Wednesday, October 9, 2013

How specifically can hallucinations and delisons affect your mental and physical health?

Hallucinations and delusions are extremely detrimental to the mental and physical health for all individuals.  Because people with certain psych disorders typically have an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain, there can be a variety of physical implications.  Some of these include:

- A blank, vacant facial expression. An inability to smile or express emotion through the face is so characteristic of the disease that it was given the name of affective flattening or a blunt affect.
- Overly acute senses- lights are too bright, sounds are too loud.
- Staring, while in deep thought, with infrequent blinking.
- Clumsy, inexact motor skills
- Sleep disturbances- insomnia or excessive sleeping
- Involuntary movements of the tongue or mouth (facial dyskinesias).
- Grimacing at the corners of the mouth with the facial muscles, or odd movements with the tongue.
- Parkinsonian type symptoms- rigidity, tremor, jerking arm movements, or involuntary movements of the limbs
- An awkward gait (how you walk)
- Eye movements- difficulty focusing on slow moving objects
- Unusual gestures or postures
- Movement is speeded up- i.e. constant pacing
- Movement is slowed down- staying in bed (in extreme cases, catatonia)

There are also various mental and emotional affects including:

- The inability to experience joy or pleasure from activities (called anhedonia)
- Sometimes feeling nothing at all
- Appearing desireless- seeking nothing, wanting nothing
- Feeling indifferent to important events
- Feeling detached from your own body (depersonalization)
- Hypersensitivity to criticism, insults, or hurt feelings

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm

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