SLEEP PARALYSIS
JEROME M. SCHNECK M. D.1
1 The Mental Hygiene Division, Westchester County Department of Health, New York.
Sleep paralysis apparently occurs more frequently than reported cases would indicate. It has been mentioned mostly in association with narcolepsy and cataplexy. Psychodynamics involved has received relatively scant attention. The probable role of latent homosexual conflict in some instances had been reported previously by the present writer.
In this report 2 cases of sleep paralysis are added to the somewhat sparse literature appearing in this country. In both these instances as well as in the writer's previous case narcolepsy and cataplexy were not part of the histories. Psychodynamics outlined now extends the items previously mentioned and indicates a parallel between the sleep paralysis and conflict over trends in the direction of over-all active, aggressive functioning and inactive, passive behavior.
