In a dark time: Development, validation, and correlates of the Durham hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations questionnaire
Simon R. Jones, C. Fernyhough, D. Meads
January 1, 2009 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.08.021 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA new questionnaire, the Durham Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Hallucinations Questionnaire (DHQ), was developed to measure auditory, visual, and felt-presence hallucinations that occur in the transition between wakefulness and sleep. In a sample of 365 adults aged 18–29, the scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Among 293 participants who also completed other measures, intrusive thoughts and the conscious desire to suppress thoughts correlated only with auditory H&H hallucinations, not visual or felt-presence. Transliminality—a tendency for mental material to cross thresholds—correlated with all three subscales, but more strongly with felt-presence than visual experiences.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 365 |
| Population | Adults aged 18–29 |
| Keywords | Psychology |
| Key finding | Intrusive thoughts and thought suppression correlated with auditory but not visual or felt-presence hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, while transliminality correlated with all three types but more strongly with felt-presence. |
Abstract
Abstract One factor limiting research involving hypnagogic and hypnopompic (H&H) hallucinations is the lack of a brief, valid and reliable self-report measure of such experiences. The present paper reports on the development of the Durham Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Hallucinations Questionnaire (DHQ), which consists of three unidimensional subscales assessing the presence of auditory, visual, and felt-presence experiences in the H&H state. In a sample of 18–29 year olds ( N = 365) this scale was found to have satisfactory psychometric properties. A subsample ( n = 293) completed self-report measures of intrusive thoughts, thought suppression and transliminality. Intrusive thoughts and the conscious desire to undertake thought suppression both correlated with levels of auditory, but not visual or felt-presence H&H hallucinations. Transliminality correlated with all DHQ subscales, but significantly more strongly with felt-presence than visual H&H experiences. Implications of these findings are considered, and recommendations for future research made.