Hallucinations vs typical Dementia Behavior

PookieBlue

I am curious as to the differentiation of visual hallucinations vs a demented person’s perception of the people they see. For instance, my DH has in the past mistaken me to be his sister or mother or cousin. Who does he see when he looks at me? He talks about his mom often, and about a blond woman he saw earlier (which could have been me or his mom). He also frequently asks where is everybody? He doesn’t know who everybody is. We are the only two people in the house 99% of the time.

How do we know if our LO is really hallucinating?

SDianeL

Good question. Found this: "A hallucination involves the senses and feels real but is not. A delusion is a false belief that persists in spite of evidence." So mistaking you for your sister would be a delusion. Seeing someone who isn't there at all is a hallucination. He could be having both. My DH is stage 4-5 and had 3 episodes recently at night. He was sleeping, jumped out of bed and said something fell on the floor or he lost something. I told him he was dreaming and to go back to sleep. I don't think it was either a hallucination or delusion. I think it was like sleep walking where he was dreaming and thought it was reality.

Vitruvius

This is apparently extremely common for PWD. My DW is/was like this. Sometimes it's hard to tell. My DW frequently saw "dogs" everywhere, I believe she was grossly misperceiving bushes, rocks, stumps, etc for dogs (a form of delusion I guess) but she may also have been hallucinating, who knows? Now she is in Stage 7 and doesn't really understand much of what she sees around her. BTW, these delusions/hallucinations never troubled her, she just accepted them as her reality I guess. As far as people go what you describe was also typical for her.

PookieBlue

Thank you for your input SDiane and Vitruvius

Ed1937

That is really an interesting question. I agree that misidentifying you would not be a hallucination. An example of a delusion would be if they think the car behind you has been following you, and meaning to harm you/them. Or that people are planning to break into your home during the night. If they actually see these people, that's a hallucination. I'm a long way from being expert on these things, but I think there might be a gray area at times.

elainechem

My son had (has) hallucinations and delusions since childhood. Hallucinations refer to hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, or feeling things that aren't real. Delusions refer to firmly held false beliefs.

An example of a hallucination is when my son saw a Siamese cat that popped into and out of existence. A delusion was when he believed that the car in front of us was following us. Don't ask me to explain that one. They don't have to make sense.