The psychology of abnormal people : with educational applications / by John J.B. Morgan.

  • John J. B. Morgan
Date:
[1928]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The psychology of abnormal people : with educational applications / by John J.B. Morgan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In other cases the subjective element takes a more domi¬ nant part in the hallucination. Sully 1 quotes the following incident from Tuke : 1 “A lady, whose imagination had been dwelling on the subject of diinking fountains, ‘thought she saw in a road a newly erected fountain, and even distinguished an inscription upon it, namely, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” She afterwards found that what she had actually seen was only a few scattered stones-’ ” These cases illustrate the fact that hallucinations are purely individual interpretations. They can only be under¬ stood when we know something of the personal setting. To the observer they are irrational, but when we know the mental background of the subject they are not so absurd as they seemed. 2. The hallucination is veal to the subject. He is convinced that he is actually perceiving the thing as he interprets it. It is objective to him. The patient will state: “These voices seem to me just as distinct as your voice, and if I regard your words as actual, so I must the other words which come to me. I do not know where they come from but I hear them just as I hear your voice.” There are all degrees of objectivity in various cases. The degree of belief in the reality of the “vision” or “voice” can be elicited from the patient by ques¬ tioning him as to the details. If they are purely objective the patient will be able to tell the color of the hair and eyes of the person he sees, the dress he wears and the way he acts. He will tell you whose voice it is, wThat it is saying and the way in which it speaks. A boy who is expecting his mother to call may be convinced that he hears her, although she is not close by, and will obey as though she had actually spoken to him. 3. The one who has an hallucination responds to it as though it were a real perception. Here again there may be varying degrees but the patient who has a vivid hallucination ] James Sully, “Illusions,” Kegan Paul, 1895, p. 110.
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