Delusions, Hallucinations Are More Common Than Once Thought

Have you ever been told that someone might be dealing with hallucinations or delusions? Though it might seem rare, new findings published in JAMA Psychiatry tell us that these issues are a bit more common than once thought.

Researchers at the University of Queensland and Harvard School found that roughly 5 percent of the general population experience strange sensations in which they allegedly hear voices.

"We used to think that only people with psychosis heard voices or had delusions, but now we know that otherwise healthy, high-functioning people also report these experiences," researcher John McGrath, said in a statement. "Of those who have these experiences, a third only have them once and another third only have two-to-five episodes across their life. These people seem to function reasonably well. So it's incredibly interesting that not only is hearing voices more common than previously thought, but it's not always linked to serious mental illness."

For the study, researchers used a population-based survey that involved approaching randomly selected members of the community and conducting detailed interviews regarding their mental health.

Based on the discovered data, they found that auditory hallucinations were relatively more common in women and people in wealthier countries, overall.

For future studies, researchers hope to delve more into why some individuals who deal with delusions and/or hallucinations may later have severe mental illness in life and why others don't.

"We need to understand why it's temporary for some people and permanent for other Mood Instability May be Common to a Wide Range of Mental Disorders. We can use these findings to start identifying whether the mechanisms causing these hallucinations are the same or different in both situations," he added.

"We need to rethink the link between hearing voices and mental health - it's more subtle than previously thought."

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