 |
| Watercolor by R. Cooper shows the types of images that can occur as hypnagogic hallucination |
After that frightening episode, when I literally felt like screaming and could not, I went to the emergency room at the hospital for the diagnosis. The word, hypnagogic hallucination, was an unfamiliar term; but the explanation revealed its unusual, interesting and ordinary happening that few people know very much about.
Hynogogic hallucination is associated with sleep disorders, specifically narcolepsy. Not every person who has had an episode of that type, however, has narcolepsy, which is the tendency to fall asleep at any time and any place without the ability to control it. While these events are associated with seeing images and hearing voices during attempts to fall asleep, either at night or in the daytime, they can also occur in the process of waking up.
Experts tell us these episodes of hypnagogic hallucination can happen very rarely or frequently, depending upon the cause and condition of the individual. The following events or conditions such as stress, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, electrical or neurochemical changes in the brain, brain damage, or mental illness can be causal factors. While 75% of schizophrenics report having hypnagogic hallucinations, this does not mean that having an episode is a sign of mental illness. It is simply a condition that can arise from any one of a number of combination of factors.
For me another episode never occurred after that scary event of 20 years ago. The condition specifically was atonia, which is a loss of muscle activity during a period of wakefulness. The episode where I experienced hypnagogic hallucination happened during a period of extraordinary stress. Had the episodes been more frequent, there are medications and treatment available for the condition.
These medications and treatment include a medical evaluation at the outset. Then, depending upon the underlying condition, medications and/or therapies may be prescribed. These may be anticonvulsants, antidepressant medications, antipsychotic medictions, brain or ear treatments, or psychotherapy. For the most part, doctors maintain that hallucinations associated with waking and sleeping are less of a concern than those symptomatic of mental illness, but the fact they are frightening requires some initial intervention, if nothing other than reassurance of what the condition is and that it can be treated.
Psycho-social therapy can be helpful in teaching the patient the coping skills to deal with them, if hallucinations persist. Hallucinations due to sleep deprivation or severe stress generally stop after the cause is removed.
