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[[Hallucination]]s are usually defined in [[psychiatry]] as "[[false ]] perceptions," that is, perceptions which arise "in the absence of an appropriate [[external ]] stimulus."<ref>American [[Psychiatric ]] [[Association]]. 1987. p. 398</ref>

[[Lacan]] finds such definitions inadequate, since they ignore the [[dimension ]] of [[meaning]] and [[signification]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.77; {{E}} p. 180</ref>

[[Hallucination]]s are a typical phenomenon of [[psychosis]], and are usually auditory (hearing voices), but may also be [[visual]], somatic, tactile, olfactory, or gustatory.

A [[hallucination]] is the [[return ]] of this [[foreclosed]] [[signifier]] in the dimension of the [[real]]; "that which has not emerged into the light fo the [[symbolic ]] appears in the real."<ref>{{Ec}} p. 388</ref>

This is not to be confused with [[projection]], which [[Lacan]] regards as a [[mechanism ]] proper to [[neurosis]] rather than [[psychosis]].

In this [[distinction]], [[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]]'s [[analysis ]] of [[Schreber]]'s [[hallucination]]s.

<blockquote>"It was incorrect to say that the [[perception ]] which suppressed internally is projected outwards; the [[truth ]] is rather, as we now see, that what was abolished internally returns from without.<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Psycho-Analytic Notes on an Autobiographical Account of a Case of Paranoia (Dementia Paranoides)]]," 1911c. [[SE]] XII. p. 71</ref></blockquote>

While [[hallucination]]s are most commonly associated with [[psychosis]], there is [[another ]] [[sense ]] in which they play an important part in the [[structure]] of [[desire]] in all [[subject]]s.

[[Freud]] argues that "[t]he first wishing seems to have been a hallucinatory cathecting of the [[memory ]] of [[satisfaction]]."<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900a. [[SE]] V. p. 598</ref>