Dictionary of Hallucinations

553 Pages·2009·8.222 MB·English

by  Jan Dirk Blom

A Dictionary of Hallucinations
Jan Dirk Blom
A Dictionary
of Hallucinations
123
JanDirkBlom,M.D.,Ph.D.
AssistantProfessorofPsychiatry
ParnassiaBavoGroup
&UniversityofGroningen
Paradijsappelstraat2
2552HXTheHague
TheNetherlands
ISBN978-1-4419-1222-0 e-ISBN978-1-4419-1223-7
DOI10.1007/978-1-4419-1223-7
SpringerNewYorkDordrechtHeidelbergLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2009937444
©SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,LLC2010
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Theuseinthispublicationoftradenames,trademarks,servicemarks,andsimilarterms,evenif
theyarenotidentifiedassuch,isnottobetakenasanexpressionofopinionastowhetherornot
theyaresubjecttoproprietaryrights.
Coverillustration:1.‘TheAbsintheDrinker’.Oilpainting(c.1903)byViktorOliva;2.‘Alicein
Wonderland’.Illustration(c.1865)byJohnTenniel3.FunctionalMRIscansofthebrain,axial
slices,groupanalysis.Theyellow,orange,andredareasrepresentanincreaseintheBOLDresponse
concomitanttoverbalauditoryhallucinatoryactivity.ScanimagescourtesyofDr.RutgerGoekoop
andDr.JasperLooijestijn,ParnassiaBavoGroup,TheHague.
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SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Preface
Ourhistoryisfullofthereportsofvisionaries,prophets,andotherfigureswhoderivedtheir
insightsandauthorityfromwhatwewouldnowcallhallucinations.Asthesereportstestify,
individuals who knew how to deploy them convincingly for some noble cause were often
rewardedwithahighsocialstatus.ReligioustextsliketheBibleevenindicatethatforalong
timenoeventofimportancewasthoughttotakeplacewithoutsomeannouncementbyavoice
orvisionfrombeyond.Thusonemightholdthathallucinationshaveconstitutedalegitimate
source of information and inspiration in most – if not all – ancient cultures. On the other
hand,forothergroupsofindividualstheyhavealwaysconstitutedasignificantsourceofsuf-
fering.Buteveninthesecases,theconceptofillnessseldomseemedtocometomind.Those
whoneededhelpweremorelikelytobetakentoapriestthantoaphysician.Accordingto
ZilboorgandHenry,forthousandsofyearsitwasunthinkablethatdoctors,withtheirearthly
methods,wouldinvolvethemselvesinmatterspertainingtothespirit.Thismaywellhavebeen
theprincipalreasonwhybiomedicinebecameinvolvedinthestudyofhallucinationssolate
initsdevelopmentalhistory.
From the 17th century on, the rise of scientific thinking and the simultaneous process
ofsecularizationbroughtaboutashiftinthegeneralattitudetowardshallucinations.Their
otherworldlyoriginwasnolongertakenforgranted,andthewritingsinwhichtheyappeared
were increasingly interpreted as allegorical in nature. The work published in 1813 by John
Ferriarisoftenreferredtoasthefirsttextthatexamineshallucinationsfromanexclusively
physiological point of view. But when the 19th century came to a close, biomedicine was
still hesitant about appropriating the territory to which it had become entitled. Although
hallucinationshadlongsincebecometheirprofessionalconcern,doctorsremainedreluctant
togivethemthefullattentionthattheydeservedandtoinvestigatethemintheirownright.
Ironicallyperhaps,thefirsttotakeupthegauntletweretheparapsychologists.Represented
bythephilosopherHenrySidgwickandhisSocietyforPsychicalResearch(SPR),itwasthey
whocarriedoutthefirstlarge-scalescientificstudiesofhallucinations.
Onthescaleofhumanhistory,biomedicinewaslatetothegameofhallucinationsresearch.
Butoncethegamewason,itquicklygainedmomentum.In1932RaoulMourguepublished
anoverviewof7,000biomedicalstudiesonhallucinations,andevenheadmittedthatitwas
notexhaustive.Todaythenumberofstudiesonthesephenomenaisliterallycountless.This
dictionaryattemptstoopenuptheliteratureonhallucinationsandrelatedphenomena(i.e.,
illusionsandsensorydistortions)byprovidinganalphabeticallistingofthekeytermsand
concepts,asderivedfromthehistoricalandcontemporaryliterature.Asmyreadingabilities
arelimitedtofourlanguages,thereferencesaremainlyconfinedtoEnglish,German,French,
andDutchtexts.
Thisdictionarydoesnotclaimtobeexhaustive–howcoulditbe?–butitdoesclaimto
providearepresentativeoverviewofrelevantphenomena.Theentriescanberoughlydivided
intofivecategories:
v
Preface
1. Specificsymptoms(i.e.,hallucinations,illusions,andsensorydistortions)
2. Medicalconditionsandsubstancesassociatedwiththemediationofhallucinations
3. Definitionsofthetermshallucinationandillusionbysomeimportanthistoricalauthors
4. Historicalfigureswhoareknowntohaveexperiencedhallucinations
5. Miscellaneousissues
Eachofthedefinitionsofspecificsymptoms(under1above)includesthefollowing:
• Adefinitionoftheterm
• Itsetymologicalorigin
• Theyearofintroduction(ifknown)
• Areferencetotheauthororauthorswhointroducedtheterm(ifknown)
• Adescriptionofthecurrentuse
• A brief explanation of the etiology and pathophysiology of the symptom at hand (if
known)
• Referencestorelatedterms
• Relevantliteraturereferences
During the era of classic psychiatry, the localizing value of different types of mispercep-
tion was considered highly significant. As a consequence, much energy was devoted to
theirphenomenology,classification,andhypotheticalrelationwithneurobiologicalprocesses.
