hallusinations when falling off to sleep

[lorraine]

hi

a couple of times this week when falling off to sleep I have experienced a face coming up to mine from nowhere my eyes were shut I had only been asleep for about 20 mins it made me call out my son heard me.


Then another time this week it happened i had jumped awke with bad dream then look over at my wardrobe and could see people jumping off dressing table. its only last a matter of seconds but it is quite frightening.

lorraine

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Lorraine,

Have you heard of Hypnagogia and Hypnopompia? Don't worry, these are just names of sleep states Hypnagogia being sleep onset & the first 2 hours of sleep, Hypnopompia being waking state.

In these states the mind thinks quote differently and we experience all sorts of things including hallucinations. People often worry about schizophrenia because of this but they need to realise it's absolutely normal and a lot of people experience a whole range of sleep phenomena.

Whilst it's not specific to anxiety, anxiety is known to increase them.

It's frightening but please don't see hallucinations whether visual, auditory or olfactory as anything other than these normal states. Hallucinations outside of these states is something to consider talking to a GP about but even then people experience all sorts of things that don't mean something more serious like schizophrenia.

There is a very descriptive list of known sleep phenomena on the Wiki page for Hypnagogia.