When a person hallucinates, he or she is essentially sensing something that isn’t really there. People can hear voices or sounds, smell things that aren’t present, or have a variety of experiences that are real to the person but not real outside of the person. One type of hallucination that often isn’t discussed in depth is the tactile hallucination; this occurs when someone feels a sensation on the body that is, in fact, not present. Like many forms of hallucinations, tactile hallucinations are not limited to those suffering from mental illness and could have many causes.
Tactile hallucinations can present in a number of different ways. One of the most common of these is phantom limb. When people lose a limb, they may still experience its presence on the body. It could very much feel like the limb is still there, and sometimes this condition can even be extremely painful. The sensations in the “not there” limb are very real to the person experiencing them, and a variety of treatments might be used to control this pain that is both there and not there.
For most people experience of phantom limb is not suggestive of conditions like schizophrenia, though the mind has definitely been tricked to be aware of something that doesn’t exist. A number of treatments might be attempted to get rid of pain, including giving antidepressants or using therapies that involve a box with mirrors. Sometimes “seeing” and working with the missing limb, through mirror work, has an appropriate effect on relieving discomfort.
Another of the form of these hallucinations is when people feel they have things moving over their skin. Often people identify this as having insects or bugs under or on top of their skin. This is not an uncommon reaction to certain types of drugs, particularly methamphetamine or cocaine. The sensation often leaves when a drug has left body’s system too, and hopefully discouraged the person from use of illegal drugs in the future. This hallucination can cause great mental distress as it occurs, provoking irrational behavior.
Sometimes tactile hallucinations are transient and might occur as part of hypnopompic or hypnogogic experiences. These are any hallucinations that happen just before waking or falling asleep, respectively. A person might feel that someone or thing has touched or exerted pressure on him. Alternately, the sensation of falling and hitting the ground may be tactile, and it really can feel as though a physical experience occurred. These hallucinations are fairly common, and many people will experience at least one in a lifetime.
Occasionally, people have a real reason for feeling what might be initially dismissed as tactile hallucinations. Some medical conditions unrelated to mental illness can make the body feel things that seem not be there. Certain skin conditions, for instance could create pain, burning, or pressure on certain parts of the body. These are not actually hallucinations because there is a reason why such feelings are present, even if that reason is below the skin surface or not automatically apparent.