The clinical associations of visual hallucinations

Abstract

Visual loss is associated with the occurrence of visual hallucinations, which are commonly simple or, more rarely, complex. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a fatal, progressive, neurodegenerative illness caused by central nervous system prion infection. The symptoms of CJD may also include visual hallucinations, especially in the Heidenhain variant of the illness. Delirium, a syndrome that involves an acute disturbance of consciousness as well as a diminished ability to sustain attention, is caused by a myriad of medical conditions, metabolic disturbances, infections, drug effects, and intracranial processes. This chapter is devoted to a phenomenological description of the clinical associations of visual hallucinations. It shows a great variety of phenomena across different disorders, including the Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS), Peduncular Hallucinosis, Parkinsonisms, dementias, epilepsy, migraine, psychiatric and drug-induced disorders and genetic disorders, the underlying physiopathology of which have only recently been described.