The treatment of visual hallucinations at present and in the future

Collerton, D; Mosimann, UP; Perry, E

doi:10.1002/9781118892794.ch14

The treatment of visual hallucinations at present and in the future

Lookup NU author(s): Daniel Collerton, Dr Urs Mosimann, Emeritus Professor Elaine Perry

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Abstract

© 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved. Ingestion of drugs or plant chemicals that advertently or inadvertently induce visual hallucination (VH) provides a basis for understanding VH mechanisms and selecting or designing counteracting drugs or hallucinolytic agents. This review explores the broad range and nature of medical and recreational or ritualistic drugs which are hallucinogenic, and alternative avenues for treatment, based on pharmacotherapy, psychological or other interventions. In relation to disease, VH are experienced in a range of psychiatric and neurological conditions, as well as in non-CNS or brain disorders. Epilepsy, Parkinson's disease (PD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD), together with schizophrenia, are prominent neurological or psychiatric conditions in which VH are common. In neurologically or psychiatrically normal individuals, VH are associated with eye disease, leading to the Charles Bonnet syndrome, and with delirious states arising from infections, surgical interventions, and withdrawal of alcohol or benzodiazepines, for example.