Patients with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder-conditions with relatively high levels of dissociative symptoms-as a rule exhibit sleep abnormalities. Interestingly, among participants who report memories of childhood sexual abuse, experiences of sleep paralysis typically are accompanied by raised levels of dissociative symptoms (McNally & Clancy, 2005 Abrams, Mulligan, Carleton, & Asmundson, 2008). For example, in patients with depersonalization, symptoms are worst when they are tired (Simeon & Abugel, 2006). Sleep Problems and Dissociative DisordersĪnecdotal evidence supports the idea that sleep disruptions are linked to dissociation. The many similarities between dreaming states and dissociative symptoms are also a recurrent theme in the more recent clinical literature (e.g., Bob, 2004). Related, Barrett (1994, 1995) described the similarity between dream characters and “alter personalities” in DID, with respect to cognitive and sensory abilities, movement, amnesia, and continuity with normal waking. Likewise, Franklin (1990) considered dreamlike thoughts, the amnesia one usually has for dreams, and the lack of orientation of time, place, and person during dreams to be strikingly similar to the amnesia DID patients often report for their traumas. Arlow (1966) observed that the dissociation between the “experiencing self” and the “observing self” serves as the basis of depersonalized states, emphasizing its occurrence, especially in dreams. Interestingly, a century later, Levitan (1967) hypothesized that “depersonalization is a compromise state between dreaming and waking” (p.157). Many 19th-century scholars believed that these patients were switching between a “normal state” and a “somnambulistic state.” Hughlings Jackson, a well-known English neurologist from this era, viewed dissociation as the uncoupling of normal consciousness, which would result in what he termed “the dreamy state” (Meares, 1999). Patients suffering from this disorder were referred to as “somnambules” (Hacking, 1995). In the 19th century, double consciousness (or dédoublement), the historical precursor of dissociative identity disorder (DID formerly known as multiple personality disorder), was often described as “somnambulism,” which refers to a state of sleepwalking. Researchers (Watson, 2001) have proposed that dissociative symptoms, such as absorption, derealization, and depersonalization originate from sleep. For a long time, scientists thought dissociative disorders were simply this confusion of waking and dreaming states. Those who have fallen asleep in class or on the bus have likely experienced those “micro-dreams” – that moment or two where reality kind of blends in with your dreams.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |