What Are Olfactory Hallucinations?
Olfactory hallucinations are a type of hallucination which involves the olfactory system. Patients who experience olfactory hallucinations think that they are smelling something when there is nothing in the environment producing the odor being experienced. They may be able to describe the smell in detail, and they can have reactions to the smell, such as gagging at the smell of feces or increased saliva production at the smell of chocolate chip cookies. Although phantosmia, as it is known to the medical community, may seem primarily like an interesting curiosity, it can actually be a sign that a patient has a severe medical problem, and people who smell things which don’t exist definitely need to see a doctor.
