Verbal hallucinations in normals, V: perceived reality characteristics

Abstract

The perceived reality characteristics of verbal hallucinations reported by 24 college students were examined and compared to those of 20 hallucinating schizophrenic patients. The reality characteristics examined were the seven proposed by Aggernaes [Aggernaes, A. (1972). The experienced reality of hallucinations and other psychological phenomena. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 48, 220–238]. These characteristics were assessed for the first verbal hallucination ever experienced and for the most recent verbal hallucination. There was no differential pattern of positive reality characteristics between the two groups for the first verbal hallucination. However for the most recent verbal hallucination, schizophrenic patients were less likely than college students to report the positive reality characteristic of Publicness and more likely than college students to report the positive reality characteristic of Involuntarily. It was suggested that the verbal hallucinations reported by college students meet the requirements of the definition of hallucinations. Mechanisms potentially responsible for the production of hallucinations associated with normal consciousness were discussed and differences between psychotic and non-psychotic hallucinations were explored.