Previous episodes of Shadow Control contained stories of eyewitnesses who frankly shared their experience of facing the invisible world and its manifestations in real life. In this episode, the topiс is considered from the perspective of psychology, psychiatry, and somnology. Answers to relevant questions are given by Diana Oleynik, a practicing psychiatrist and psychotherapist.
According to mainstream science, the condition experienced by people when invisible shadows (creatures, demons) influence them is known as sleep paralysis. Such sleep disorders are treated by somnologists. Nonetheless, there is no such a disorder as sleep paralysis in the International Classification of Diseases. It is only mentioned in the structure of narcolepsy, the symptoms of which include attacks of daytime sleepiness and a loss of muscle tone. However, sleep paralysis is also accompanied by “complex hallucinations”and intense fear.
Yet, when people come to psychiatrists with consequences of the visits of such overnight guests as succubi and incubi, specialists do not regard this as a disease, but as a syndrome of narcolepsy. So, sleep paralysis is not considered to be a serious disorder, and it is even regarded as a body defence mechanism in narcolepsy. Some specialists assert that because of such a muscle spasm a person cannot hurt himself during nightmares in sleep. But is this actually true? Is such a phenomenon as sleep paralysis only a physiology or rather a result of an external invisible impact?
Diana Oleynik has debunked some myths of psychology and psychiatry and has frankly answered questions that trouble people who faced such unpleasant phenomena in their lives.
In the video, you will find answers to the following questions:
- What do leading somnologists say about sleep paralysis?
- What are actually nightmares?
- Is sleep paralysis just a fantasy of the brain?
- Does science explain what happens to a person during sleep?
- What is fear, and how does it arise?
- What or who produces terrible images in a dream?
- How long can sleep paralysis last during sleep?
- What is the difference between sleep paralysis and nightmares?
- At what age do people experience such conditions most often?
- Why does sleep paralysis appear, and who is exposed to it the most?
- Does insomnia really contribute to the emergence of sleep paralysis?
- What are the negative consequences of meeting invisible creatures in sleep?
- Can conventional healthcare help in such a case?
- What do somnologists, psychologists and psychiatrists recommend to people with such sleep disorders?
- Why is this problem almost an adjudgement in contemporary society?
- Why is a person unable to move while sleeping?
- Can church help people to get rid of the visits of shadows?
- How does consciousness actually work in such cases?
- What are hypnopompic and hypnagogic hallucinations?
- Is sleep paralysis a norm or a problem that has to be solved?
There are lots of opinions about such phenomena, but the truth is one. In order to discover the truth, active participation of everyone who has faced such manifestations is necessary. Please, join the Shadow Control project! It is a global and comprehensive study of the invisible world’s influence on our lives. This concerns everyone!
You can send participation requests and stories about your encounters with the invisible world to the project email address: [email protected]