These findings suggest "a possible intriguing link between mind-pops and hallucinations." It may be that "ordinary mind-pops, experienced as benign phenomena by nonclinical individuals, will take the exaggerated and abnormal form of auditory and other types of hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia," Dr. Elua and her associates said.
Future research should attempt to ascertain "whether the content of mind-pops is more negative and distressing in patients with schizophrenia than in clinical and nonclinical controls, and whether schizophrenia patients are more likely to actively suppress and/or control the occurrence of their mind-pops. If that is the case, then these processes can be responsible for transforming ordinary mind-pops into hallucinations," the investigators said.
Alternatively, it might be that the content of mind-pops is similar between schizophrenia patients and controls, but that the schizophrenia patients interpret them as being more alien or threatening. "They may assume that something strange is happening to them ... that they are ‘going mad,’ " the researchers said.
Dr. Elua is now with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, New York.