Olfactory hallucinations

Abstract

Introduction, Traditional teaching in psychiatry has been that until proven otherwise the presence of olfactory, gustatory and visual hallucinations is a marker of underlying organic pathology. Visual hallucinations are seen in delirium or Lewy body disease, while olfactory and gustatory hallucinations raise the possibility of medial temporal pathology, especially epilepsy. The aims of this chapter are first to review the literature on olfactory hallucinations and second to discern any characteristics of olfactory hallucinations which allow those of organic aetiology to be distinguished from those of functional origin, such as those related to schizophrenia. The subjective experience of olfa..