LunaLiuna
02-05-14, 14:17
Hello everyone!
So last night I had a meeting with sleep paralysis, a meeting which has happened quite a few times since gaining Anxiety & Depression.
With my fear of neurological diseases being the main base of my Health Anxiety my obvious fear would be that these symptoms were situated around a physical rather than mental problem. So in defiance I looked up the links betweem this harmeless symptom and anxiety and this is what I found!
For those who can't be bothered to read. It basically says there is a link between anxiety/depression/stress and sleep paralysis
A 2006 paper by Otto, Simon, Powers, Hinton, Zalta and Pollack examines rates of sleep paralysis in patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Approximately 20% of the patients suffered from sleep paralysis. The use of medication was not found to significantly affect rates of sleep paralysis. Other research shows that patients with anxiety disorders show severe sleep disturbances, again suggesting a mediating role of sleep distrubance in the increased risk of sleep paralysis in patients with anxiety disorders.
A 2008 study by Solomonova, Nielsen, Stenstrom, Simard, Frantova and Donderi looks at the relationship between the amount of distress caused by a sleep paralysis attack and social anxiety. They found distress levels to be associated with dysfunctional social imagery, including extreme anxiety and fear of death in non-threatening situations as well as feelings of being observed. These factors are all associated with the feeling of a sensed presence in sleep paralysis so it is perhaps not surprising that distress in sleep paralysis was found to be most strongly associated with the sensed presence symptom set.
A 2005 study by Simard and Nielsen also looked into links between sleep paralysis, social anxiety and depression. They found higher levels of social anxiety in participants who suffered from sleep paralysis with sensed presence than those participants who did not sense a presence during sleep paralysis. They suggest someone who is socially anxious in waking life may be more likely to generate the threatening hallucination of an evil presence during dreams in REM sleep, and subsequently in sleep paralysis. They also suggest that the hallucinatory images may replicate or represent prior traumatic social events.
A 2007 paper by Szklo-Coxe, Young, Finn and Mignot investigates depression and its links with a number of sleep disturbances. It finds depression to be strongly associated with sleep paralysis, even after removing factors such as use of antidepressants, excessive daytime sleepiness and insomnia. It also finds that the relationship between sleep paralysis and depression is not explained by anxiety felt in depression, suggesting depression to be a risk factor for sleep paralysis, distinct from anxiety.
Here's a general sleep problem help page that I've seen posted around here that has helped me: http://www.psychology-solution.com/sleep-insomnia/anxiety-depression
So last night I had a meeting with sleep paralysis, a meeting which has happened quite a few times since gaining Anxiety & Depression.
With my fear of neurological diseases being the main base of my Health Anxiety my obvious fear would be that these symptoms were situated around a physical rather than mental problem. So in defiance I looked up the links betweem this harmeless symptom and anxiety and this is what I found!
For those who can't be bothered to read. It basically says there is a link between anxiety/depression/stress and sleep paralysis
A 2006 paper by Otto, Simon, Powers, Hinton, Zalta and Pollack examines rates of sleep paralysis in patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Approximately 20% of the patients suffered from sleep paralysis. The use of medication was not found to significantly affect rates of sleep paralysis. Other research shows that patients with anxiety disorders show severe sleep disturbances, again suggesting a mediating role of sleep distrubance in the increased risk of sleep paralysis in patients with anxiety disorders.
A 2008 study by Solomonova, Nielsen, Stenstrom, Simard, Frantova and Donderi looks at the relationship between the amount of distress caused by a sleep paralysis attack and social anxiety. They found distress levels to be associated with dysfunctional social imagery, including extreme anxiety and fear of death in non-threatening situations as well as feelings of being observed. These factors are all associated with the feeling of a sensed presence in sleep paralysis so it is perhaps not surprising that distress in sleep paralysis was found to be most strongly associated with the sensed presence symptom set.
A 2005 study by Simard and Nielsen also looked into links between sleep paralysis, social anxiety and depression. They found higher levels of social anxiety in participants who suffered from sleep paralysis with sensed presence than those participants who did not sense a presence during sleep paralysis. They suggest someone who is socially anxious in waking life may be more likely to generate the threatening hallucination of an evil presence during dreams in REM sleep, and subsequently in sleep paralysis. They also suggest that the hallucinatory images may replicate or represent prior traumatic social events.
A 2007 paper by Szklo-Coxe, Young, Finn and Mignot investigates depression and its links with a number of sleep disturbances. It finds depression to be strongly associated with sleep paralysis, even after removing factors such as use of antidepressants, excessive daytime sleepiness and insomnia. It also finds that the relationship between sleep paralysis and depression is not explained by anxiety felt in depression, suggesting depression to be a risk factor for sleep paralysis, distinct from anxiety.
Here's a general sleep problem help page that I've seen posted around here that has helped me: http://www.psychology-solution.com/sleep-insomnia/anxiety-depression