How to deal with hallucinations??

I am sure this has been posted before, but how do you deal with auditory AND visual hallucinations without medication? Anyone? Mine are extremely violent and frightening, so having a nice discussion with them is not going to work.

Reality testing. It's a skill that comes with practice and you might need someone to help guide you through it. I had to learn ways of reality testing before the hallucinations would come so that I felt secure in my skills before having to use them. It doesn't make the hallucinations go away, but it makes them far easier to deal with.

i totally agree with ladyswan..

the most important skill we need to have.. at least in my part is.. ignore (the hallucinations.. not the main problems thats causing it)..

and i've been without medication for 11 yrs now (i'm not recommending this to anyone!)..

yes its a struggle sometimes.. but i manage to just ignore them by distracting myself from focusing towards them.. by just getting myself busy.. ('they' just dont deserve the kind of attention 'they're' getting)..

i've come to accept that 'they' are just there for the sole purpose of making our lives miserable.. and i've started to reject the idea that 'they' are some kind of evil external entity.. it came from within me.. i've 'planted' this idea that its more like a subconscious thingy trying to tell me something is lacking in my course of life and that i needed to give immediate attention to whatever it is..

but then again.. everybody have different set of problems.. it takes time and willpower (and consequences) to go off medication.. the easiest route - is to do what the doctor recommends you..

anyway.. be strong..

hello alicewolfe and for the most part i agree with what's already been written.

perhaps it's a manifestation of the barries of language but since you identify something as a hallucination then half the battle is already won.

you've mentioned going off latuda but i don't remember if you said you already are off it or not. visualizations knows alot about the interactions between receptors, way more than i could possibly dream to and since i had no experience with latuda it may not apply. but what happens when quitting antipsychotics is a large flux of chemicals that were blocked from absorption.

yes ap's do not inhibit production they only block absorption.

and going along with the ideas of chemical imbalances, a large flux of chemicals that your brain hasn't been processing will now have an overload to process. so for a bit of time things will be whacky upstairs. conveniently people use this to promote the idea that goin off meds is taboo, but simultaneously omit that the chemical blockers play a significant role and instead scapegoat.

i personally am in favor of grounding over reality testing. i've heard many times something along the lines of, if you think you're dreaming pinch yourself to make sure. i don't know about you but i feel pain in my dreams as well. it doesn't have to be 'pain' but the sensations of five senses are present.

so what i'm sayin is that the 'dream-state', testing physical things can easily result in unintended consequences. a crude example 'is this bus really comin down the road? i'll shove this guy out into traffic to prove it's existence.' while of course this doesn't have to be the means of verification, it is only the idea i am painting here.

since you mention 'violent' and 'frightening', one big tangible thing you can work yourself is conquering fear. it has to deal with perception, acknowledgement, recognition and understanding. and like i said, perhaps it's a matter of semantics but you acknowledge and recognize something to be a hallucination so it's a matter of understanding something ought not to be feared.

even if something has nothing to do with a hallucination this should still be exercised. also, another crude example illustrating both sides to this: even if someone isn't afraid of death, one doesn't necessarily need to be actively seeking it. you can recognize and understand something and gain a firm grasp over it, and what you do with it afterwards is entirely up to you.

it's like a hog-tie.

you've mentioned demons previously and what incredibly helped me was learning to decipher between deception and plausibility and actuality. the thing about deception is it's got alot of truth in it, but not entirely. while i wasn't actively engaging in banter to 'decipher' i was seeking how to fine-tune other things. also learning about the universal hierarchy helped.

'do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.'

ladyswan wrote:Reality testing. It's a skill that comes with practice and you might need someone to help guide you through it. I had to learn ways of reality testing before the hallucinations would come so that I felt secure in my skills before having to use them. It doesn't make the hallucinations go away, but it makes them far easier to deal with.

Good idea. How does one come about learning how to do that?

skyzonefree wrote: i've come to accept that 'they' are just there for the sole purpose of making our lives miserable.. and i've started to reject the idea that 'they' are some kind of evil external entity.. it came from within me.. i've 'planted' this idea that its more like a subconscious thingy trying to tell me something is lacking in my course of life and that i needed to give immediate attention to whatever it is..

I always get the impression they are trying to tell me something. I have seen in movies how people should give heed to this. Should I pay attention, and try to find out what it is? Or should I just ignore and imagine it's just better not to find out?

ocular_razor wrote:

1. you've mentioned going off latuda but i don't remember if you said you already are off it or not. visualizations knows alot about the interactions between receptors, way more than i could possibly dream to and since i had no experience with latuda it may not apply. but what happens when quitting antipsychotics is a large flux of chemicals that were blocked from absorption.

2. i personally am in favor of grounding over reality testing. i've heard many times something along the lines of, if you think you're dreaming pinch yourself to make sure. i don't know about you but i feel pain in my dreams as well. it doesn't have to be 'pain' but the sensations of five senses are present. so what i'm sayin is that the 'dream-state', testing physical things can easily result in unintended consequences. a crude example 'is this bus really comin down the road? i'll shove this guy out into traffic to prove it's existence.' while of course this doesn't have to be the means of verification, it is only the idea i am painting here.

3. since you mention 'violent' and 'frightening', one big tangible thing you can work yourself is conquering fear. it has to deal with perception, acknowledgement, recognition and understanding. and like i said, perhaps it's a matter of semantics but you acknowledge and recognize something to be a hallucination so it's a matter of understanding something ought not to be feared.

'do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.'

1. I am already off Latuda. Was on it for 3 weeks, so not expecting insane side effects from going off of it completely.

2. HA! I actually have extreme pain in my dreams sometimes, so bad that it will wake me up, and I can feel residual effects the next day if it's bad enough.

3. No offense to anyone else, but best advice I have ever gotten from anyone. I know it seems like something we should all already know, but sometimes we forget. I remember as a child gaining mastery over my fears, seems I have gotten a bit out of practice. I will have to put this into action again, thank you.

Hey AliceWolfe. I've had voices and visual hallucinations for a long time, but not any more. I don't know exactly what made them go away, but I did live very healthily. I'll just list some things that probably worked for me (but I can't say with total certainty they did).

1. Do some exercise. Doing exercise is healthily, and releases good chemicals into the bloodstream. I think this helped a bit.

2. Eat healthily. I basically eat very healthily. No sugar, no refined products, only natural, wholesome, unprocessed foods. Also, I don't drink coffee or take other stimulants. I don't do drugs. When I did use weed one time, I became totally psychotic. Stay of the weed!

3. Third, something I didn't do but I know it can have an effect. Test yourself with a doctor for SILENT DISEASES. That are diseases that have no clear symptoms, so they often go unnoticed. Check it out here: http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles ... eases.html (I recommend reading this link) It could be that your hallucinations are caused by diseases or chemical imbalances in your body. Don't neglect this. (For example, if your body releases too much stress-hormone. Perhaps this can cause hallucinations. I don't know.)

4. Reality check. Lot was said already here about it, but I think it works. If you clearly recognize a hallucination for what it is, it might become less intense of visual. Or later on, the next day, they might not appear at all. I'm not certain about this, though.

I took a load of meds once. But they didn't help, and made me feel sick, to name but a few side effects. I take zero meds now, and the hallucinations are thankfully gone.

AliceWolfe wrote:I always get the impression they are trying to tell me something. I have seen in movies how people should give heed to this. Should I pay attention, and try to find out what it is? Or should I just ignore and imagine it's just better not to find out?

ignore..

i would focus on something like the ones severijn mentioned.. esp exercise.. it'll definitely distract u from the nonsense and make u feel better..

ps/ i'm benefiting from ocular_razor's points too..