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 and do not always produce a shocking effect on daily life. 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.
What are hypnagogic hallucinations?
Hypnagogic hallucinations are considered pseudohallucinations and they can be auditory, visual or tactile and occur shortly before sleep onsetat the moment of transition between the state of wakefulness and sleep, that is, they occur in phases 1 and 2 of sleep and they are more common in children between 6 and 15 years old. This can occur at bedtime at night and also during daytime naps.
Normally, they are a , that is, the person’s body is immobilized because he is “asleep”, however his mind is “awake” and it is at this moment when the hallucinations occur in which the subject cannot move or act against them. physically.
For many people, this is a very distressing situation since they end up thinking that they have developed some type 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 you are still very young, so you still have magical thinking and logical-rational thinking has not yet fully developed. Therefore, these fantasy-related beliefs They could be what caused 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. Others 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 manner, which are not given greater importance or 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.
Besides, bad sleeping habits or have little rest, the anxiety or the substance use They can also produce this type of hallucinations. There are diseases that can be the cause and also medications that cause hallucinations.
In this article we explain all the symptoms, such as tactile hallucinations and visual hallucinations.
Examples of hypnagogic hallucinations
The way in which hallucinations occur varies from person to person, from the causes of the hallucinations, from the moment, among others.
Some examples of hypnagogic hallucinations are feeling of falling into the void, seeing things that are not there such 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 there. 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 may also have the sensation 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 doesn’t smell, feel hot or cold when the weather doesn’t 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 are: avoidance of substance use and ones proper sleeping habits. For this reason, the patient is usually instructed to perform a . This consists of having fixed sleeping times, avoiding naps, caffeine, avoiding technology for a while before going to sleep, as well as exercising, preferably doing it in the morning or early afternoon, among others.
Reducing stress level is also important. Learn relaxation techniques In many cases they can be key when it comes to minimizing or eliminating hallucinations.
In the most serious cases in which hallucinations could be related to , taking antipsychotic medications may become necessary. However, this is not usually the case in this type of hallucinations, so, on a general level, having sleeping, eating and reduction of stress level In everyday life they are usually enough for the hallucinations to end. In this article you will find.
This article is merely informative, at 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 they are, causes, examples and treatmentwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Germaine, A., Nielsen, T. A. (1997). distribution of spontaneous hypnagogic images across Hori’s EEG stages of sleep onset. Sleep Research, 26243.
- Maury, A. (1878). Le sommeil et les rêves: études psychologiques sur ces phénomènes et les divers états qui s’y rattachent. Didier.