A hallucination is the perception of a person, object or any stimulus that does not exist but is considered real. We usually associate hallucinations with people with schizophrenia, very old people and people in general with serious mental problems. However, they are much more common, depending on the type of hallucination it is, and they do not always produce a shocking effect on a day-to-day basis. On the other hand, hallucinations can be visual, tactile and / or auditory and depending on this and the time of day in which they occur, they will belong to one type or another of hallucinations.
In this Psychology-Online article, you will discover what are hypnagogic hallucinations, their causes, as well as some examples and the treatment to use.
Index
- What are hypnagogic hallucinations?
- Causes of hypnagogic hallucinations
- Examples of hypnagogic hallucinations
- Treatment of hypnagogic hallucinations
What are hypnagogic hallucinations?
Hypnagogic hallucinations are considered pseudo-hallucinations and they can be auditory, visual or tactile Y occur shortly before sleep onset, at the time of transit between the waking and sleeping states, that is, there are in phases 1 and 2 of sleep and they are more frequent in children between 6 and 15 years old. This can happen at bedtime at night and also during daytime naps.
Normally, they are a symptom of sleep paralysis, that is, the person has the body immobilized because he is "asleep", however his mind is "awake" and it is in this moment when hallucinations occur before which the subject cannot move or act against them in a way physical.
For many people, this is a very distressing situation as they end up thinking that they have developed some kind of serious mental disorder.
Causes of hypnagogic hallucinations.
It is quite common to have this type of hallucinations, as we mentioned in the previous section, when it is still very young, so you still have magical thinking and have not fully developed the thinking yet logical-rational. Therefore, these fantasy-related beliefs could be the ones that cause these types of hallucinations.
On other occasions, when these hallucinations are more repetitive and occur in adults, it could be due to suffering, as we have mentioned, sleep paralysis. Other of the sleep disorders that can produce this type of hallucinations is the narcolepsy (excess sleep during the day).
Sometimes, they occur in an isolated and sporadic way, which are not given greater importance or are considered as a disorder. In some cases, if they are frequent, it could be due to some brain damage, so it is appropriate to go to a neurologist to rule it out.
What's more, bad sleep habits or have little rest, the anxiety or the substance use They can also produce these types of hallucinations. There are diseases that can be the cause and also medications that cause hallucinations.
In this article we explain all the types of hallucinations, such as tactile hallucinations and visual hallucinations.
Examples of hypnagogic hallucinations.
The way in which hallucinations are presented vary from person to person, from the causes of it, from the moment, among others.
Some examples of hypnagogic hallucinations are feeling of falling into space, seeing things that are not there as a person, an animal or a thing, even thinking that there are insects and hearing or seeing them when in reality they are not. For example, within visual hypnagogic hallucinations, see spiders it is the most typical. These visions can also be more complex, such as even thinking that you are somewhere else.
You can also have the feeling that someone is touching you or sitting on the bed. Within tactile hypnagogic hallucinations, sensations such as notice the ants on the skin. You can also smell something that does not smell, be hot or cold when the weather does not match that sensation, among others.
The presentations of hallucinations in the hypnagogic state can vary in the same person, so they do not always present in the same way.
Treatment of hypnagogic hallucinations.
The treatment will vary, logically, depending on the cause of the hallucination. However, guidelines that can help in a generic way is the avoidance of substance use and ones proper sleep habits. For this reason, the patient is usually instructed to perform a sleep hygiene. This consists of having fixed times to sleep, avoiding naps, caffeine, avoiding technologies for a while before sleeping as well as exercising, preferably in the morning or early afternoon, between others.
Also reducing the stress level is important. Learn relaxation techniques in many cases they can be key in minimizing or eliminating hallucinations.
In the most serious cases in which hallucinations could be related to schizophrenia, antipsychotic medications may become necessary. However, this is not usually the norm in this type of hallucinations, so, in general, having some habits of sleep, eating and a stress level reduction in the day to day they are usually enough to end the hallucinations. In this article you will find strategies to reduce stress.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Hypnagogic hallucinations: what are they, causes, examples and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.
Bibliography
- Germaine, A., Nielsen, T.A. (1997). Distribution of spontaneous hypnagogic images across Hori's EEG stages of sleep onset. Sleep Research, 26, 243.
- Maury, A. (1878). Le sommeil et les rêves: études psychologiques sur ces phénomènes et les divers états qui s'y rattachent. Didier.
Hypnagogic hallucinations: what are they, causes, examples and treatment
