The term psychic aura comes from the Greek words psuchè (life breath, spirit, soul, mind) and aura (wind, smell). It is used to denote a type of * aura manifesting itself either as a * compound hallucination, a subtype of * metamorphopsia (such as * micropsia or * macropsia), or an alteration in the sense of familiarity (such as derealization, *déjà vu,or *jamais vu). Etiologi-cally, psychic aurae are associated primarily with temporal lobe epilepsy and/or partial epileptic seizures affecting the limbic system. They are often accompanied by intense affective states such as fear. * Body schema illusions and symptoms belonging to the *Alice in Wonderland syndrome have also been reported as manifestations of psychic aura. The notion of the psychic aura is closely related to the notion of the * ecstatic aura.
References
Lüders, H., Acharya, J., Baumgartner, C., Ban-badis, S., Bleasel, A., Burgess, R., Dinner, D.S., Ebner, A., Foldvary, N., Geller, E., Hamer, H., Holthausen, H., Kotagal, P., Morris, H., Meencke, H.J., Noachtar, S., Rosenow, F., Sakamotot, A., Steinhoff, B.J., Tuxhorn, I., Wyllie, E. (1998). Semiological seizure classification. Epilepsia, 39, 1006-1013.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.