Visual hallucinations in psychiatry - what aren't we seeing?

Objective: To increase awareness of practising clinicians and researchers to the phenomenological distinctions between visual hallucinations and trauma-based, dissociative, visual re-experiencing phenomena seen in psychiatric disease. Conclusions: The experience of visual hallucinations is not exclusive to psychotic disorders in psychiatry. Different forms of experiences that resemble visual hallucinations may occur in patients with a trauma background and may potentially affect diagnosis. Given the paucity of literature around the subject, it is imperative that further research aims to characterise the distinction between visual hallucinations in psychosis and visual phenomena associated with trauma.

Automated summary

This study aims to increase awareness among clinicians and researchers about distinguishing between visual hallucinations and trauma-related visual re-experiencing phenomena. Visual hallucinatory experiences may not be exclusive to psychiatric disorders, as similar experiences can occur in trauma patients and potentially affect diagnosis. Further research is needed to characterize the differences between visual hallucinations in psychosis and trauma-associated visual phenomena.