Sleep paralysis, sexual abuse, and space alien abduction.
Transcultural Psychiatry March 1, 2005 Richard J McNally, Susan A Clancy
Sleep paralysis accompanied by hypnopompic ('upon awakening') hallucinations is an often-frightening manifestation of discordance between the cognitive/perceptual and motor aspects of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Awakening sleepers become aware of an inability to move, and sometimes experience intrusion of dream mentation into waking consciousness (e.g. seeing intruders in the bedroom). In...