What is considered a hallucination PART 2?!

What is considered a hallucination PART 2?

here is part one: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

PART TWO:
I have read that nearly EVERYONE hallucinates at some point in their life... but when is it considered something symptomatic of a medical problem?

I have a very active visual imagination. Yet, sometimes, things accelerate until I don't feel like the thoughts are my own... and it feels like I am recieving thoughts and visions and words from someone or somewhere else. My visions run the gamut from just thinking i saw a cat in the hallway or a person in a window when they weren't really there to seeing st. michael the archangel sweep through my bedroom.

if these things happen, but i can usually perform all the necessary task of living, is it still considered a mental disorder? side note: i do have intense moods and i go to a counselor for depression. i do not take medication. i don't want to.

If anyone is a psych student or counselor, i would appreciate your thoughts.

1 month ago
thanks a lot simone. i will talk to my counselor about it.

Hallucinations could be one of the symptoms of your depression. I read the first part of your question, and I think that seeing intense colors or movements in your peripheral vision might be things that could be overlooked; hoever, if you feel like you are receiving thoughts and visions from somewhere else, this is a more serious problem.

Some people are able to distinguish between what is real and what is not real, even while hallucinating, but the more intense these become, the blurrier the line between reality and hallucination become. This can be extremely distressing and extremely dangerous as well.

I can understand your resistance to trying medication for your depression, but if i were you, I would seriously reconsider. Hallucinations can be a symptom of psychosis, which depending on the root cause, may be treated successfully only with medication. Some disorders mood disorders cannot be managed without the use of medication.

Here's something else to consider...if psychosis becomes severe enough and you present a danger your yourself or others, you may lose the freedom to make decisions about your medication. I would suggest taking care of this on your own now, so that you don't run the risk of this progressing to become something more and finding yourself at the mercy of other people's decisions.