/sci/ - Science & Math

Hey guys, I was wondering... how does one know to distinguish hallucinations from reality? I mean, let's say that a person is hallucinating, but their hallucinations are "non-bizarre". That is: they aren't seeing anything overly unusual, like supernatural stuff. No demons, ghosts, aliens, or anything like that. But they're hallucinating.

Let's say that this person is out in public, walking among a large crowd of people. They meet a stranger, have a short conversation, and then part ways. Shortly after the conversation ends and this afflicted person turns and begins walking away, they overhear the person quietly mutter: "...fuck you." Maybe as the afflicted person was turning, they saw in the corner of their eye that the other person was smirking. But they can't be certain because they weren't looking directly at them.

Maybe that other person may have said, "thank you" but the mind misinterpreted it as "fuck you". Maybe that other person was talking to somebody else, about somebody else. Maybe that other person didn't say anything at all, and it was a pure fabrication of the mind. How can the afflicted person be certain that they weren't hallucinating?

What if this afflicted person has a somewhat unusual experience with no supernatural, paranormal, and/or conspiracy theory elements to it. This unusual experience was a full-blown psychotic episode, complete with hallucinations affecting all of the senses: visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory hallucinations... the afflicted person assumes that this experience really happened in the physical world, in reality, among other real people who saw the same exact things so that there's a consensus that everyone can agree on.

So this afflicted person goes about their day assuming that this experience really happened. But then they start meeting with other people and talking to them, and they start saying things that don't agree with what the afflicted person experienced.