Auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia – Outcry of a diseased brain?

SummarySchizophrenia, with a lifetime prevalence of one percent, is one of the most common mental diseases. Regarding the typology and definition, hallucinations of different qualities (auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory and gustatory) represent a so-called core symptom according to the modern classification systems ICD-10 and DSM-IV. However, under functional imaging evaluation (MEG) of a neuronal correlate of the disease, truly asymmetric relationships were found. While the notable neurophysiological finding was a general slowing of delta–theta activity within the temporal lobe, an increase in beta activity was found within the same zone during auditory hallucinations, which raises the question of whether this might be an intermittent compensation mechanism of the brain, also in the sense of a self-healing function. This might lead one to speculate whether the supposed core symptom of the disease, auditory hallucination, is not in fact a possible resistance mechanism.If this hypothesis blurts out any measure of truth, the usual therapeutic algorithm will have to be re-evaluated.