Kinesthetic Hallucinations: What Is This Symptom, Causes And Treatment
If we close our eyes and concentrate on it, we may be able to hear our heart beating, air entering our lungs, or our kidneys or liver hurting. All of this is because we are able to perceive sensations from inside our body, something that helps us adapt to situations and survive.
But these situations have a reason: our heart beats, we breathe, we are full or we have a urinary infection. However, sometimes some people can have perceptions of this type, coming from inside the body, without anything really causing them. These are kinesthetic hallucinations
As a preamble and in order to make the concept of kinesthetic hallucination more easily understandable, it is useful to first review what a hallucination is and implies.
The concept of hallucination refers to the existence of a false perception or perception without an object, that is, the capture by a person’s senses of information or stimulation that does not come from any real and existing source. This is a type of perceptual deception in which something is perceived that does not exist and is a product of the subject’s mind.
However, we must highlight the fact that it is a perception: the subject really sees, hears or notices some type of sensation even though it does not prevent any stimulation that generates it.
Is about one of the main symptoms of schizophrenia and psychotic disorders although it can appear in a large number of situations that do not always have to be the product of psychopathology (for example, poisoning or intoxication can lead to hallucinations, or even prolonged experiences of stress).
There are very different types and classifications of hallucinations, among which we can find visual, auditory, olfactory or gustatory, tactile, kinesthetic (perception of movement) or those that give this article its name: kinesthetic hallucinations.
Kinesthetic hallucinations
Kinesthetic hallucinations (also called somatic or visceral hallucinations) are understood to be those in which the subject has an objectless perception referring to the existence of sensations inside your own body in which reference is made specifically to elements such as viscera, specific organs or elements of the body regardless of whether said elements have sensitivity or not (for example blood).
It is a type of hallucination in which perception is carried out at the somatic or body consciousness level: in the internal perception of the organism itself. The subject has the perception of some type of alteration inside his or her body, which may be limited to specific parts or organs of the body or to the body at a general level. It is common for this type of hallucination to occur together with different types of delusions that explain them, which are usually a high extravagance and strangeness
An example of this is in those people with delusions of infestation, in which they often report the sensation that ants, insects or other small beings have infested the subject and are moving around inside the body and there may even be the idea of that are devouring his organs.
The sensations perceived can be very variable and include, among others, the perception of mechanical pressure, displacement, vacuum, pain, itching or temperature changes. Likewise, there may also be the sensation of changes in the composition of parts of the body (for example, perceiving that one of the lungs has dissolved), sensations related to organ movements (such as perceiving that the brain has lowered to the position of the stomach). ) or variation in their number (as could occur in the case of having the sensation of having lost a leg without having done so).
Other possible sensations could be the perception of the presence of inserted external elements (for example the perception of the insertion of a microchip would fall into this type of hallucination) or removal/loss of body parts (feeling that the heart has come out of the body). body).
As based on this description it is possible to imagine, kinesthetic hallucinations They are deeply linked to others such as tactile or haptic or those related to the perception of movement or kinesthetics.
In fact, it is often possible to find that both types of hallucination occur together. Some authors even indicate that kinesthetic hallucinations actually include tactile, kinesthetic, and visceral hallucinations as subtypes, although kinesthetic is generally identified with visceral.
The main difference between these types is that in the case of kinesthetics we are talking about perceptions related to the body itself and generally to its interior, without there being the idea of an external contact or without the displacement occurring externally Despite this, they often occur in an associated or joint manner.
Contexts of appearance
Kinesthetic hallucinations are less common than others such as auditory or visual hallucinations, although they can occur in multiple contexts and conditions.
At a psychiatric level, one of the best known is schizophrenia, along with other psychotic spectrum disorders such as chronic delusional disorder.
For example, in Ekbom syndrome or delusion of parasitosis, in which the subject holds the belief of being infested by living beings, or in Cotard syndrome (delusional disorder in which there is the belief of being dead or that the organs are rotting, something that can arise from the interpretation of hallucinations somatic). However, it must be taken into account that these syndromes are based on the existence of delirium, without it being necessary for there to be hallucination in this regard.
They can also occur in the context of some depressions and its appearance is possible in some cases in manic-type episodes (such as in bipolar disorder).
Another context of appearance may be medical alterations. Among them, it is possible, for example, for kinesthetic hallucinations to appear in situations such as intoxication with substances such as cocaine or in some cases of epilepsy, although it is less common.
Beyond the context in which they appear, the causes of kinesthetic hallucinations are unclear, although as with other hallucinations the limbic system and the diencephalon seem to be involved
The involvement of the somatosensory cortex has also been observed, as well as the part of the cortex corresponding to the insula. Some theories stipulate the existence of a basic difficulty in integrating sensory information, something that can cause our nervous system to generate perceptions without there being a physical element that triggers it.
Likewise, other theories (which do not exclude the previous one) indicate that the problem may come from a difficulty separating mental content from physical experience in such a way that it is not possible to separate what is imagined from what is perceived.
Treatment
Kinesthetic hallucinations are not a disorder in themselves, but are a symptom of the existence of some type of alteration In this sense, treating these hallucinations will require carrying out an evaluation of the patient’s situation and assessing the origin or disorder of which they are a symptom. This will require the multidisciplinary work of various professionals from different areas of health.
Depending on the case, it is possible to use different therapeutic strategies. At a pharmacological level, the use of antipsychotics can help stop these types of perceptions, as well as some antidepressants.
On a psychological level, Addressing these perceptions may require helping the subject reattribute their perceptions so that you end up seeing them as a product of your own mind, with techniques such as cognitive restructuring and the proposal of behavioral experiments in which you can check whether your perceptions are real or not.
