Sensory and Threat Hallucinations

Hi everyone,


I wanted to share a way I’ve been thinking about central sensitization (CS) that helped me make sense of my own experience. I hope it can spark discussion or provide another perspective.

Two Layers of CS

I’ve found that CS isn’t just about “pain” or “fear” in isolation — it’s actually two overlapping processes:

1. Sensory Hallucination (S)
   
   • Normal bodily sensations (pressure, touch, heartbeat, breathing, posture) are amplified by the nervous system.
   • The tissues are healthy; nothing is broken.
   • But the brain makes these signals feel louder or more intense than they are.
   • This explains why small, everyday sensations can feel overwhelming.
2. Threat Hallucination (T)
   
   • The brain — especially the limbic system — interprets these amplified sensations as dangerous.
   • Even if you know rationally that you are safe, your body responds as if you’re in danger.
   • This is separate from the sensation itself; it’s the “danger tag” applied to the signal.
   • T produces fear, tension, hypervigilance, and other high-arousal states.

How S and T Work Together

• S “looks” threatening to the brain, so T stays high.
• High T increases arousal, which can amplify S even more.
• Together, they form a feedback loop, which is why CS can feel relentless and confusing.

Why This Matters

• If you can reduce T — through mindfulness, relaxation, hypnosis, or exposure — you can experience S without fear or agitation.
• Experiencing S in isolation teaches the brain that the sensations are safe, which gradually weakens both S and T.
• In my experience, during deep relaxation or hypnosis, sensations stayed strong but calmness returned, showing that S and T are separable.

Takeaway



This is just one way to frame CS:

• S = “How loud are the signals?”
• T = “Does the brain think they’re dangerous?”

Understanding this distinction can help explain why pain, fatigue, or tension persists even when nothing is physically wrong, and why some techniques work — they reduce T while letting S exist safely.


I’d love to hear thoughts or feedback — does this resonate with your experience?

I have simply found though my experimentation that cs is the hallucination of signals - both sensory and threat tagging - of the limbic brain. The brain simply created the hallucination and forgot that it’s the author and is running a hallucination loop. I meditated today and felt the raw sensations in calmness and I realised the way to break the loop is to lower the threat level and let the raw sensations be processed by the brain teaching it that it’s safe and as it accepts this the mind hallucinations will go away.


— Mike

 

Mike,
Great post. Yes, everything you said resonates!

I’ve had significant slow steady decrease in this CS loop through several things:

• Daily meditation
• Daily EFT tapping
• Meditating to singing bowls
• Self-soothing techniques like deep belly breathing and putting my hand over my heart
• Avoiding exposure to “scary” things: the news, mean people, violent TV or movies, books with stressful scenes or topics, catastrophic thinking

If I neglect these items listed above, it can spike again, but only temporarily. Most of them are habits to me now. And the meditation, I crave, so it’s not work. It’s a drug!

 

Fantastic, Diana. It’s all about separating the threat from the signal. I did it today and it was a drug. I used AI to put together a hypnosis script for CS based on my specific case then got a wonderful hypnotist on YT to do the audio. I then listen to the audio while doing visualisations and somatic tracking. The hypnotist has an amazing voice and I used it as an anchor. I’m doing the work but having her voice on the background makes it easier for me.

 

Awesome, Mike! We’re getting somewhere! Can you describe this hypnosis process? I’ve never done that. How do you do it? How do you set it up? Do you like it better than regular meditating? Why is it different?

 

The one I started listening to is “Calm Your Hypervigilent Mind” on YT by Suzanne Robichaud. I later after a few weeks asked her to create an audio for me specific to CS that talks to the limbic brain. AI created the script. All you do is listen to the audio and visualise. I prefer it to meditating as that is too stimulating for me right now. With hypnosis you can use the hypnotists voice as an anchor to focus on if you feel too stimulated. Also, listening to hypnosis over time can help send messages to your subconscious eg you are safe. It’s like prayer, if you listen to the affirmations in the audio on a regular basis you will start to feel it as reality if supported with life experiences - but you have to believe it. Try the audio on YT on the link above and let me know what you think. BTW I visualise turning down the amplification dial to reduce the gain on the signals amplified by the brain. It’s powerful.