Musical hallucinations in schizophrenia: 2. Relations with verbal hallucinations

The musical hallucinations reported by 33 schizophrenics who fulfilled ICD-10 diagnostic criteria were assessed semiologically. The subjects were 24 men and 9 women. The duration of 48 episodes of musical hallucinations varied. They occurred at all times during the course of schizophrenia, and 9 of them (18.8%) occurred before the diagnosis was made. All of the episodes could be divided into three stages: 17 (35.4%) were first stage, close to obsession, 5 (10.4%) were second stage, close to Schneiderian first-rank symptoms, and 26 (54.2%) were third stage, which is the autochthonous experience. The sounds were in a subjective space in 38 episodes and in the majority of cases, their content was familiar. The second stage was associated with xenopathic experience ('gemachtes Erlebnis') and audition of thought, and words were added to melodies that normally had no lyrics. Musical hallucinations in schizophrenia are pseudohallucinations that originate in memory representations, and they may undergo a transition to true hallucinations. The authors think that the three stages are related to the severity of the disease.