Schizophrenia awareness month prompt challenge day 3 - hallucinations
Hallucinations means experiencing sensory input which isn’t actually there. The most common example is hearing voices, but hallucinations can affect all senses - they can be visual (seeing things that aren’t there), auditory (hearing things that aren’t there), tactile (feeling things that aren’t there), olfactory (smelling things that aren’t there), and gustatory (tasting things that aren’t there). Hallucinations are heavily associated with schizophrenia but can also occur in a variety of other mental illnesses. With the help of my followers, I have collected a bunch of tips and strategies for dealing with and coping with hallucinations!
Remind yourself that even though you can see/hear/feel/etc these things, they aren’t real and they can’t hurt you. You’re safe - your brain is just messing with you.
Engage with something you know is real and focus your attention on that.
Activate a different sense - preferable the sense that is most connected to reality. As an example, if you’re having visual hallucinations, put on some music, close your eyes and focus on that, or if you’re having auditory hallucinations, put on a movie and try to focus on that instead of the voices.
Practice grounding exercises (preferably with the senses that are best connected to reality) and focus your attention onto what you know is real. (This post contains many good suggestions.)
Distract yourself with something you enjoy - play a video game, exercise, watch a movie or a tv show, play with your pets, talk to a friend, make art - your hallucinations will likely still be there, but they won’t have your full attention and will thus be less distressing.
Try to block out the hallucinations by providing some real sensory input for the same sense. As an example, if you’re hearing voices, put on loud music and sing along, and if you’re having tactile hallucinations, take a shower.
Moving/doing something active might help divert your attention from the hallucinations. Stim, pace, exercise or go for a run!
If you have a pet that usually reacts when something unusual happens, use them as reassurance. If they aren’t reacting, it’s likely a hallucination.
Use your hallucinations as creative inspiration. Write, draw, paint, make music - it can be a great way to express yourself and your experiences and let out frustration.
If there’s any places/comfort items that makes you feel safe or safer, go there and use them. If you feel that your hallucinations can’t hurt you in the bedroom, when the lights are on or when you’re under your favorite blanket, go to your bedroom, turn on all the lights and hide under your favorite blanket. It may seem silly, but do what you need to feel safe.
If you’re on anti psychotic medication, take it as prescribed. Anti psychotic medication can often reduce or even control hallucinations.
If you’re not on anti psychotics and your hallucinations are causing you a lot of distress and are impairing your ability to function, consider trying them. They do often significantly reduce psychotic symptoms.
If you have some as needed/emergency medication and your hallucinations are really bad, take your prescribed dosage. It may help on your symptoms.
If you doubt whether what you’re hearing is a hallucination, try to record it with your phone. If it doesn’t show up on the recording, it isn’t real. If your hallucinations makes it hard for you to hear what’s actually on the recording, play the recording for someone else and ask what they hear.
You can also put on music to test if it’s a hallucination or not - if your music is loud and the voices are still clear, you know it’s a hallucination. Music can also help you distract yourself as it provides real auditory input that you can focus on.
If your voices are mean, imagine that they’re coming from an edgy, pathetic teenage boy who’s doing his best to provoke you by purposely being rude and unpleasant. Mock him (or her) right back and react with as much irrelevance and sarcasm as if it was 13 year old Brandon who was trying to tell you to kill yourself.
Find some real auditory input to focus on to distract yourself and tune out the hallucinations - put on loud music and sing along, listen to a podcast or the radio or call a friend.
If you’re alone, talk back to them. Tell them why they’re wrong and that you won’t be listening to them. Cuss them out and mock them. This will probably not make the voices stop, but it can be a good way to relieve the frustration they cause.
If you doubt whether what you’re seeing is a hallucination, take a picture of it with your phone. If it doesn’t show up in the picture, it isn’t real.
If you wear glasses, take them off. If what you’re looking at is still clear, it’s a hallucination.
Try to think of your hallucinations as friends. Tell them random shit about your day and what you’re doing and if they’re recurring, name them. Treating your hallucinations like friends will likely make them much less scary.
Applying heat or cold can in some cases help reduce tactile hallucinations, so try to take a cold or a very hot shower or apply a heating pack/ice pack to the affected area.
Substituting the sensation you’re hallucinating with another sensation can also help, so try taking tight clothes on or curling up tightly under a heavy blanket. Applying pressure/sensation by touching yourself in the affected areas and otherwise providing a new, real, physical sensation often helps.
Gustatory hallucinations:
Ask someone to taste the food you’re eating - if they don’t taste anything that’s off, you can be sure that the weird taste is only happening in your head.
Eat food with other people. If you’re all eating from the same bowl/menu and nobody else taste what you taste, you can reassure yourself that it’s a hallucination and that your food is fine.
Prepare your food from the bottom so that you know that nothing’s wrong with it.
Olfactory hallucinations:
Ask someone else if they smell it too - if they don’t, it’s likely a hallucination.
Block the smell out with something else, like a nice smelling lotion, a scented candle or some perfume.
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