Observations placeholder
Hyperventilation Leading to Hallucinations
Identifier
016532
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
American Journal of Psychiatry - Volume 125 Issue 5, November 1968, pp. 632-637
Hyperventilation Leading to Hallucinations
THOMAS E. ALLENBERTRAND AGUS
http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/ajp.125.5.632
The authors present two cases in which hyperventilation repeatedly led to hallucinations. They consider possible mechanisms and discuss their implications for the understanding of hallucinatory phenomena in schizophrenics, normals [sic], and members of primitive societies [sic]. Four factors may be significant in determining whether hallucinatory phenomena will occur and in which sensory modalities:
1) the neurological integration of the individual;
2) the cerebral-vascular reactivity and pattern;
3) local cerebral requirements for oxygen and the capacity for extraction of it; and
4) the respiratory rate and buildup in hyperventilation.