The author believes that, as a rule, hallucinations appear in the psychotic, and perhaps in the child, because of a lack of environmental confrontation. Since this lack prevents any perception or sensation, it is equivalent not only to the loss of an object but to the loss of part of one's ego. Hallucinations become pseudo-abstractions or pseudosymbols in an attempt to integrate unconscious fantasies with the environment.

In discussing complementary pairs in symbols, such as satisfaction-love, frustration-hate, Rolla believes that encapsulation in hallucination acts as a bridge between distorted pairs, such as hunger-repugnance, necessity-despicability, satisfaction-envy, and frustration-persecution. These elements of hallucination are thought to be a motivation and motorization in the need to use muscular sensation in acting out, looking for substantial reality. To Rolla hallucination appears to be a genetic element in the development of psychopathy.