Hallucinations in Kenyan schizophrenic patients.

Abstract

Eighty Kenyan 'psychotic' patients were screened using the New Haven Schizophrenic Index (NHSI) and were all studied for hallucinations using standardised definitions. Fifty-one of the patients were NHSI positive and the rest NHSI negative. Sixty-one percent of the NHSI positive had hallucinations in one or more modalities as compared with 31% of the NHSI negative group. Of the NHSI positive 51% had auditory hallucinations directly to the patient, 43% had visual hallucinations and 25% had olfactory hallucinations. These results are compared and contrasted with the very few similar observations made elsewhere.