A client with schizophrenia reports hearing voices others cannot hear. This symptom is a ___?

A client with schizophrenia reports hearing voices others cannot hear. This symptom is a ___?

• A. Illusion
• B. Hallucination
• C. Delusion
• D. Obsession

Answer: (B)

Auditory hallucination is being tested here. It happens when a person hears voices or sounds that aren’t produced by anything in the external world. In schizophrenia, hearing voices that others cannot hear is a classic example of an auditory hallucination and reflects a perceptual experience without an actual stimulus. An illusion would involve misinterpreting a real external cue, like thinking a rustle is a whisper. A delusion is a fixed, false belief despite evidence to the contrary. An obsession is a recurring intrusive thought the person recognizes as irrational. So the described symptom is an auditory hallucination.

Auditory hallucination is being tested here. It happens when a person hears voices or sounds that aren’t produced by anything in the external world. In schizophrenia, hearing voices that others cannot hear is a classic example of an auditory hallucination and reflects a perceptual experience without an actual stimulus. An illusion would involve misinterpreting a real external cue, like thinking a rustle is a whisper. A delusion is a fixed, false belief despite evidence to the contrary. An obsession is a recurring intrusive thought the person recognizes as irrational. So the described symptom is an auditory hallucination.