Hallucinations

What Are Hallucinations?

If you're like most folks, you probably think hallucinations have to do with seeing things that aren't really there. But there's a lot more to it than that. It could mean you touch or even smell something that doesn't exist.

There are also a lot of different causes. It could be a mental illness called schizophrenia or a nervous system problem like Parkinson's disease.

If you or a loved one has a hallucination, you need to get checked by a doctor. You can get treatments that help control them, but a lot depends on what's behind the trouble.

Types of Hallucinations

Hearing voices. Your doctor may call this an "auditory hallucination." You may sense that the sounds are coming from inside or outside your mind. You might hear the voices talking to each other or feel like they're telling you to do something.

Seeing things. This is also known as a "visual hallucination." For example, you might see insects crawling on your hand or on the face of someone you know.

Sometimes they look like flashes of light. A rare type of seizure called "occipital" may cause you to see brightly colored spots or shapes.

Smell things that aren't there. The technical name for this is "olfactory hallucination." You may think the odor is coming from something around you, or that it's coming from your own body.

False sense of taste. These are called "gustatory hallucinations." You may feel that something you eat or drink has an odd taste.

Feel things that don't exist. Doctors call this a "tactile hallucination." It might seem to you that you're being tickled even when no one else is around, or you may have a sense that insects are crawling on or under your skin. You might feel a blast of hot air on your face that isn't real.

What Causes Hallucinations?

-Schizophrenia . More than 70% of people with this illness get visual hallucinations, and 60%-90% hear voices. But some may also smell and taste things that aren't there.

-Parkinson's disease . Up to half of people who have this condition sometimes see things that aren't there.

Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. They cause changes in the brain that can bring on hallucinations. It may be more likely to happen when your disease is more advanced.

Migraines. About a third of people with this kind of headache also have an "aura," a type of visual hallucination. It can look like a multi-coloured crescent of light.

Brain tumour . Depending on where it's located, it can cause different types of hallucinations. If it's in an area that has to do with vision, you may see things that aren't real. You might also see spots or shapes of light.

Tumors in some parts of the brain can cause hallucinations of smell and taste.

Charles Bonnet syndrome. This condition causes people with vision problems like macular degeneration, glaucoma, or cataracts to see things. At first, you may not realize it's a hallucination, but eventually you figure out that what you're seeing isn't real.

Epilepsy . The seizures that go along with this disorder can make you more likely to have hallucinations. The type you get depends on which part of your brain the seizure affects.

How Are Hallucinations Treated?

First your doctor needs to find out what's causing them. He'll take your medical history and do a physical exam. He'll ask about your symptoms.

You may need tests to help identify the problem. For instance, an EEG (electroencephalogram) checks for unusual patterns of electrical activity in your brain. It could show if your hallucinations are due to seizures.

You might get an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), which uses powerful magnets and radio waves to make pictures of structures inside your body. It can find out if a brain tumor or something else, like an area that's had a small stroke, could be causing your hallucinations.

Your doctor will treat the underlying condition that's causing the hallucinations. The treatment can include things like:

Medication for schizophrenia or dementias such as Alzheimer's disease

Anticonvulsant drugs to treat epilepsy

Treatment for macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts

Surgery or radiation to treat tumours

Drugs called triptans, beta-blockers, or anticonvulsants for people with migraines

Sessions with a therapist can also help. For example, cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focuses on changes in thinking and behavior, helps some people manage their symptoms better.

My Respod:

I did not realise how many different reasons there is for hallucinations. I did not realise that illnesses could cause hallucinations. I am particularly interested in the hallucinations caused my drugs and I am going to explore this further.

