Characteristics Of Auditory Hallucinations Research Articles

Mismatch Negativity to Multiple Deviants are Associated With Different Features of Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

Auditory hallucinations (AHs) are a key symptom of schizophrenia (SZ) that cause functional impairment and distress. Even with antipsychotic medication interventions, 25% of patients continue to experience AHs. Research into the underlying neuronal mechanisms of AHs may aid in developing alternative treatments. The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an auditory event-related potential that represents preattentive detection of stimulus deviance. MMN deficits are prominent in SZ and have been associated with greater AH frequency. MMN deficits may be related to specific features of AHs, which have yet to be extensively assessed.

Characteristics of auditory hallucinations in Indian patients with schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

Background:Auditory verbal hallucinations are not a unitary phenomenon and can be further differentiated into certain clinical characteristics, viz., frequency, intensity, control, tone, distractibility, distress, and clarity. These clinical characteristics manifest in varying degrees in different psychiatric disorders.Aim:To study the characteristics of auditory hallucinations in Indian patients with schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.Materials and Methods:By purposive sampling, 140 patients of schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder each were included in the study. Subjects were assessed cross-sectionally using sociodemographic proforma and characteristics of auditory hallucination scale.Results:Characteristics of auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia patients were significantly different from those of bipolar affective disorder patients in the domains of frequency, intensity, tone, self-control, clarity, distractibility, and distress.Conclusion:Characteristics of auditory hallucinations differ in all domains between schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder.

Internal versus external auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: symptom and course correlates

Introduction. The auditory hallucinations associated with schizophrenia are phenomenologically diverse. “External” hallucinations classically have been considered to reflect more severe psychopathology than “internal” hallucinations, but empirical support has been equivocal.Methods. We examined associations of “internal” versus “external” hallucinations with (1) other characteristics of the hallucinations, (2) severity of other symptoms and (3) course of illness variables, in a sample of 97 stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who experienced auditory hallucinations.Results. Patients with internal hallucinations did not differ from those with external hallucinations on severity of other symptoms. However, they reported their hallucinations to be more emotionally negative, distressing and long-lasting, less controllable and less likely to remit over time. They also were more likely to experience voices commenting, conversing or commanding. However, they also were more likely to have insight into the self-generated nature of their voices. Patients with internal hallucinations were not older, but had a later age of illness onset.Conclusions. Differences in characteristics of auditory hallucinations are associated with differences in other characteristics of the disorder, and hence may be relevant to identifying subgroups of patients that are more homogeneous with respect to their underlying disease processes.

Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations and Associated Factors in Older Adults with Schizophrenia

To examine the characteristics of auditory verbal hallucinations and associated factors in older adults with schizophrenia. One hundred ninety-eight persons aged 55 and older living in the community who had developed schizophrenia before age 45 years were assessed for the presence, topography, content, and subjective qualities of auditory hallucinations. George's social antecedent model of psychopathology was used to examine 17 predictor variables of auditory hallucinations. Thirty-two percent experienced auditory verbal hallucinations. More than half heard voices daily, heard good/pleasant voices, or had command hallucinations; 25% obeyed "bad" voices, whereas 87% obeyed "good" voices. There were no significant differences in depression and social functioning between persons judging their voices to be good versus bad. In logistic regression analysis, depressive symptoms, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale delusion score (>2), and male gender were associated with auditory verbal hallucinations. Older adults with schizophrenia had a lower rate of auditory verbal hallucinations than had been reported previously for younger persons with schizophrenia. For most features of auditory verbal hallucinations, older adults had similar rates to younger persons. However, older adults were more apt to judge their voices as good and more likely to obey the good voices than those voices perceived as bad. From a clinical standpoint, this may be construed as a potentially useful coping strategy. However, subjective judgments about voices did not significantly affect mood or functioning, and the presence of auditory verbal hallucinations was associated with more depressive symptoms.

Current perspectives on the mechanisms of auditory hallucinations: introduction to the special research topic

Current perspectives on the mechanisms of auditory hallucinations: introduction to the special research topic

The Brain Bases of Phantom Auditory Phenomena: From Tinnitus to Hearing Voices

The phenomenology and neural bases of phantom auditory perceptions are reviewed. A variety of phantom auditory phenomena are discussed, from tinnitus to hearing voices. It is claimed that the phenomenology or qualia of the hallucinatory experience may correspond to how the auditory system is organized into functional regions (neural architecture) and how auditory percepts are represented at the single neuron level within this system. There may be a one-to-one correspondence between the type of experience (e.g., hearing a tone versus hearing a voice) and the representational qualities or aspects of sound representation in different parts of the auditory and speech processing stream or system. The literature does not support the supposition that certain features of auditory hallucinations correspond to either neurological or psychiatric disease. Clinical aspects of auditory hallucinations also are discussed that may be of interest to clinical practitioners with patients who have auditory hallucinations.

Structural and dynamic features of verbal hallucinosis in organic lesions of the frontal region of the brain

A large number of works are devoted to the problem of studying auditory hallucinations. However, it would be wrong to believe that the issues related to this problem have been finally resolved. So, the features of auditory hallucinations in organic brain damage of various localization, in particular the frontal region, have not been sufficiently studied. Focal lesions of the frontal region are characterized by a variety of mental disorders related to the pathology of not only individual aspects of mental activity, but also consciousness and personality. The defeat of the frontal lobes is accompanied by disorders not only of the direct functions of this area, but also of other cerebral systems that disrupt their work due to changes in the impact of frontal mechanisms on these systems. With the defeat of the frontal lobes, hallucinations of various modalities occur, which are true. They usually arise simultaneously in several areas of the senses - auditory, olfactory, visual. Until now, data on auditory hallucinations in organic lesions of the frontal region of the brain, firstly, have not been generalized, and secondly, they have not been systematized.

Perceptual Characteristics Distinguishing Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia and Acute Alcoholic Psychoses

By means of a questionnaire the authors compared the characteristics of auditory hallucinations experienced by 45 schizophrenics and those experienced by 18 patients with alcoholic hallucinosis. The alcoholics' hallucinations were localized in space and had a greater frequency than those of the schizophrenics; the frequency was relatively independent of emotional state. The schizophrenics' hallucinations had a cognitive taint, were poorly localized, and showed a sensitivity to emotional arousal.