Psychological basis for hallucinating

An intense phobia could trigger someone to hear or think they see the object of their fear, as in snakes. Any kind of anxiety disorder would mean that triggering aspects of the environment that remind the character of snakes would set off a panic attack and physiological symptoms. Feeling constricted fits well with a panic attack and you could argue that smelling or feeling a creeping sensation on the skin could also fit well with having an anxiety attack. Does he see a physical snake in the room? That might be a bit harder to stretch, but if you're just talking about changes in sensation (auditory/tactile sensation) describing it as a phobia seems plausible to me.

Alternately, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a hyperactivity of the stress system in the brain/body (look up the Hypothalamic-Pituitary Axis). This is generally caused by one or several traumatic events that cause repeated anxiety attacks over the long-term. These attacks can often be triggered by aspects of the environment such as loud noises or anything that might remind an individual of the initial trauma. So, if your character was trapped in a box of snakes at some point (if this happened in childhood, it may be a more indelible part of his psyche), then anything related to snakes could trigger these episodes. But again, it doesn't necessarily need to be PTSD. PTSD is strongly tied to memory, so if your character has not been through a specific experience with snakes that *caused* these sensations, I would go with a phobia.

If he's seeing what he thinks is a live snake in the room, I would guess that most clinicians would classify this as some kind of psychoactive state akin to schizophrenia. If you can keep it more to auditory/physical changes in sensation it would fit much better with an anxiety disorder such as a snake phobia.

I hope this helps!

If it is an actual visual hallucination of an thing while looking right at it that is not typically associated with stress or anxiety, but one of the psychotic disorders. The visual hallucinations associated with anxiety are generally more fleeting and diffuse.

I don't know if this is helpful, but I've hallucinated a few times, and each instance was caused by extreme exhaustion/sleep deprivation. For example, I once walked 30 miles in a day. That last mile, as the sun started to go down, I passed this little grove of trees, and the shady area underneath seemed to pulsate and recede. It was weird. I was perfectly lucid and knew it wasn't real, but I couldn't make it stop.

I never thought about it before, but if fatigue can cause hallucinations, do they occur in conjunction with narcolepsy?

...I just googled it, and sure enough, they do. Interesting.

Hallucinations on the point of sleep can be common in some people with or without anxiety, they are called hypnagogic hallucinations.

What about medications with side effects? This might be more plausible than full-on visual hallucinations lasting for an extended period of time while completely sober.

Exhaustion and sleep deprivation can definitely push the brain into some unusual states. One of my favorite books IN THE WORLD is called Return to the Brain of Eden, written by an author who stayed awake for over 11 days.

Patty said:

Thanks. It doesn't have to be visual - ideally it would wake him up or prevent him from sleeping. Some screaming, so that those around him are bothered by it (his screaming.)

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If this is what you want from it, how about really intense, realistic nightmares about snakes that make him wake up screaming, and then, the fear of more nightmares makes him stay wakeful, which causes the lack-of-sleep issues. The lack of sleep and the memories of the nightmares (and whatever in his past triggered them) would probably make him more likely to hallucinate snakes, or snake-like objects when awake.
Maybe not with actual 'I see a snake, right ... there!" clarity, but the fleeting glimpse of a hose or rope stretched out in the sun, or a rustling in the grass or a hissing sound, might trigger the "IT'S A SNAKE!" panic response. Almost seeing the feared object can be scarier than actually seeing it ie the better kind of horror movie. Your mind fills in the blanks.

Also, the fear of snakes might not have started with snakes. Neurotype's post talked about being locked in a box of snakes as a child. Could be that he was tied up with ropes as a child, and his dreams have transformed that childish memory into snakes. Might even have been a stupid game, his buddies (or not) tying up a 'robber', leaving him in a shed or attic and forgetting about him. He panics, etc.

Patty, is your character using drugs to sleep?? You might want to research what happens if you stay awake after taking Ambien. People go absolutely nuts, black out for 24 hours and then find themselves wearing a 3 piece suit and dealing with a giant order of lobsters from Amazon.