Drugs

Psychedelic drug

LSD is widely known as a psychedelic drug and often features psychedelic artwork on its blotters

A psychedelic substance is a psychoactive drug whose primary action is to alter cognition and perception, typically by agonising serotonin receptors. Psychedelics are part of a wider class of psychoactive drugs known as hallucinogens, a class that also includes mechanistically unrelated substances such as dissociatives and deliriants. Unlike other drugs such as stimulants and opioids which induce familiar states of consciousness, psychedelics tend to affect the mind in ways that result in the experience being qualitatively different from those of ordinary consciousness. The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as trance, meditation, yoga, religious ecstasy, dreaming and even near-death experiences. With a few exceptions, most psychedelic drugs fall into one of the three following families of chemical compounds; tryptamines, phenethylamines, and lysergamides.

Many psychedelic drugs are illegal worldwide under the UN conventions unless used in a medical or religious context, such as medical cannabis or ayahuasca. Despite these regulations, recreational use of psychedelics is common.

60's Fashion and Textiles

History of 1960s Fashion and Textiles

The 1960s was a decade of sweeping change throughout the fashion world generating ideas and images which still appear modern today. Whereas fashion had previously been aimed at a wealthy, mature elite, the tastes and preferences of young people now became important. At the beginning of the decade, the market was dominated by Parisian designers of expensive haute couture garments. Formal suits for women underwent a structural change resulting in looser lines and shorter skirts.

Yet the shape of clothes was soon transformed by new ideas emerging from the London pop scene. In Britain, musical taste and styles of dress were closely linked and it was the mod look which first popularised the simple geometric shapes typical of the 1960s. By the mid-sixties, the flared A-line was in style for dresses, skirts and coats. Slim fitting, brightly coloured garments were sold cheaply in boutiques all over 'Swinging London' and had tremendous influence throughout  Europe and the US.

Men's suits became sleeker and were often accessorised with bright, bold shirts and high-heeled boots. The flamboyant look was in, signalled by wider trousers and lapels, like those belonging to the blue checked Tommy Nutter suit seen below. Designers experimented with shiny new waterproof materials with a modern look like PVC and perspex. Paco Rabanne pioneered dresses made from plastic discs and metal links which looked more like sculpture than clothing.

Later in the decade the hippy look, which originated on the West Coast of America, crossed the Atlantic. This was a time when designers of dress and textiles experimented with colours, patterns and textures borrowed from non-Western cultures. As ethnic influences took over, the most fashionable people wore long layers of loose clothing in vivid, clashing colours, typified by Thea Porter's kaftans and Pucci's dazzling prints.

My Respond:

As I am looking at the word psychedelia, and after researching and finding out that it all began in the 60’s I wanted to explore my passion for textiles and find out what fashion and textiles what like then and was it as crazy and fun as the psychedelic art. I love how the fashion changed and the designers stated to change their ideas and focus on the younger generation. I love how fashion and textiles got involved within the London pop scene. I like how the fashion changed from haute couture garments to flared A-line, dresses, skirts and coats. Men's suits became sleeker and were often accessorised with bright, bold shirts and high-heeled boots.

Wes Wilson

Wes Wilson

Wes Wilson was born July 15, 1937. He is an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters. Best-known for designing posters for Bill Graham of The Fillmore in San Francisco, he invented a style that is now synonymous with the peace movement, psychedelic era and the 1960s. In particular, he is known for inventing and popularizing a "psychedelic" font around 1966 that made the letters look like they were moving or melting. ^[2] It was very common by the 1970s.

Psychedelia-60's

Psychedelic 60s

Psychedelia and the Psychedelic movement-1960-1975

Psychedelic:

   -Pertaining to or characterized by hallucinations, distortions of perception and awareness, and sometimes psychotic-like behavior.

-A drug that produces such effects.

-An art style influenced by the prevalence of hallucinatory drugs, especially LSD, with typical designs featuring abstract swirls of intense color with curvilinear calligraphy reminiscent of Art Nouveau.

The psychedelic movement began in the mid 1960’s and had an effect, not just on music, but also on many aspects of popular culture. This included style of dress, language and the way people spoke, art, literature and philosophy.

