A patient with schizophrenia reports an odd experience whereby an exact replica of himself appears. He tells you that it appears identical to him and that it thinks the same thoughts as him. He says that it typically happens each day and that the experience lasts for a few seconds. He thinks the other him is trying to take him over and is expressly suicidal. He says that at times he can see what he considers to be his real self through the eyes of the replica and gets confused about which is the real him. This is an example of which of the following?
Exam Question Jul 2014
Dissociative identity disorder describes a condition whereby an external observer sees more than one personality manifested at different times by the same person (patient). Each different personality claims to have no knowledge, or memory, for the others.
Depersonalisation is a term used to designate a peculiar change in the awareness of self, in which the individual feels as if he is unreal. This term is reserved for feelings rather than for distortions in reality.
Depersonalisation19%Dissociative identity disorder20%Heautoscopy19%Out of body experience21%Autoscopic hallucination21%
Exam Question Jul 2014
Dissociative identity disorder describes a condition whereby an external observer sees more than one personality manifested at different times by the same person (patient). Each different personality claims to have no knowledge, or memory, for the others.
Depersonalisation is a term used to designate a peculiar change in the awareness of self, in which the individual feels as if he is unreal. This term is reserved for feelings rather than for distortions in reality.
Autoscopic phenomena
Autoscopic phenomena (AP) are rare illusory visual experiences during which the subject has the impression of seeing a second own body in extrapersonal space. AP consists of:
- out-of-body experience (OBE)
- autoscopic hallucination (AH)
- heautoscopy (HAS)
Out-of-body experience
During an OBE people seem to be awake and feel that their self, or centre of awareness, is located outside of the physical body and somewhat elevated. It is from this elevated extrapersonal location that the subjects experience seeing their body and the world.
An OBE can thus be defined as the presence of the following three phenomenological elements: the feeling of being outside ones physical body (or disembodiment); the presence of a distanced and elevated visuo-spatial perspective (or perspective); and the seeing of ones own body (or autoscopy) from this elevated perspective.
Autoscopic hallucination
During an AH people experience seeing a double of themselves in extrapersonal space without the experience of leaving ones body (no disembodiment). As compared to
OBEs, individuals with AH experience to see the world from their habitual visuo-spatial perspective and experience their self, or centre of awareness inside their physical
body.
Heautoscopy
The third form of AP is HAS, which is an intermediate form between AH and OBE. The individual experiencing an HAS also has the experience of seeing a double of himself in extrapersonal space. However, it is difficult for the subject to decide whether he/she is disembodied or not and whether the self is localized within the physical body or in the autoscopic body. In addition, the subjects often report to see in an alternating or simultaneous fashion from different visuo-spatial perspectives (physical body, doubles body).
