DEADWEIGHT HALLUCINATION

   A term introduced in or shortly before 1951 by the American neurologist Caro W. Lippman (1886-1954) to denote a "kinaesthetic hallucination characterized by a subjective sensation of being pulled down to the ground. As noted by one of Lippman's patients, "While walking I have a feeling as if a rope were attached between my legs, pulling me down into the ground. At other times I have a feeling of being near to the ground, squashed down, my whole body mashed." Lippman classifies dead-weight hallucinations as variants of the "space-motion hallucination. Because of their association with migraine, they may also be classified as "aural phenomena.

   References

   Lippman, C.W. (1951). Hallucinations in migraine. American Journal of Psychiatry, 107, 856-858.