Posted by R.Anne on October 18, 2000, at 22:14:43
In reply to What are hallucinations?, posted by GLYN on October 18, 2000, at 19:09:20
> Since I have been suffering from anxiety and taking citalopram I have occasionaly had blurring of vision and objects do sometimes appear a little hazy or seem to even vibrate ever so slightly. Its happens when I am in a panic usually. IS this an hallucination and does it indictae something more than anxiety or is this an affect of the medication or even just adrenelin. Do psychotics actualy see whole things as real as life when they dont exist in such as a way as they would swaer they really are there or is it similar to my experiences?
>
> Also, I sometimes get terrified I'm going crazy or even worry about silly things to an amazing extent - is this a dellusion?***
That sounds like obsessing and not a dellusion.
***OR is a dellusion a complete and total conviction of something unreasonable by contemptorary standars and to what extent are cultural beleifs taken into account by the medical profession?
***
I think that cultural beliefs are woven into some mental problems. In different cultures hallucinations and delusions can take forms that fit within the specific culture. For example, someone who is Christian may have hallucinations that he or she sees Jesus Christ while someone who is Muslim may see Ala (not sure of the spelling). I believe that the delusions would work the same way. I believe the medical community has knowledge of this.
+++I once knew a Christina who was convinced that demons were everywhere - this is normal for some types of CHristians
and is what is taught in some churches so is this a dellusion or is it just a sub-cultural belief that is "normal" for those within that environment?
***
I believe that it depends on the context. If the person saw actual demons that is not normal. If they perceived evilness as demons as in a metaphorical sense that can be more normal.
***>
> What I really mean by the last point is what is realty anyway? How can we say that we have lost touch with realty when realty is experienced so differently by different groups of people. If a person beleives something or sees a thing which others do not is this just a mark of their individuality and their own subjective perceptions of a world in which few of us agree on much.
>
> I have both a personal and academic interest in this.
***
Very interesting topic. I'm sure that illnesses or abnormalty (based on what is not the norm with most)do take on a subjective form based somewhat on the history of the person. I've heard that some dismiss it as nonsensical because they don't know how to make sense of it. But I know there are others who try to make sense of it, too. The difficult part is that when someone is hallucinating they have a hard time distinguishing it from reality and it is difficult to communicate with them and vise-versa. I'm sure there are some who have a talent to deal with such things. Those are my thoughts and I believe there is more information out there on it.
poster:R.Anne
thread:46711
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/46725.html