Why Inducing Hallucinations Might Be a Good Idea

Researchers have developed ways to induce hallucinations, and though it sounds weird, it could also tell us a lot about mental health.

Hosted by: Michael Aranda

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[davetoms]

First psychology proves psychedelic drugs have therapeutic value. Now hallucinations induced through technology can be a diagnostic tool. Oh, how delightfully weird our brains are ❤

[annekabrimhall]

I recently had ketamine treatment at a clinic for my chronic pain. Some people have hallucinations and the doctor said that it is more beneficial if people suffering from depression do hallucinate during their ketamine treatment.

[WEYffles]

Prejudice against mental diseases(particularly those associated with hallucinations) might be the reason the elderly find it so hard to come forward to about them with their doctor. It might be a vestige of the old days.

[madwaltz]

Imagine being in that second study and describing to your friend what you did in the study:

"So I was blindfolded, and then the researchers had me use a robot in order to make me start hallucinating..."

[Victoria-dhvb]

I get that feeling quite often when I'm home alone.... especially when I was younger in my childhood home.

That feeling dissipated considerably after my father died.

But uh, I have a family history of Parkinson's disease. So now I'm concerned that it wasn't just ghosts hanging out in a 150 y/o house, and actually was my brain doing an uh oh

[TheDevler]

this sounds a lot like dissociation symptoms I deal with daily, lol. the feeling like I'm behind myself, or that i'm slightly in front of myself. usually I feel it to the left. but still. wild that they can induce that feeling, in some way

[UHFStation]

Yeah, I can't even convince my doctor to order an MRI to see the cause of my headaches. I can't imagine this will be available to most people.

[freedapeeple]

Back in the early 70s, for a short while, I thought it was funny to induce hallucinations in people who were high on LSD. I quit when I discovered that sometimes the hallucinations I induced didn't go away after the person came down...

[edgarventura]

I think that this feeling of someone is in the room with you probably is related to that same feeling of being observed, like a spider-sense for presence

[TheRealLeesyKate]

I would love to mess around with a piece of equipment that lets me pat my own back like that.

[russb]

Wasn't there another one once where they used VR so people saw an avatar of themselves walking in front of them? It was like playing a video game with a 3rd person, over-the-shoulder view. And of course there's the good old rubber hand illusion, fun at parties.

[sylkates]

So glad I wasn't in this experiment. I don't have hallucinations, but I do have a phobia of insanity, so this would have scared the crap out of me. I would have ended it!

[JonnyBgamer]

only loosely related but the most fear i have ever experienced was during a hallucination i had during a early morning sleep paralysis. nothing more terrifying then having a dark figure stand over you and you can't move a muscle to do anything about it and knowing that you should be alone. hope it never happens again

[Nae_Ayy]

DMT is really good at causing presence hallucinations. That's why you hear so many stories about "machine elves, " it's like the brain is compartmentalizing itself into many different consciousnesses. Even on low doses of DMT, one can easily induce the feeling of a nearby presence, even if you can't see or hear anyone else in the room with you. Anecdotally, when I did a low dose in my room, I thought my bed was another person with ill intent. Was a strange experience to say the least.

[amberlon]

Well now I'm paranoid I'll have parkinsons. I can trick myself into feeling a presence just by thinking about it too hard, and it's scary. I also have sleep paralysis hallucinations alot which include feeling presences

[mabinogidrws]

I think my hallucinations have been triggered by drug use. One was Sandomigran that caused me to have sleep paralysis and experience a presence (evil at that). The other was amitriptyline, which, for some reason, caused me to hallucinate seeing big spiders. I still occasionally do, even after coming off the drug, so that's got me a bit worried.

[Hanafuss]

There was an old arcade game that had you flying a spaceship, and when you were hit, the frame of the cockpit had something in it to "thump" the side of it. I didn't realize it at the time and so kept yelling at an imagined person behind me telling them to wait their turn.

[abbyg]

Well I was hoping you were going to tell me to drink some special cactus juice and wander into the desert to confront my inner demons, but I guess diagnostic tools for Parkinson's are cool too.

[Icewind]

I imagine this is a similar sensation to those who can "feel someone/something watching them" or much of paranormal activity.

[jakepullman]

What a weird journey it has been. Suddenly "do you feel anyone in the room with us right now?" Is a valuable diagnostic tool.