Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1088-1097
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Hallucinations: theoretical and clinical overview
G Asaad and B Shapiro
The authors review the literature on hallucinations; provide theoretical
background on these phenomena from physiological, biochemical, and
psychological points of view; and discuss the presentations of
hallucinations in different diagnostic categories. The longstanding notion
that hallucinations are to be equated with schizophrenia, they conclude, is
clearly unfounded, and hallucinations are never pathognomonic of any given
disorder but can be relatively specific for some conditions. Current
knowledge and methods of research have produced no single mechanism to
account for the etiology or pathogenesis of hallucinations. The authors
present an integrated approach toward viewing the etiology and clinical
presentation of hallucinations that involves concepts of biological
vulnerability and psychological influences.
