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Sleep Paralysis

But why would so many people dream the same thing. This is what is intriguing to me. I've read Jung who believes that dreams are a connection to the collective unconscious and that we dream of being attacked because of our ancestors fear of being attacked by a wild beast. It is fascinating and it is taking me a lot to get over it because it is weirding me out so much.
 
truethat said:
But why would so many people dream the same thing. This is what is intriguing to me. I've read Jung who believes that dreams are a connection to the collective unconscious and that we dream of being attacked because of our ancestors fear of being attacked by a wild beast. It is fascinating and it is taking me a lot to get over it because it is weirding me out so much.
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Some of the correlation comes from shared instincts ("hardwired" thoughts) and some comes from shared cultural experiences.

I think it's intriguing that so many people have the dream about suddenly realizing that they are back in school, they have been blowing off their classes all semester, and the final exam is just a few days away. This certainly has nothing to do with an ancestral fear of wild beasts.
 
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what "night terrors" are.

Technically, they aren't dreams. The person experiencing them usually doesn't remember anything, they simply start screaming in their sleep. It is far more upsetting to the person's sleepmate than it is to themselves.

Take this with a grain of salt, of course...I have experienced night terrors twice, and both times I remembered what I was dreaming.
 
This used to happen to me as well while I was in university. This was a high stress time, not only with school, but also, for me, a time of self discovery, low self esteem, and really trying to figure out who I was, you know, get over all the setreo type and start feeling comfortable in your own skin. I think anyone go through it.

Anywho, after the fact, when a lot of this stuff stopped happening I did some reading, and from what I understand alot of this stuff is linked to anxiety (sorry no sources).

I would look at what is happening in your life and in your head when these dreams are happening. Usually it has something to do with some sort of anxious feeling whether is school, or socially related... or.. it seemed to be in my case...
 
Hello...

The answer to the question as to why the "Demons" seems to be explained by the psychology of the situation. When a person is subjected to the conditions of sleep paralysis the mind (that is already in a lucid dream state) takes over with “what is the worst thing that can happen" thoughts.
At this point the experience that is reported by the person having the sleep paralysis defaults to the expectations of cultural background. The experiences can range from Demons, Ghosts, Religious, and even Extra Terrestrials.

One common suggestion to help stop this from happening is to note the position that you are in when this happens. It appears that most people who have this happen are flat on their backs. When they try to sleep in other positions it has been reported that the occurrence is much less.

I would also suggest the book "Sex and the Paranormal" it is a wonderful look into the cultural aspects of the condition.

Thanks,
Bryan
Rocky Mountain Paranormal
 
I don't know that I'd agree with that. I can think of a whole lot of things that would terrify me worse than a demon. A demon would be the last thing in my mind to be afraid of. I'd be far more terrified of a large spider sitting on my chest or a waterbug. THAT would terrify me.

I wouldn't think of demons or witches or aliens in a state of fear but rather a state of interest. Also I remember having a frightened sleep paralysis when I was much younger.

I had a dream that my youngest brother ran through the front gate and was going to be hit by a white van. I was frozen in place and couldn't move. I started crying horribly and woke up crying, a fly had been landing on my face the whole time and I think the fly had something to do with upsetting me but me still being asleep.

This is something I think is related to spirituality in that it is using the same part of the brain.
 
I’ve had the sleep paralysis experience twice. It was many years ago and both times happened within a few days of each other.

In my case I was treated to a «visit» by the little gray aliens with the big eyes. At the time I did not know about sleep paralysis and found the experience rather frightening. The second incident threw in a neat twist though. I remember seeing the aliens surrounding my bed and being very frightened, then suddenly they were gone and lying next to me was a beautiful young woman, I recall thinking «Aha, this is just a trick, those sneaky aliens are trying to trick me!», then she vanished and the aliens were back. The rest went according to form, struggling, unable to move, waking up freaked out, etc...

It was freaky but interesting. Never happened again. It makes me chuckle to think that my warped brain was not content to conjure up some aliens, but also had to make them sneaky. :o)

Max
 
aggle-rithm said:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what "night terrors" are.

Technically, they aren't dreams. The person experiencing them usually doesn't remember anything, they simply start screaming in their sleep. It is far more upsetting to the person's sleepmate than it is to themselves.
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Oh, is that what it's called?

Well, now I know.

And yeah, I can vouch for the fact that it doesn't bother me at all, but scares the bejeezes out of anyone rooming with me.
 
Did a little more reading and if you go to the wikipedia page for sleep paraylsis and down to the links section, there is a University of Waterloo link from a prof who is doing research on the subject. There is alot of good information there, as well as a survey to fill out and help with his research. Check it out!
 
aggle-rithm said:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what "night terrors" are.

Technically, they aren't dreams. The person experiencing them usually doesn't remember anything, they simply start screaming in their sleep. It is far more upsetting to the person's sleepmate than it is to themselves.

Take this with a grain of salt, of course...I have experienced night terrors twice, and both times I remembered what I was dreaming.
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Yep, the "screaming in [my]sleep" describes most of my night terrors. The few times I had any memory, it was always Robed Skeletal Guy. One time, I could actually "see" my closet behind him--funny, I clearly think it's male-- but not through him. My husband and a girl friend I have slept over with have both awakened me from screamers. I always wake up, wonder why they're upset, and also why my throat hurts!
 
Occasionally awakened by a partner from a screaming nightmare, what I recall of the dream seems fairly innocuous- nothing that would bother me if awake.
I wonder if there are more processes going on here than the two we are aware of (Dreaming n' screaming). Is the fear only indirectly related to the dream?


Re sleep paralysis, my experiences are described in earlier threads. I'd only note my hallucinations tend to be aural, not visual.
 
I have experienced sleep paralysis once. Two days before it happened I had consumed 5 grams of psilocibyn and had gone for about a week with only 15 hours of sleep. Then, I took a flight with a time difference of two hours.

I slept well until I woke up to see what I can best describe as the ghost of an Alien standing over me, its fingers around my throat. Thankfully, I knew about sleep paralysis at the time and was able to will the damned thing away rather quickly.

Still, scary as hell.
 
I've had sleep paralysis a number of times. The first time was when I was a teen and I remembered seeing a hand coming through my window trying to grab me. I remember trying to scream but nothing came out. After a few seconds the hand disappeared.

I had it a few times after that, this time with the little grey aliens surrounding my bed. Each time I tried to scream but nothing came out.

The last time it happened I knew what it was and just said to myself "Sleep paralysis...cool." Then I just changed the dream into something pleasant.
 
Coincidentally, it just happened to me again last night, for the first time in years. But this time it was only the paralysis, no hallucinations to go with it; I was trying to move and speak, but could do neither. I realized what was happening at the time, so it wasn't as terrifying as earlier episodes, but it was still plenty unpleasant. When I finally came to, I felt spent and exhausted from the effort of trying to wake myself up -- which is odd when you think about it, because said "effort" was entirely in my mind. It's not like my limbs were really exerting the force I was trying to direct to them.

Man, the brain can do some weird stuff.
 
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