- microptic hallucination
- Also known as microscopic hallucination and diminutive visual hallucination. The term microptic hallucination is indebted to the Greek words mikros (small) and opsis (seeing). It refers to a type of *visual hallucination in which the hallucinated object is perceived as disproportion-ally small in comparison with the 'background' of regular sense perceptions. A subtype of the microptic hallucination, characterized by the perception of disproportionally small human figures, is known as a *lilliputian hallucination. Microptic hallucinations may present as an isolated symptom, as part of an * aura, or as part of a cluster of symptoms called the *Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Etiologically, they are associated with varying conditions such as epileptic seizures, migraine, * delirium, * delirium tremens, alcohol withdrawal, toxoplasmosis or typhoid infections, mesencephalic lesions, * Charles Bonnet syndrome, and intoxication with * hallucinogens such as LSD and mescaline. In individuals with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia they would seem to be relatively rare. The term microptic hallucination is used in opposition to the term *macroptic hallucination. It should not be confused with *micropsia.ReferencesEy, H. (2004). Traité des hallucinations. Tome 1. Paris: Claude Tchou pour la Bibliothèque des Introuvables.Jaspers, K. (1963). Gesammelte Schriften zur Psychopathologie. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.