Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

Treatment of Hallucinations

If hallucinations are related to schizophrenia or another

psychotic disorder, then the patient should be under the

care of a psychiatrist. For schizophrenia-related halluci-

nations, the patient should be prescribed antipsychotic

medication such as thioridazine (Mellaril), haloperidol

(Haldol), chlorpromazine (Thorazine), clozapine

(Clozaril), or risperidone (Risperdal). Treatment for hal-

lucinations that are not related to schizophrenia are

dependent on the disorder associated with the onset of

hallucinations and could include anticonvulsant or anti-

depressant medications, psychotherapy, brain or ear

surgery, or therapy for drug dependence. Hallucinations

related to normal sleeping and waking are considered

normal and do not require intervention.

Elizabeth L. Jeglic

See also Delusions; Mental Health Courts; Police Interaction

With Mentally Ill Individuals; Posttraumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD); Violence Risk Assessment

Further Readings

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and

statistical manual of mental disorders(4th ed., text

revision). Washington, DC: Author.

Behrendt, R. P. (2006). Dysregulation of thalamic sensory

“transmission” in schizophrenia neurochemical

vulnerability to hallucinations. Journal of

Psychopharmacology, 20(3), 356–372.

Johns, L. C., Nazroo, J. Y., Bebbington, P., & Kuipers, E.

(2002). Occurrence of hallucinatory experiences in a

community sample and ethnic variations. British Journal

of Psychiatry, 180,174–178.

McNeil, D. E., Eisner, J. P., & Binder, R. L. (2000). The

relationship between command hallucinations and

violence. Psychiatric Services, 51,1288–1292.

Ohayon, M. M. (2002). Prevalence of hallucinations and their

pathological associations in the general population.

Psychiatry Research, 97,153–164.

HAREPSYCHOPATHY

CHECKLIST–REVISED

(2NDEDITION) (PCL–R)

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (2nd edition,

PCL–R) is a 20-item rating scale for the measurement

of the clinical construct of psychopathy. Although it

was designed for use in research, its explanatory and

predictive features have led to its widespread use within

the criminal justice system. This entry describes the

development of the PCL–R, its psychometric proper-

ties, and its use in the criminal justice system.

The PCL–R had its origins in the late 1970s at a time

when a variety of clinical and self-report methods were

being used to define what ostensibly was psychopathy.

There was little evidence that these methods were con-

ceptually or empirically related to one another, with the

result that many research findings obtained with one

method could not be replicated with other methods.

The development of the PCL–R (and its predecessor,

the PCL) was based on a rich clinical tradition that

included the writings of, among others, Benjaman

Karpman, Silvano Arieti, William and Joan McCord,

and, especially, Hervey Cleckley. The selection of sev-

eral items and the scoring protocols was influenced by

the nature of the population with which the research

was being conducted, namely incarcerated offenders.

Prison populations continue to offer several advantages

for the study and measurement of psychopathy: high

prevalence and the availability of extensive amounts of

“hard” information about the individual. The latter is

particularly important, given that self-disclosed infor-

mation (e.g., interviews, self-reports) typically is sub-

ject to impression management and often unreliable,

not only in offenders but also in the general population.

The PCL–R scoring criteria first were distributed to

researchers in 1985. With the subsequent accumulation

of large amounts of empirical data, the criteria and

accounts of the psychometric properties of the PCL–R

were formally published in 1991. This was followed by

a dramatic upsurge in the use of the instrument for both

basic research and applied (clinical, forensic) purposes

and the publication of a greatly expanded second edition

in 2003, which contains data on more than 10,000

offenders and forensic psychiatric patients. Throughout,

the scoring criteria have remained unchanged to ensure

conceptual and measurement continuity.

Description and

Psychometric Properties

The PCL–R uses a semistructured interview, case his-

tory information, and specific scoring criteria to rate

each item on a 3-point scale (0, 1, 2) according to the

extent to which the criteria are judged to apply to a

given individual. Total scores can vary from 0 to 40 and

reflect the degree to which the individual matches the

prototypical psychopath.

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