Clinical assessment of the state of consciousness during the experience of hallucination

ABSTRACT

A trial was made to assess clinically the state of consciousness during hallucinations. 50 hallucinating patients were selected at random and exposed to newly formalized clinical measures using the criteria of situational set sensory inhibition and degree of active attention. Depending on these clinical criteria we classified the clinical grades of consciousness into 3 grades. We reached the conclusion that the state of consciousness can be assessed clinically through assessing one of the phenomena that occur in its matrix. We found that organic and most of the schizophrenic hallucinations fall in grade I consciousness, while all the hallucinations of paranoid states as well as most of hallucinations of affective disorders fall in grade III. Lastly, hysterical hallucinations fall in grade III