The Varieties and Complexities of Multimodal Hallucinations in Psychosis

Abstract Despite the high prevalence of multimodal hallucinations in psychosis, limited research has been conducted on this subject, and little is known about the relationship between experiences in different modalities. Building upon the descriptions of these experiences from the Voices in Psychosis (VIP) interviews, the chapter discusses multimodal hallucinations in more detail, including both their prevalence and tendencies towards manifestation across specific modalities. It is observed that multimodal hallucinations can vary considerably in their described complexity (from fleeting shadows to clearly visible people), can sometimes be linked by agentic attribution (i.e. different experiences are believed to be different manifestations of the voice), and can be either temporally synchronous or asynchronous. These observations have ramifications for attempts to explain the underlying cognitive processes associated with hallucinations in psychosis.