Abstract
Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder that typically presents with symptoms during late adolescence or early adulthood. This disorder is characterized by disruptions in cognitive processes, perceptions, and emotional responsiveness (American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5 Task Force, 2013). Auditory hallucinations are the sensory perceptions of hearing noises without an external stimulus and are most prevalent in patients who have psychosis (Gupta,V & Thakur, T. 2020). 60–80% of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorder report having auditory hallucinations (Lim, et al., 2016).According to a review of six studies (N = 42,519), 7.3% of people in general report having visual hallucinations (Waters et al, 2014).Excluding visual hallucinations resulting from physical sickness or drug/chemical usage lowers the prevalence to 6% (Ohayon, 2000).The aim of the study to examine the effect of visual and auditory hallucinations on cognitive functioning (episodic memory and amnesia) and emotional functioning (anxiety and schizophrenia) individual with and without Schizophrenia. However to investigate the potential effectiveness of a placebo intervention in individuals with and without Schizophrenia and to compare visual and auditory hallucination induction in individual with and without Schizophrenia. Moreover, the role of placebo intervention in improving the cognitive and emotional functioning will be investigated in the study. The study will be a temporal, double-blinded, simple randomized block design experiment will be conducted. The sample of 60 participants (diagnosed Schizophrenia n= 30; without Schizophrenia n=30) age of 18 and above will be recruit from different public and private hospitals and universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Five scales are Positive and negative syndrome scale for schizophrenia (PANSS), Launay–Slade Hallucination Scale, Rey's auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT) , Mini mental state examination, Beck anxiety inventory alongside a detailed demographic sheet and consent form will be used. Subsequently, the participants will be induce visual and auditory hallucination and will examine effect on cognitive and emotional functioning. They will also be administered a placebo intervention to reduce the cognitive and emotional consequence induced hallucinations. Data will be collected using Psychopy software composed 10 blocks and analyzed by SPSS software. Paired sample t test, One way ANOVA and multivariate analysis will be used to analyze assumptions of the study. This study will open up new avenues for researchers and policy makers to conduct further studies to explore the role of visual and auditory hallucination across with and without Schizophrenia individuals. The study will guide the development of more effective interventions, such as psychotherapy and medication, that specifically target and address the cognitive (Episodic memory and Amnesia) and emotional (Anxiety and Schizophrenia) challenges associated with hallucination. Placebo as intervention help create better mental health treatments in clinical settings to manage symptoms using psychosocial methods.