The name “psychedelic” refers to drugs that were popular with the youth culture of the time. Posters for rock concerts tried to visually express the feeling of tripping out.

The visual motifs of psychedelic art include Art Nouveau-inspired curvilinear shapes, illegible hand-drawn type, and intense optical colour vibration inspired by the pop art movement.

Background

The end of WWII in 1945 brought about a post-war economic boom in the U.S. It also brought about an enormous spike in the birth rate, known as “the baby boom.” Between 1945 and 1957 nearly 76 million babies were born in America. By the middle 1960s, most of these kids were young adults.

As young people do, these “baby boomers” questioned America’s materialism and conservative cultural and political norms. During the 1960s a youth movement emerged, seeking to create an egalitarian society free from discrimination. The feminist movement and the Black movement are a direct result of this evolution.

Americans in the 1960s and 70s addressed many controversial issues — from civil rights, the Vietnam War, nuclear proliferation, and the environment to drug use, sexual freedom, and nonconformity. Many youth sought spiritual experiences through Eastern Mysticism and psychedelic drugs.

Music festivals and concerts were a prominent feature of the 60s landscape, and musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Janice Joplin were the super-stars of the day. It’s hard to say whether psychedelic music influenced the counterculture or vice versa. But a unique art form found expression in band posters.

Influential Designers

-Wes Wilson

-Victor Moscoso

The Influence of  Op Art  & Pop Art

Op art, short for Optical art, is a style of abstraction that relies on geometric shapes, lines, and colour juxtapositions to create optical illusions for the viewer. Gaining popularity in the 1960s, such art often features patterns, grids, and effects like curving or diminishing objects. The Op art movement was driven by artists who were interested in investigating various perceptual effects.

“Pop” was a term first applied to popular culture rather than to art, but it would be one of the goals of the Pop art movement to blur the boundaries between ‘high’ art and ‘low’ popular culture.

Pop Art was one of the United States’ major artistic movements of the 20th century. It actually was first coined in Britain in 1955 but unsurprisingly the Americans took up the consumerist cause with much greater effect and conviction, and became the pioneers of the movement. Pop art and pop culture refers to the products of the mass media evolving in the late 1950s and 60s and also to the works of art that draw upon popular culture: packaging, television, advertisements, comic books, the cinema. Pop art attempted to break down the barriers between high (old-fashioned) art and contemporary culture.

Pop Art emphasized the kitschy elements of popular culture as a protest against the elitist art culture and the seriousness that surrounded it. It marked a return to sharp paintwork and representational art. It glorified unappreciated objects and ordinary business. In doing so, it aimed to make art more meaningful for everyday people and came to target a broad audience. Although it gained many supporters for the way it was easy to comprehend, critics saw pop art as vulgar.

Pop Art made its way to the United States in the 1960s with the help of ground-breakers Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

Roy Lichtenstein became a household name for the way he used stencil-like dots, thick lines, bold colors, and thought bubbles to represent the comic book style. His paintings were the size of billboards.

Andy Warhol became the most famous American pop artist when he used an industrial silkscreen process to paint such commercial objects as Campbell’s soup cans and Coca-cola bottles and for portraying major celebrities like Liz Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and Marilyn Monroe. As Warhol and Lichtenstein brought together elements of sign painting, commercial art and literary imagery in their work, they became renowned for erasing the boundaries between popular and high culture.

Psychedelia-Spider Diagram

I would class myself as a ...

      I feel like I am a …  

      

            I would class myself as an artist rather than a designer. I like to express myself through art and I feel like this is not suitable for design. I like to decide what Im making and evoking but in design you cannot do that as design is about communication and function. Art can rely entirely on aesthetics alone, and artists embark on journeys of exploration and experimentation. Design has a function to achieve a purpose.I like how art is open to interpretation and opinions by the viewer by any way but design is designed specifically at an audience to give out a specific message.I like how my work can get any reaction out of an audience but never the same opinion. Art exists for itself. It’s innovative, expressive and sometimes shocking.