Recurrence of hallucinations in consecutive episodes of schizophrenia and affective disorder.

Abstract

48 patients with episodic psychosis (18 schizophrenia, 30 MDP) were studied to examine whether they had similar hallucinations in consecutive episodes. 34 cases reported hallucinations, 23 of whom had hallucinations in consecutive episodes. In 22 of these 23 cases, the same type of hallucination (in the same sense organ modality) recurred. A recurrence of similar content was found in nearly half of the cases. In cases in whom the hallucinatory content persisted, however, there was no persistence of delusional content. Similar neurophysiological disturbances in similar neuroanatomical regions may result in the persistence of the same hallucinations.