In an interesting article in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry, researchers compared the experiences of hallucinations from sufferers of both Narcolepsy and Schizophrenia. There were some particularly interesting bits of information that can be found within the piece.
For example, when the subjects were asked if they had ever experienced any hallucinations in their lives, the Narcolepsy suffers reported 10% higher incident rate than the Schizophrenia group. Also, 65% of the members in the Narcolepsy category reported having hypnagogic hallucinations, (hallucinations occurring at the onset of sleep), while only 4% of the Schizophrenia sufferers reported such events.
Auditory hallucinations within the Narcoleptic group usually consisted of generalized “sounds”. Schizophrenics on the other hand tended to experience auditory hallucinations that had a distinct voice or voices that would have, “third-person qualities ”.
For those who have had out-of-body lucid dreaming experiences, this next quote may hold some interest for you. In regards to some of the hypnagogic hallucinations that the narcoleptics faced, “during the hallucination, typically a combination was present of the actual environment of the patient (such as the bedroom) superimposed with the hallucinated perceptions, for example, a family member entering the room, while not actually being in the house”. It was certainly interesting material to say the least.
-R
Droogleever, H. A., Lappenschaar, G. A., Nienhuis, F. J., Furer, J. W., Hodiamont, P. P., Rijnders, C. A., et al. (n.d.). Psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy: phenomenology and a comparison with schizophrenia. General Hospital Psychiatry. Available online 24 January 2009, ISSN 0163-8343
-L
Great post man. Its very interesting to find out that others have this same experience but not only when they are in the surroundings of their house. I am starting to read about Narcolepsy and the interesting hallucinations that they experience. Very good stuff.
ReplyDelete-L
Very interesting post I myself have narcolepsy. And while the hallucinations combined with the you speak are very close to what I experience. I have had one very different experience. My catalepsy
ReplyDeleteis sometimes triggered by extreme pain. The end result is passing out. Once I became sick and threw up at the same time. I ended up in the emergency room. They shot me up with a paralytic drug and placed me on a ventilator. Based on there drug screen of course they thought overdose. Meanwhile I wake up unable to move but fully aware of everything. As no sedation or pain medication had been administered. This was a trip. I realized what had happened and only felt the pain. But was able to steer or control the hallucinations in such a way as never before or after. Actually I found it quite pleasant once they did get some pain medication on board. To be able to have control of them for the first time in my life felt wonderful. I do remember a change in my control factor when I was to hot or to cold. Nice job on your research. I full think the paralytic aspect along with a hallucinogenic drug could reveal much but that is just my thoughts on the subject. And at one time they did use wet sheet packs in mental hospitals to treat mental disorders. Thank you and keep up the good work. bluhatster@gmail.com