Citation

Siegel RK. Am. J. Psychiatry 1978; 135(3): 309-314.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

626219

Abstract

The author reviews the literature on hallucinations that occur as a result of acute and chronic administration of cocaine. He examined the phenomenology of cocaine hallucinations in a group of 85 recreational cocaine users, 15 of whom reported hallucinatory experiences in visual, tactile, olfactory, auditory, and gustatory modalities. He discusses a new phenomenon of "snow lights" in terms of initiating a progression of symptoms leading to the classic "cocaine bugs." He also points out the similarity of cocaine hallucinations to entoptic phenomena and migraine hallucinations, which suggests a common mechanism of action based on CNS excitation and arousal.

Language: en