How can you tell if you are hallucinating?

Answer 1

you won't at the time.
hallucinations seem perfectly real.

Answer 2

Survivors of child abuse sometimes hallucinate, have flashbacks which are basically memories of their childhood experience. This can be visual (seeing the abuser) aural (hearing sounds), it can include smell and even body memories of the abuse, which to me personally is the scariest and most horrible type of memory to have.

People with panic disorder also have aural and visual hallucinations, usually in the space between waking and sleep - just before falling to sleep the hallucination happens .. whooshing noises or totally irrelevant visual images - that snap them awake. This is usually accompanied by much fear, and most people assume that they are feeling the fear because of the hallucinations, but it is the other way around. The hallucination is a sign/symptom that the person is under fear. Understanding this makes it much easier to deal with such an episode, as it removes some of the extra fear and then it's just a process of talking yourself through and calming down, and focusing on what has stressed you out that you got to such a point in the first place.

Apparently alcohol withdrawal also causes hallucinations aural/visual. But if you are a survivor of child abuse, I would cite that as a primary reason over the alcohol thing.

Answer 3

At the time when you are hallucinating.....it seems real, so you really can't tell until you reach out to touch your made-up image. Sometimes though it will seem a bit fuzzy, but often clear.
Some points that might tell you you're subject to hallucinating are, you're extremely tired (like no sleep in 3 days), you're high, you're very high, you're dehydrated, you're major high, you're on the brink of death, you're high.
Hallucination's can occur as a result of either of those reasons. So if you fit into one of those categories and you see something strange, don't worry about it.......it probably isn't real.

Answer 4

Ask other people if they see the same thing. You will probably want to put a hand on the person's shoulder to make sure they aren't part of the hallucination as well. Try to touch what you think you are hallucinating about.

Answer 5

You can't. That's why you are hallucinating - you think it's real. It's only when logic steps in and tells you that yes, after all you are crazy. It's heartbreaking, but it's the truth.

See a doctor about anti-psychotic medications. Those work, but they make you hella tired. For me, it turned out to be an anti-convulsive I needed. Something about hearing voices and banging noises is normal, until you understand that the voices are not real.
When I heard voices, they were indistinct, and never said anything intelligible - it wasn't a coherent thought. It was only a sensation like a voice in a far room. It wasn't until I figured out I was having them that they starting scaring me.
Those are gone now. Thank goodness for my meds.

Answer 6

Sometimes you can't.

But if you are still on control of your faculties otherwise, it is possible to think of how the things you are seeing in a hallucination can't be real, therefore it is a hallucination.

The big trouble is that a person who is hallucinating usually has no control at all.

Answer 7

Some people can tell and others are too far gone to tell. Your brain will affect your senses in a way that is unreal and out of sync with what is going on around you. If you are confused talk to someone whom you trust as to whether they are observing the same things as you are.

Answer 8

You just know and also those around you will not see or hear or smell or taste the thing you are hallucinating, remmeber a hullucination is not just seeing things it is to do with all of your senses.

Answer 9

If other sensible people around you are saying if you're hallucinating or not, or if you're minds chemical balance is imbalanced and you are having an excessive load on your mind.

Answer 10

Well if your sitting in a room and something appears that wasnt there five minutes ago and you know that your home alone...lol. Also if your with your friends you could ask them, " do you see that" and if they answer.."see what?" than you know that your hallucinating.