Sleep Paralysis, Psychosis, and Death
SIM C. LIDDON M.D.1
1 Assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Va. 22904
The author presents two case reports of patients who, in their psychotic productions, were unusually preoccupied with death. These contrast with previously reported patients with sleep paralysis who were concerned with various conflicts. He suggests that anxiety accompanying sleep paralysis might be associated with several conflict situations and that the experience has no specific psychological meaning in itself. It may be interpreted differently by different patients, depending upon their individual makeup.
