My niece has recently begun experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations which do not appear to be connected to her trauma. She has experienced sights and sounds in the form of flashbacks to her father shooting her, but these recent experiences are dramatically different. For example, she will see strange animals, hear pleasant voices, and so on. Quite unlike the frightening yet familiar experiences she has with a flashback. My husband and I are attempting to sort through it all, and are curious of the experiences of others here. I understand it may be a topic others are loathe to discuss in public, hence this poll. I will beg your pardon if the term "hallucinations" seems slightly offensive, but I am attempting to distinguish between trauma flashbacks and hallucinations which may have other causes. Thank you to all who participate.

*raises hand slightly* My parents have sent me to many therapists because I tended to see things that were not there... I rarely talk about it anymore because most people look at me funny and I just pretend it is all part some story I'm working on... I used to think that I had one foot in a dream world and learned to not talk about what I saw or they would think I was even more crazy then before. Alot of that slowed down as I got older, but I still remember some of the strangeness from when I was younger and it makes me feel confused and even more insane then before. So I stick with the notion that this is just part of being a writer/artist and try to cope as best that I can and keep things to my stories so I don't ended up locked away for the third time in my life...

The one thing that makes me feel better is the fact that I got my newest psycho doctor to admit that there is no way he can prove that what I'm seeing is not really there. I'm not sure why I consider this a victory, but my doc has taken an extreme interest in my novel about just this subject and it worries me alittle...

jaa ne

Kat

I've only had olfactory (smell) hallucinations, but they aren't all trauma-related.

Well I'm the reason my aunt started this poll but I voted anyhow. I've had hallucinations as part of flashbacks, and as my aunt mentioned, bizarre ones lately. Hearing things mostly, voices and other noises. I also see things, strange people or animals. Or see objects which others see, but with odd colours. Like a bird might look green to me when everyone else says it's yellow. Weird stuff like that. I have strange sensations on my skin sometimes too. Occasionally I feel like someone is grabbing me. I've smelled blood and urine, but that is connected to my trauma.

Yep. I have some strange ones. I get the nightly "bug" ones, where I can feel bugs crawling all over me. I have to get up and check myself and my bed a ton of times before it goes away and I can get to sleep. I have no idea why I get this and it's very irritating! I also get weird burning smells (and no idea where that came from either.) Most of the rest of it is trauma related that I can identify.

fun fun.

bec

Oh, I wanted to add that I have had full-blown ones where I've seen a threatening male in my room, or someone trying to get in my house. Although trauma related, in a way, they are never a specific person. And it's always worse and frequent when under more stress than usual.

Well I must say I am very grateful for the responses thus far, thank you. It seems there are a few of you with these strange experiences. I feel for you all, however it is encouraging to see Evie is not alone in this.

Find it interesting that several people chose option 2. Certainly not what the wife and myself were were expecting. Thank you for voting.

Jim.

I think it's interesting that no one has voted for the first option yet! Maybe I'm not as weird as I thought. Here's hoping...

You know I've never considered being weird as a bad thing... then maybe that is me and sometimes I smile and say, "I'm insane" without really caring.

But I know what you mean, seeing that there are a few others out there that see things other then things related to our trauma does make me feel alittle better about myself. I'll still not openly talk about some of those things I see for fear of what people would think, but I know seeing things is just a part of being who I am and I would not change that for anything, maybe lessen a few of the PSTD symtoms but not change anything.

Well, jaa ne

Kat

Yes in some ways weird is good. Weird is what makes me a good artist. I should embrace the weirdness a bit more I guess. :)