My specialty is anxiety, easily one of the most unique mental health challenges that a person can experience. We often think of anxiety using words like “fear” and “nervousness,” but it is so much more than that, and changes the longer you experience it.
- Did you know that anxiety can cause eye pain?
- Did you know that anxiety can make you forget how to walk?
- Did you know that anxiety can cause your toes to tingle?
There are many, many issues that anxiety can create. It’s just not a rapid heartbeat, sweating, and fear. It’s chronic stress that can affect your entire body, affect how you think, and so much more.
Anxiety is like the “great mimicker,” in that it can cause issues that mimic other mental and physical health challenges.
Which brings us to the topic that we’re discussing today, based on a common question in forms and in searches:
Can anxiety cause you to hallucinate? Specifically, can anxiety cause auditory hallucinations, making you feel like you’re hearing things, whether it’s hearing voices, sounds, or something else.
As a therapist, let me ease your mind first: Yes, anxiety can lead to issues that seem like hallucinations, and no, you’re not experiencing psychosis. You’re not even really experiencing hallucinations at all, but rather anxiety-related issues that make you feel like something is there when it isn’t.
The easiest way to understand why these are not hallucinations is that you’re asking if they’re hallucinations. For something to be a hallucination, a person has to believe it to be real. They are experiencing a false reality. Your own curiosity about why and if you’re experiencing a hallucination is a sign that it’s not one.
But you can experience issues that seem like hallucinations, and that’s because of a combination of anxiety symptoms, how your brain processes information, sleep issues, and more. Let’s talk about them.
About Me
My name is Audrey Jung. I’m a therapist in Chandler, AZ with decades of exprience that provides therapy and solutions for anxiety, stress, and related conditions. I am licensed to work remote in ALL of Arizona and California, so if you’re located in either state, please reach out to me today and let me help you with your anxiety-related needs.
Symptoms of Chronic Anxiety
To understand how one might hallucinate, it is helpful to understand some of the symptoms of anxiety, especially chronic anxiety. When a person experiences anxiety often, they are more prone to many, many issues that can eventually cause problems that may feel like hallucinations. For example:
- High Alert – People with anxiety have bodies that are frequently on high alert, similar to how the body would react if they were faced with danger (ready to jump if they sense something is wrong). That means that, even when you’re relaxed, you’re still on alert for a potentially dangerous situation.
- Responsive – When you struggle with anxiety, you’re also more prone to experiencing anxiety quickly when you’re faced with some type of triggering stimulus. So, for example, if a car drives by the house, a person without anxiety may not even notice, but a person with anxiety may experience an anxious thoughts.
- Light Sensitivity – When a person has anxiety, their eyes dilate. The body does this so that you can see movement better and react to danger, but when you don’t have anxiety, all that happens is you are more sensitive to light and movement for no apparent reason, which can cause you to see and be more aware of things that other people do not.
- … And More – Anxiety can cause you to self-monitor, which leads to being extra aware of how you’re feeling. It can also make your senses more sensitive. Chronic stress can also lead to pressure in the ears, eyes, and more. All of these are additional symptoms that can, eventually, lead to the “hallucinations” that we’ll talk about in a moment.
These are all things that anxiety causes, which in turn create situations where “hallucinations,” as we’ll call them, become more likely.
How Does Anxiety Make You Hallucinate?
Well, it doesn’t. At least not in a way that we’ll worry about clinically. If you’re truly hallucinating, then you’ll feel as though what you’re experiencing is real and would not be reading this article, questioning whether or not you’re hallucinating.
But can anxiety cause you to “hear things?”
Absolutely yes, in a sense.
For example:
- Hearing Your Name – When you have anxiety, you’re always monitoring for sounds you recognize, and one sound that you are sure to recognize is your name. It’s not at all uncommon for sounds that you hear in the home to sound as though someone said your name, especially from directions you’re not currently looking. It’s not that your name was said, it’s that your brain is looking for things to interpret and hears your name in places it isn’t.
- Hearing Your Thoughts – Some people find that their self-talk is “louder,” in a sense, almost as though they’re hearing it. It doesn’t sound like strange voices, so much as like their own voice keeps interrupting their thoughts.
- Unexplained Loud Noises – This is a strange one, but some people do hear loud popping our unexplained noises with their anxiety, especially if they have panic attack. It’s not clear what causes this and it’s pretty rare, but it can be startling.
- Background Noises – Someone may hear odd noises, like white noise, tinnitus, or something else that they can’t necessarily explain.
We may also experience strange noises that have no explanation, but are likely to just be normal noises – like noise coming from outside – that we’re not able to interpret, and so it sounds to us like a strange noise (or even voice) that we think we’re imagining.
Overall, it’s not that you’re “hearing things.” Instead, it’s that you’re likely interpreting and processing normal noises differently – with more sensitivity, confusion, and a greater reaction to what you hear.
Visual Hallucinations
Anxiety hallucinations are not limited to hearing things either. You can also have visual hallucinations. Because you’re more sensitive to light and movement, you might see things “move” that are not there, or see flashes of light that can’t be explained. You can also experience issues like eye strain that can cause visual changes that, because you’re anxious, may look to you like a person or thing.
Some people also experience odd smells, or they may feel like people are touching them when no one is really there. Our bodies experience a lot of issues when we’re experiencing the long term, chronic stress of anxiety. When you add that we’re also primed to be more sensitive to what we experience AND interpret it with an anxious lens, it’s easy to see why so many people fear these “hallucinations.”
Next Steps with Therapy
You’re not necessarily hallucinating, but what you’re experiencing can definitely be upsetting. It’s understandable that you’d worry that you’re hearing things or that you may be struggling with psychosis in some form.
But these can all be directly related to your anxiety, and the sooner you address your anxiety, the less likely you are to experience them in the future.
My name is Audrey and I would love to be your therapist. Please reach out to me today and let’s get to know each other and help you get the support you deserve.