This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Cangas, A. J. Articles by Moriana, J. A. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cangas, A. J. Articles by Moriana, J. A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Hallucinations and related perceptual disturbance in a non-clinical Spanish population

¹ Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Almería, Almería, Spain
² Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Córdoba. Córdoba, Spain

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ajcangas{at}ual.es.

	Abstract

Background: Several studies have suggested the continuity of psychotic symptoms between the general population and clinical samples, and have shown that, in fact, the predisposition to hallucinations is a multidimensional construct. However, there is no agreement concerning the number of factors comprising it or the significance of psychotic-like experiences. An examination of the beliefs associated with these experiences could increase knowledge of the continuity of hallucinations.

Aims: The purpose of this work was to analyze the structure of the Revized Hallucination Scale (RHS), applied to a sample of Spanish university students to find out the meaning for the participants and their associated beliefs on each item.

Methods: The RHS was administered to a total of 265 participants. Along with the frequency of each experience, participants were asked to provide an example of each situation described and to what they attributed it.

Results: The results emphasized the presence of four factors that are variously made up of six types of beliefs: personal difficulties; psychological explanations;dreamlike experiences; vivid thoughts; perceptive distortions; and personal desires.

Conclusions: The relevance of these results with regard to the differences that might exist in hallucinations in clinical and normal populations is discussed.

First published on October 27, 2009
International Journal of Social Psychiatry 2009, doi:10.1177/0020764009102413


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?