia patients experience hallucinations in epilepsy, and in some other organic states. Hypnagogic and at some point of their illness.[1] Th e most common type of hypnopompic hallucinations are perceptions that occur while hallucinations in schizophrenia are auditory, followed by going to sleep (hypnagogic) and on waking (hypnopompic). visual. Olfactory, tactile, and gustatory hallucinations are Various types of hallucination are found across diff erent found less frequently.[2] Auditory verbal hallucination is kinds of psychosis, each of which has its individual clinical a cardinal feature of psychosis but it is not uncommon in signifi cance:[13] Bhuyan et al.: Hallucination of psychosis a) Hallucination is considered as a core psychotic symptom Methodology in both tenth revision of the International Statistical Classifi cation of Diseases and Related Health Problems Th e study was carried out in the Department of Psychiatry, (ICD-10)[14] and the fi ft h edition of the Diagnostic and Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh for a Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).[15] period of one year, i.e. from June 2014 to May 2015 with b) Auditory hallucinations of thought echo, voices due permission from the Institutional Ethical Committee. discussing him between themselves, and running It was a cross-sectional study involving a total of 90 patients commentary type (all form part of Schneider’s fi rst rank with 30 each in schizophrenia, mania, and other psychotic symptoms) form the basis of diagnosing schizophrenia disorders. according to ICD-10. c) Kinaesthetic hallucinations can be diagnostic of a rare Sample selection variety of schizophrenia. Th e sample for the study was collected from the patients d) Alcoholic hallucinosis is very diffi cult to diff erentiate admitted to the Department of Psychiatry, Assam Medical from schizophrenia phenomenologically. College and Hospital, Dibrugarh. Th e cases were selected by e) Auditory hallucinations are the commonest type using systematic random sampling, i.e. every third case was of hallucination in all groups except organic brain selected for the study. syndromes, where visual hallucinations predominate. Schizophrenia is characterised by fundamental and Inclusion criteria characteristic distortions of thinking and perception, and by inappropriate or blunted aff ect with clear consciousness • Patients meeting ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia and intellectual capacity. In schizophrenia, auditory • Patients fulfi lling the ICD-10 criteria for diagnosis of hallucination is common especially the Schneiderian fi rst manic episode and bipolar aff ective disorder current rank symptoms as mentioned above. Persistent delusional episode manic disorder includes a variety of disorders in which either • Other psychotic disorder includes persistent delusional a single delusion or a set of related delusions constitute disorder, acute and transient psychosis, and unspecifi ed the only, or the most conspicuous, clinical characteristic. non-organic psychotic disorders Although clear and persistent auditory hallucination • Only patients not having altered level of consciousness (voices) is incompatible with this diagnosis, occasional or were included in the study transitory auditory hallucinations, particularly in elderly • Patients who were able to cooperate and complete the patients, do not rule out this diagnosis. Acute and transient procedure were taken up for the study psychotic disorder is an acute psychotic disorder in which • Age 18 years and above hallucinations, delusions, and perceptual disturbances are • Both the sexes. obvious but markedly variable, changing from day to day or even from hour to hour with frequent presence of emotional Exclusion criteria turmoil. Sometimes typical schizophrenic symptoms are • Schizoaff ective disorder also present (acute polymorphic psychotic disorder with • Rapid cycling aff ective disorder symptoms of schizophrenia and acute schizophrenia-like • Induced delusional disorder psychotic disorder). In mania or bipolar aff ective disorder • Schizotypal disorder current episode manic, the hallucination may be mood • Coexisting systemic physical illness, e.g. septicaemia or congruent or incongruent. Th ough there were several other acute infection attempts to study the psychiatric phenomenology in various • Mental subnormality psychotic groups by various authors, very few such attempts have been made in our part of the country. Moreover the • Comorbid substance use disorder psychiatric phenomenon is subjected to socioeconomic • Uncooperative, unmanageable patients. and cultural variation. Th ere are various instruments for assessment of such psychopathological phenomenon like Tools used the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS),[16] the Positive • Semi-structured proforma for socio-demographic and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS),[17] etc. which have variables use in various clinical and research purposes for a long time • Th e ICD-10 Classifi cation of Mental and Behavioural but the assessment of the