This refers to perceiving sensations that are not caused by 'real' external stimuli:

• Hearing noises or voices
• Smelling strange odours
• Tasting flavours without any obvious cause
• Feeling touch sensations when there is no external cause (this can be a trigger for Violence in a Paranoid client.)
• Seeing things that are not there.

One of the commonest causes of hallucinations is acute intoxication with Substances, but they may also be a result of serious illness such as Psychosis, or other Physical Health matters, or of very high levels of Anxiety.

Some hallucinations are part of normal experience - although these may often be understood as "misinterpretations" of ordinary perceptions - such as thinking that you hear someone call your name in the street. At the point of falling asleep, or waking up, some people without any psychiatric illness have 'true hallucinations' (known as hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations).

Any such symptoms may well require assessment by a psychiatrist, and should be discussed in your SupervisoryStructures.