Centre for Mental Health, Faculty of Health, Arts & Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Centre for Mental Health, Faculty of Health, Arts & Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia; Alfred Health, Melbourne, Australia.
Psychiatry Res. 2020 Jul;289:112987. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112987. Epub 2020 May 19.
Phenomenological studies involving hallucinations in non-clinical populations have been relatively neglected, especially within the non-auditory realm. Relevant knowledge would help further a more nuanced understanding of the psychosis continuum. Participants (N=33) were non-clinical voice-hearers, who have experienced auditory verbal hallucinations, but with no known mental health diagnosis and not taking any prescribed psychiatric medications. A comprehensive hallucinations phenomenology interview was conducted to assess physical, cognitive and emotional characteristics of hallucinatory experiences across sensory domains. Mixed methods analysis was employed. Characteristics of reported AVHs were mostly in agreement with existing knowledge, though some deviations did exist (e.g. controllability). In addition, 50%, 24% and 29% of our voice-hearing sample experienced hallucinations in the visual, tactile and olfactory domains at least once a week. In contrast, delusions and disordered thinking were rare. Qualitative thematic analysis yielded added phenomenological insights into contextual triggers as well as the content and perceived purpose(s) of multisensory hallucinations. Our findings highlight lesser-reported data that hallucinations in non-auditory domains are relatively frequent in non-clinical voice-hearers. However, other psychotic-like symptoms (i.e. delusions and thought disorder) seem less common. These insights should be considered in the context of the psychosis continuum argument.
现象学研究涉及非临床人群的幻觉，但相对忽视了这一领域，尤其是非听觉领域。相关知识将有助于更细致地理解精神病连续性。参与者（N=33）为非临床幻听者，他们经历过听觉言语幻觉，但没有已知的精神健康诊断，也没有服用任何规定的精神科药物。进行了全面的幻觉现象学访谈，以评估跨感觉域的幻觉体验的身体、认知和情感特征。采用混合方法分析。报告的听觉幻觉的特征与现有知识大多一致，但也存在一些偏差（例如可控性）。此外，我们的幻听样本中有 50%、24%和 29%的人每周至少一次在视觉、触觉和嗅觉领域经历幻觉。相比之下，妄想和思维紊乱很少见。定性主题分析为上下文触发因素以及多感官幻觉的内容和感知目的提供了更多的现象学见解。我们的研究结果强调了在非临床幻听者中，非听觉领域的幻觉相对频繁出现，但其他类精神病症状（即妄想和思维障碍）则不太常见。这些见解应在精神病连续性论点的背景下加以考虑。
