Hearing voices: does it give your patient a headache? A case of auditory hallucinations as acoustic aura in migraine.
Christina M Van der Feltz-Cornelis, Henk Biemans, Jan Timmer
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment March 14, 2012 DOI: 10.2147/ndt.s29300 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case report and literature review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | A 40-year-old man with auditory hallucinations and migraine |
| Interventions | Propranolol Mirtazapine Explanation of the etiology of the hallucinations |
| Dose | Propranolol 40 mg twice daily; mirtazapine 45 mg daily |
| Keywords | Migraine Psychosis Case report Dsm-iv Auditory hallucination Acoustic aura |
| Key findings | The authors report that a 40-year-old man's imperative auditory hallucinations, which caused depressive and anxiety symptoms, occurred as an aura preceding nocturnal migraine attacks without any psychotic disorder. Treatment with propranolol 40 mg twice daily, mirtazapine 45 mg daily, and explanation of the etiology resolved the migraines and hallucinations. The authors argue this is the first adult case of nonpsychotic auditory hallucinations as migraine aura and propose clinicians consider migraine with "acoustic aura" when evaluating such patients. |
Abstract
Objective: Auditory hallucinations are generally considered to be a psychotic symptom. However, they do occur without other psychotic symptoms in a substantive number of cases in the general population and can cause a lot of individual distress because of the supposed association with schizophrenia. We describe a case of nonpsychotic auditory hallucinations occurring in the context of migraine.
Method: Case report and literature review.
Results: A 40-year-old man presented with imperative auditory hallucinations that caused depressive and anxiety symptoms. He reported migraine with visual aura as well which started at the same time as the auditory hallucinations. The auditory hallucinations occurred in the context of nocturnal migraine attacks, preceding them as aura. No psychotic disorder was present. After treatment of the migraine with propranolol 40 mg twice daily, explanation of the etiology of the hallucinations, and mirtazapine 45 mg daily, the migraine subsided and no further hallucinations occurred. The patient recovered.
Discussion: Visual auras have been described in migraine and occur quite often. Auditory hallucinations as aura in migraine have been described in children without psychosis, but this is the first case describing auditory hallucinations without psychosis as aura in migraine in an adult. For description of this kind of hallucination, DSM-IV lacks an appropriate category.
Conclusion: Psychiatrists should consider migraine with acoustic aura as a possible etiological factor in patients without further psychotic symptoms presenting with auditory hallucinations, and they should ask for headache symptoms when they take the history. Prognosis may be favorable if the migraine is properly treated. Research is needed to explore the pathophysiological mechanism of auditory hallucinations as aura in migraine.