However, apart from post mortem histological research, the means to empirically validate
the ensuing neurobiological models were limited. Today structural and functional imaging
techniques allow us to localize the various CNS areas involved in the mediation of these
phenomena and to answer the question of whether the complexity at the phenomenologi-
callevelisindeedindicativeoftheassumedcomplexityattheunderlyingneurobiologicaland
neuropsychologicallevels.Butastheliteratureindicates,thepresent-dayemphasisonempir-
ical research is sometimes at the expense of the conceptual issues our predecessors valued
sohighly.Therefore,thisdictionaryaimstoreappraisetheconceptsofhallucinations,illu-
sions,andsensorydistortionsdevelopedduringtheeraofclassicpsychiatryandadvocatesto
incorporatethemintoourcurrentscientificdiscours.
Leiden,TheNetherlands JanDirkBlom
References
Ferriar,J.(1813).Anessaytowardsatheoryofapparitions.London:CadellandDavies.
Mourgue, R. (1932). Neurobiologie de l′hallucination. Essai sur une variété particulière de
désintégrationdelafonction.Bruxelles:MauriceLamertin.
Parish,E.(1897).Hallucinationsandillusions.Astudyofthefallaciesofperception.London:
WalterScott.
Sidgwick,H.,Johnson,A.,Myers,F.W.H.,Podmore,F.,Sidgwick,E.(1894).Reportonthe
Census of Hallucinations. In: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research. Volume
XXVI.PartX.London:KeganPaul,Trench,Trübner&Co,pp.25–422.
Zilboorg,G.,Henry,G.W.(1941).Ahistoryofmedicalpsychology.NewYork:W.W.Norton&
Company.
vi
Acknowledgements
Iwouldliketothankthefollowingindividualsforcontributing–directlyorindirectly–to
the realization of this book. In alphabetical order: André Aleman, Ann Avouris, Marten
Blom,JosBrinkmann,KirstinDaalman,KellyDiederen,JohnEnterman,BarbaraFasting,
AudreyFennema,Dominicffytche,MarkvanderGaag,RutgerGoekoop,BertvanHemert,
Melissa Higgs, Wijbrand Hoek, Ellen van Hummel, René Kahn, King Kho, Jasper
Looijestijn, Willemke Marinus, Sankara Narayanan, Bas Neggers, Felix Portnoy, Anne-
MarijeRijkaart,HugoSimons,KarinSlotema,IrisSommer,VictorVladárRivero,Remco
deVries,RenatedeVries,AntoindeWeijer,andanunknownnumberofanonymousreview-
ers who helped to move the project forward. Last but not least, I would like to thank the
manypatients fromtheParnassia BavoGroupandelsewhere,whowerewillingtoprovide
verbalreportsoftheirhallucinations,andtothussharetheirexperienceswithmeoverthe
years.
vii
Contents
A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
ix
Contents
S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
x
List of Figures
A.1 TheAbsintheDrinker.Oilpainting(around1903)byViktor
Oliva.Source:CaféSlavia,Prague . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A.2 Afterimages.Fromlefttoright:originalopticalstimulus,Hering’s
afterimage,Purkinje’safterimage,Hessafterimage.Illustrationby
JDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A.3 AliceinWonderland.IllustrationbyJohnTenniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
A.4 AloisAlzheimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
A.5 Amanitamushroomwithlilliputianhallucinations.Illustrationby
JDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
A.6 TheMonastery.Engraving(1821)byCharlesHeath.Publishedby
Hurst,Robinson,&Co.,London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
A.7 Archimedes’spiral.Source:Plateau,J.A.F.(1878).Bibliographie
analytiquedesprincipauxphénomènessubjectifsdelavision,
depuisletempsanciensjusqu’àlafinduXVIIIe siècle,suivie
d’unebibliographiesimplepourlapartieécouléedusiècleactuel.
Mémoiresdel’AcadémieRoyaledesSciences,desLettresetdes
Beaux-artsdeBelgique,Volume52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
A.8 SilvanoArieti.PhotographbyBlackstone-Shelburne,NY . . . . . . . . . 37
A.9 Aristotle’sillusion.Source:LaNature,1881,1,384 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
A.10 Aristotle.Portrait(c.1475)byJoosvanGent.Source:Muséedu
Louvre,Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
A.11 Belladonna,thegoddessofthedeadlynightshade.Engravingafter
apaintingbyGabrielMax.Source:Gartenlaube,1902 . . . . . . . . . . . 41
A.12 Atropabelladonna.Woodcut.Source:Tabernaemontanus,J.Th.
(1687).NeuVollkommenKräuter-Buch.Basel:Joh.LudwigKönig
undJohannBrandmyller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
A.13 Autoscopichallucination.IllustrationbyJDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
B.1 Bagelvision.IllustrationbyJDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
B.2 Benham’stop.Sources:Benham,C.E.(1894).Theartificial
spectrumtop.Nature,51,113–114;and:Fechner,G.T.(1838).
UebereineScheibezurErzeugungsubjectiverFarben.In:Annalen
derPhysikundChemie.EditedbyPoggendorff,J.C.Leipzig:
VerlagvonJohannAmbrosiusBarth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
B.3 SirWilliamRichardGowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
B.4 WilliamBlake.Engraving(1808)byLuigiSchiavonetti,aftera
portrait(1807)byThomasPhillips.Source:CollectionofG.E.
Bentley,Jr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
B.5 Ezekiel’sWheels(c.1803–1805).WatercolourbyWilliamBlake.
Source:MuseumofFineArts,Boston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
xi