Visions or hallucinations?

Assumption: The spiritual realm is real.

The question: How can you actually tell the difference between a vision and a hallucination?

Look, why am I even asking this? Because I’ve dealt with psychiatrists who refuse to even entertain my starting premise—to them, "visions" simply don't exist.

Then, on the flip side, you have psychiatrists who happen to be people of faith—whether they're Christian, Muslim, or just spiritually inclined without being part of an organized religion—and these folks are actually capable of distinguishing a genuine vision from a hallucination.

Even Catholic priests—specifically those rare ones authorized to perform exorcisms—work quite closely with mental health professionals. They're remarkably good at telling a vision apart from a hallucination, or at the very least, differentiating between someone experiencing a spiritual crisis and someone suffering from a clinical mental illness. Word is, in only about 2% of suspected possession cases is it actually confirmed, while the other 98% are rightfully referred for psychiatric care.

So, is there a straightforward way to figure out if someone has seen something real—like heaven, hell, or a glimpse of the future—versus just having a hallucination? Psychiatrists who aren't closed-minded about the spiritual world seem to know the difference.

Follow-up question: Is it even possible to have a true vision while under the influence of drugs, or is that ALWAYS just a hallucination?

Donna Fowler7 said:Assumption: The spiritual realm is real.

The question: How can you actually tell the difference between a vision and a hallucination?

Look, why am I even asking this? Because I’ve dealt with psychiatrists who refuse to even entertain my starting premise—to them, "visions" simply don't exist.

Then, on the flip side, you have psychiatrists who happen to be people of faith—whether they're Christian, Muslim, or just spiritually inclined without being part of an organized religion—and these folks are actually capable of distinguishing a genuine vision from a hallucination.

Even Catholic priests—specifically those rare ones authorized to perform exorcisms—work quite closely with mental health professionals. They're remarkably good at telling a vision apart from a hallucination, or at the very least, differentiating between someone experiencing a spiritual crisis and someone suffering from a clinical mental illness. Word is, in only about 2% of suspected possession cases is it actually confirmed, while the other 98% are rightfully referred for psychiatric care.

So, is there a straightforward way to figure out if someone has seen something real—like heaven, hell, or a glimpse of the future—versus just having a hallucination? Psychiatrists who aren't closed-minded about the spiritual world seem to know the difference.

Follow-up question: Is it even possible to have a true vision while under the influence of drugs, or is that ALWAYS just a hallucination?

A hallucination would basically be some kind of glitch in your visual or auditory processing, where you see or hear stuff that has zero connection to reality.

But a vision... that shouldn't be a hallucination. It should be linked to parts of our consciousness that aren't usually active in the average person. A vision would be tied to a higher state of awareness... though, I guess we could go down a philosophical rabbit hole here. What if you have a vision that’s totally useless? 🤷 Is it just a mental hiccup, or is it internal proof that your consciousness just expanded? 🤷

There's that old saying, you'll know them by their fruits. ☕

A vision would be akin to a mystical experience; you likely wouldn't feel the need to explain it to anyone else.
A vision belongs solely to you, and it defies verbal description. At least, that is my perspective on the matter.
It is an internal phenomenon that loses its potency the moment you attempt to recount it to another person.

Nicole Booth25 said:A vision would be akin to a mystical experience; you likely wouldn't feel the need to explain it to anyone else.
A vision belongs solely to you, and it defies verbal description. At least, that is my perspective on the matter.
It is an internal phenomenon that loses its potency the moment you attempt to recount it to another person.

🤷 I mean, on one hand, I get that...

but why not share something that could actually lift someone up, or give them a little spark of inspiration? 🤷

you just have to make sure you're sharing it with people who'll actually respect it and find it inspiring.

I wasn't talking about textbook definitions. I’m talking about how we actually tell the difference between a vision and a hallucination—specifically from a medical standpoint. How do you distinguish between a byproduct of a mental health issue or substance abuse and an actual, legitimate vision?

How do you even go about questioning someone who claims they saw another dimension or some other world? If we assume that such a place actually exists, how can we determine if they truly experienced a vision or if it was just a pure biochemical, neurological hallucination?

Look, plenty of people claim they can see the future or revisit the past, and then—lo and behold—they actually end up being right. In my book, that’s just one specific kind of vision that we can actually verify once the dust settles.

But honestly? It’s not enough to just "see" stuff. You’ve got to actually try and make sense of it. Even if you think it’s nothing more than your own brain running some weird projection or a mental movie, there might be a deeper layer there meant specifically for you. It’s a lot like those bizarre dreams you have in the middle of the night—you know, the ones that leave you feeling unsettled for hours.