A term used to denote a hallucination fulfilling all the formal characteristics of * hallucinations proper, in the sense that it perfectly mimics a regular sense perception. The French psychiatrist Pierre Lelong conceptualizes complete hallucinations as dissociated or depersonalized mental elements that are somehow transformed into ego-alien or ego-dystonic percepts. According to Lelong, this transformation involves three subsequent stages, namely obsession (characterized by self-consciousness and anxiety), * psychic hallucination (characterized by depersonalization and * automatisms), and * sensorial hallucination (characterized by its subconscious nature, and its seeming objectivity). Complete hallucinations are traditionally considered prognosti-cally unfavourable. Whereas the 'desensorialisa-tion' of hallucinations tends to be interpreted as a sign of recovery, the 'concretisation' or 're-concretisation' ofhallucinations tends to be interpreted as a sign of deterioration or relapse. The term complete hallucination is used in opposition to the terms * incomplete hallucination and * rudimentary hallucination.
References
Lelong, P. (1928). Le problème des hallucinations. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils.
Parish, E. (1897). Hallucinations and illusions. A study ofthe fallacies ofperception. London: Walter Scott.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.