Grief Hallucinations: True or Pseudo? Serious or Not?

Baethge, Christopher

doi:10.1159/000067067

Cited by 37 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…As these hallucinatory experiences occur during times of excessive emotion, confusion can come about, often resulting in reports of the person believing their spouse is actually present (Grimby, 1993). Hallucinations occurring out of bereavement have not been found to ascribe to any definitions of pseudo-hallucinations (Baethge, 2002). Similarly, they do not meet any diagnostic criteria for psychological disorders.…”

Section: Hallucinatory Experiences In the Elderlymentioning

confidence: 99%

A comprehensive review of auditory verbal hallucinations: lifetime prevalence, correlates and mechanisms in healthy and clinical individuals

Leede-Smith¹,

Barkus²

2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

166

131

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Over the years, the prevalence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) have been documented across the lifespan in varied contexts, and with a range of potential long-term outcomes. Initially the emphasis focused on whether AVHs conferred risk for psychosis. However, recent research has identified significant differences in the presentation and outcomes of AVH in patients compared to those in non-clinical populations. For this reason, it has been suggested that auditory hallucinations are an entity by themselves and not necessarily indicative of transition along the psychosis continuum. This review will examine the presentation of auditory hallucinations across the life span, as well as in various clinical groups. The stages described include childhood, adolescence, adult non-clinical populations, hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences, high schizotypal traits, schizophrenia, substance induced AVH, AVH in epilepsy, and AVH in the elderly. In children, need for care depends upon whether the child associates the voice with negative beliefs, appraisals and other symptoms of psychosis. This theme appears to carry right through to healthy voice hearers in adulthood, in which a negative impact of the voice usually only exists if the individual has negative experiences as a result of their voice(s). This includes features of the voices such as the negative content, frequency, and emotional valence as well as anxiety and depression, independently or caused by voices presence. It seems possible that the mechanisms which maintain AVH in non-clinical populations are different from those which are behind AVH presentations in psychotic illness. For example, the existence of maladaptive coping strategies in patient populations is one significant difference between clinical and non-clinical groups which is associated with a need for care. Whether or not these mechanisms start out the same and have differential trajectories is not yet evidenced. Future research needs to focus on the comparison of underlying factors and mechanisms that lead to the onset of AVH in both patient and non-clinical populations.

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Section: Hallucinatory Experiences In the Elderlymentioning

confidence: 99%

A comprehensive review of auditory verbal hallucinations: lifetime prevalence, correlates and mechanisms in healthy and clinical individuals

Leede-Smith¹,

Barkus²

2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

166

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Hallucinations of a loved one are common following bereavement (45–47). They are typically comforting and do not impair functioning (45, 46) (although see (47)); thus, hallucinations may not be abnormal per se . Non-clinical hallucinations also occur in the general population (48–52).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hallucinations as Top-Down Effects on Perception

Powers

Kelley

Corlett

2016

Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging

113

121

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The problem of whether and how information is integrated across hierarchical brain networks embodies a fundamental tension in contemporary cognitive neuroscience, and by extension, cognitive neuropsychiatry. Indeed, the penetrability of perceptual processes in a ‘top-down’ manner by higher-level cognition—a natural extension of hierarchical models of perception—may contradict a strictly modular view of mental organization. Furthermore, some in the cognitive science community have challenged cognitive penetration as an unlikely, if not impossible, process. We review the evidence for and against top-down influences in perception, informed by a predictive coding model of perception and drawing heavily upon the literature of computational neuroimaging. We extend these findings to propose a way in which these processes may be altered in mental illness. We propose that hallucinations - perceptions without stimulus - can be understood as top-down effects on perception, mediated by inappropriate perceptual priors.

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“…One study [51] of bereaved spouses found about half of participants had experienced post bereavement hallucinations, mostly auditory and visual, and sensed the presence of the deceased. A few non-nursing related studies explored grief hallucinations [52,53] and complicated grief [54]. These few studies begin to legitimize an understanding that grief responses can burden persons and manifest in hearing voices.…”

Section: Relevance To Nursingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voice hearing over time: A qualitative study of a woman without a psychiatric diagnosis

Talseth¹,

Gilje²,

Kalhovde³

2012

OJN

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Voice hearing, a complex perceptual phenomenon, is reportedly common in the general population yet understudied in nursing. Nurses meet voice hearers from diverse cultures; their understandings influence assessment. The aim was to explore voice hearing in everyday life in a non-patient population, revealing insights for assessing voice hearing. Method: Interview data was transcribed, translated into English and analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Outcome measures are thematic descriptions. Results: Voice hearing over time involved past (about year 2000) and recent (2009) time periods. Four main themes were: “Transitioning from not-being-at home when home alone to being at-home”, “Shifting overtime from frequent, repetitive voice hearing to inferquent intermittent voice hearing overtime”, “Changing from being disempowered to being empowered” and “Progressing from absence of significant others to presence of significant others”. Study Limitations: Interviewing a single participant residing in Scandinavia produced in-depth descriptions consistent with the study’s aim. The participant had no known psychiatric diagnosis and had not received mental health care when recruited and interviewed. However, we cannot be certain that her voice hearing was or was not non-pathological which raises issues concerning truth value of the study. Conclusions: The results reflect life world existential themes of lived time, lived space, lived body and lived human relation, and offers a framework for guiding and challenging nurses’ assessments of voice hearing. Voice hearing can be understood as a bereavement-grief response. Further research is needed in western and non-western cultures and non-patient populations

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Grief Hallucinations: True or Pseudo? Serious or Not?

Cited by 37 publications

References 17 publications

A comprehensive review of auditory verbal hallucinations: lifetime prevalence, correlates and mechanisms in healthy and clinical individuals

A comprehensive review of auditory verbal hallucinations: lifetime prevalence, correlates and mechanisms in healthy and clinical individuals

Hallucinations as Top-Down Effects on Perception

Voice hearing over time: A qualitative study of a woman without a psychiatric diagnosis

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