I'm not joking. Staying awake through sleep deprivation drugs is one of the worst things ever. I had a friend who experimented recreationally, and another friend who suffered when she did it unintentionally. Thank god no harm came to either of them. This will provide you with a gold mine of weirdness.

I have hallucinations on a regular basis, most likely caused by one of the psych meds I'm taking for bipolar. They always occur in the middle of the night, when I've just woken for some reason. Most of the time, the hallucinations are semi-transparent and have a sort of glow or aura about them, which tells me they aren't real. A couple of times, I've seen iPhone app squares on the wall. The first time it happened, I woke my husband and asked how in the world was he projecting his phone onto the wall!

Sometimes, however, I can't tell if it's real, or I'm not sure. For example, when I saw an alien standing in the doorway, it was all glowy, but I just assumed that's because it was an alien. (The creepy thing about that incident was when my husband sleepily asked what was wrong, I said, "It's back!" As far as I know, I've never hallucinated an alien before, so why the HECK would I say it had returned?)

Often, the hallucinations don't quite match with reality. One time, I saw a huge bat trying to get in the bedroom window. It wasn't transparent or glowing, so I actually thought it was real. I woke my husband up, grabbed a flashlight, and went to the window to get a better look. That's when I realized we have curtains in front of the window. There's no possible way I could've seen a bat trying to get in, because there were two layers of fabric between me and the glass.

So . . . my point, I guess, is that hallucinations aren't necessarily realistic, but they can feel real anyway. Or at the least, they can cause confusion.

Patty said:

I have a science fiction/fantasy character who hallucinates snakes every time he stresses out, and as the draft stands now, this is one of several things that drives his choices. They are sort of a metaphor for the issues in his life. His hallucinations are intense - Feeling constricted, smelling the breath of the snake, and so on. They vary (but they could all be identical if that's truer to hallucinating.)

I don't know why he has these hallucinations. (I don't know the biological or psychological basis for it.)

He doesn't use drugs, and he doesn't have schizophrenia.

Are there stress - induced hallucinatory states like what I am briefly describing? I have to decide if I should keep them and provide a rationale for them, or ditch them.

Could this sort of thing stem from a childhood experience? Are there names for this specific sort of hallucinatory state (i.e. not the diagnosis necessarily, a name for a specific type of hallucination.)

Thanks if you have any ideas.

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There are kinds of waking hallucinations that occur directly before or after a REM cycle.

Also, if he took a lot of medication as a kid, like pain meds or whatever, that induced medical hallucinations, he could have flashbacks at times of stress. (A friend of mine in high school thought she was "helping" her sister by taking the sister's dose of foul-tasting medication along with her own - this was when the friend was about ten and didn't know better. She started seeing the unicorns on her wallpaper prance and the images on her cereal box wave at her, etc.) it's not common by any means, but it could happen.

Hi Patty, I see you started this thread a month ago, so you may have moved on by now. However, it has been reincarnated, so I will add to it! I did some research into hallucinations several years ago since one of my characters was in a similar situation, being driven to do things by her hallucinations. I sat down with my psych professor and we talked through a couple of real-life non-drug possibilities:

1. stroke or other brain injury - it's very common to have auditory or visual hallucinations after a stroke or TIA, and these may last for weeks, months, or years.
2. post-hypnotic suggestion - someone has previously hypnotized your character and implanted a suggestion that this snake is real and will appear every time a certain thing happens, e.g., he sees a certain person or hears a word, etc.

FYI, for my story I went with the hypnosis idea, because, I mean, hypnosis! Come on! But thinking back it probably could have been an interesting story with her unearthing some long-hidden history of a brain injury or something.

Anyway, hope this was helpful. I'd love to know what you decided to do with your character.

It might be too much to have both hallucinations and nightmares in one character. Why would readers want to follow a character who constantly has problems conscious or asleep? It may be detrimental.

mrsmig: Nah; Harry dreamed the entire series. No hallucinations!