Olfactory hallucinations in a population-based sample (2024)

FAQs

What is an example of olfactory hallucinations? ›

Olfactory hallucinations or fantosmia are perceptions of smells that have no object. They almost always consist of unpleasant smells: rotten fish or eggs, gasoline, excrement, and so on.

Phantosmia may be caused by a head injury or upper respiratory infection. It can also be caused by aging, trauma, temporal lobe seizures, inflamed sinuses, brain tumors, certain medications and Parkinson's disease. Phantosmia can also result from COVID-19 infection.

To diagnose phantosmia, a doctor will first perform a physical exam of the person's head and neck. They may ask about any other symptoms and perform tests to check the individual's other senses. A doctor may order an endoscopy or rhinoscopy to look into the nasal cavity and check for issues that could cause phantosmia.

Olfactory hallucinations (OH) are experienced by a substantial minority of people with schizophrenia, with previous reports indicating a lifetime prevalence of up to 35% (Kopala et al., 1994) and a past-month prevalence of 13–17% (Langdon et al., 2011).

An Olfactory indicator is defined as a substance whose smell varies when it is mixed with an acidic or basic solution. Such substances can be used in the laboratory to test whether a solution is a base or an acid, and this process is called olfactory titration. All onion,clove oil and vanilla extract are examples.

Smelling things that aren't there is called phantosmia. It can be unpleasant and affect how things taste. But it isn't usually serious and may go away by itself in a few weeks or months. See your GP if the strange smell doesn't go away in a few weeks.

Olfactory hallucination is an uncommon type of hallucination in which the individual reports olfactory perceptions in the absence of chemical stimuli. Olfactory hallucination has been reported in 4.2–14.5% of the general population (1, 2).

Self-reported symptoms of anxiety and experience of stressful life events were significantly associated with olfactory hallucinations, suggesting that experiencing olfactory hallucinations may negatively affect functioning and may increase the likelihood of developing psychopathology.

Vanilla extract and onion are two examples of olfactory indicators.

Which is an example of an olfactory sensation? ›

For example, humans detect odors through the olfactory epithelium of the nose, whereas most insects detect odors through their antennae. Although olfactory systems are divergent throughout evolution, olfactory receptor cells possess common property and structure.

Olfactory hallucinations involve your sense of smell. You might smell an unpleasant odor when waking up in the middle of the night or feel that your body smells bad when it doesn't. This type of hallucination can also include scents you find enjoyable, like the smell of flowers.

Olfactory hallucinations have been observed in various neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (3), Parkinson's disease (4), epilepsy (5), and migraine (6), as well as in psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia (7), depression (8), bipolar disorder (9), and substance abuse (10).