Hallucination is the word used to describe experiencing sounds, smells or sensations that are not happening from sources in reality or real life. A common hallucination is hearing a voice that is not yours and it can being felt as though it were coming from inside or outside of your head.
Delusion is the word used to describe strongly believing something that isn抰 fully supported in reality and it can be difficult to prove. It is very hard to know yourself when you have a delusion as it may feel very real. A sign may be that it is very distressing to you, but other people struggle to understand your evidence or become very concerned about you because you hold this belief. A common example is becoming increasingly certain you are being watched by the government and that people on the street have been planted there to watch you. You may begin to feel there are bugs in your home phone, or you are being monitored through devices in your home, such as your TV.
These can be very distressing and lots of people can be worried about telling other people they are having these experiences. These symptoms can occasionally relate to low mood or anxiety - but more commonly, they stem from a group of mental health problems called Psychosis. If you think you may be experiencing hallucinations and/or delusions or you reveal this in an assessment with one of our team, we would most often refer you to a more specialist mental health team to have these experiences properly assessed and treated. There are treatments for these experiences, so please discuss it with your GP as soon as you can.
