Hallucinations and hearing voices

You may have hallucinations if you hear sounds or voices that nobody else hears, or see, feel, smell or taste things that are not there.

Hallucinations can be caused by many things, such as schizophrenia, drugs, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety and depression.

Treatment for hallucinations depends on the cause. Things that can help include medicines, therapy and lifestyle changes.

You may have hallucinations if you:

• hear sounds or voices that nobody else hears
• see things that are not there like objects, shapes, people or lights
• feel touch or movement in or on your body that is not real, for example, bugs crawling on your skin or your internal organs moving around
• smell or taste things that have no obvious cause
• think that your body is moving when it is not, such as flying or floating

Hallucinations can be caused by many different health conditions that affect the senses.

Common causes of hallucinations include:

• mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
• drugs and alcohol
• dementia, including Alzheimer's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies
• Parkinson's disease
• a change or loss of vision, such as Charles Bonnet syndrome
• severe depression or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• side effect from medicines
• after surgery and anaesthesia

Sometimes hallucinations can be temporary. They can happen if you have migraines, a high temperature, if you're very hungry or sleep deprived, or just as you wake up or fall asleep.

They can also be caused by an infection, brain tumour or confusion (delirium), especially in older people.

Treatment for hallucinations will depend on what's causing it.

For example, if you have a mental health condition like schizophrenia, you may be given therapy or medicine to help reduce your hallucinations.

A GP may recommend lifestyle changes like drinking less alcohol, not taking drugs and getting more sleep to reduce your hallucinations.