Thread: Stupid girl on facebook...

Sleep paralysis is horrifying real when it happened. You can't blame her.

Of course its horrifying but its defiantly not because her house is possessed.

I had very intense and terrifying sleep paralysis throughout my childhood and into my early twenties. I would see a shadow figure with red eyes in my bedroom or hovering above me. I was raised in a very religious household and afraid to confide in anyone else what was happening to me. Until I took an intro psychology class in college and figured out what was actually happening to me, I thought a demon was following me wherever I lived and attacking me in my sleep.

Waking during sleep paralysis is a terrifying and confusing experience if you don't what is happening to you. Maybe you should have helped this girl by giving her a psychological explanation of what was happening instead of laughing at her.

Originally Posted by Arngeir

Of course its horrifying but its defiantly not because her house is possessed.

Maybe she doesn't know, like what hermine_hesse said, you could have explained to her. Of course it's hilarious to think that someone would think their house is haunted because of a sleep paralysis, but how many wouldn't think of the same thing if they've never read about sleep paralysis before?

oh god sleep paralysis can be so terrifying. I remember having it at least 4 times a week when i was like 6. I had no idea what was going on with me. I had dreams of people watching me and preymantis like creatures trying to get into my bed infesting my house. Then i was choking Other times, I'd have dreams of some cemetary behind a church and I fall down a steep hill where some Dampe from zelda/ hunchback of notredame guy would chase me up the hill i could never get up.... This is the only reason i still remember to this day.

I wouldn't call her stupid even if you DID know what was happening to her

XD! That has actually happened to me several times. I just try to explain what SP is, but they are usually confused. :/

Originally Posted by Mancon

XD! That has actually happened to me several times. I just try to explain what SP is, but they are usually confused. :/

You tell them, SP is a ghost that lives in your unconscious.

Wait. Nah. That's going to make matters worst.

Originally Posted by Mancon

XD! That has actually happened to me several times. I just try to explain what SP is, but they are usually confused. :/

IMO, I think our terminology is lacking in this area. There is sleep paralysis that happens normally when in REM sleep, then there is the Sleep Paralysis accompanied by hypnogogic or hypnopompic imagery when you awake during REM sleep, but are still paralyzed. Using the same term for both of these things makes it hard to communicate when the latter is happening to you.

In my opinion most of the "kidnapping aliens", "meeting jesus" and "demon sightings" stories are all coming from people that experienced SP and don't know what is it.

I tried to tell some people that they were just having an SP, but most of the time they outright just decline it and claim that it's something supernatural... sigh...

I too think that it is unfair to 'laugh' at this girl, or people not take her seriously though.
Although posting such a status, on a high profile platform like Facebook is bound to cause a reaction.
After all not everybody is an 'expert' on dreams, or human psychology. Not everybody goes on DV, or websites dedicated to sleep topics.
We are all students as it were.

I remember having a few bouts of (conscious) SP in my late teens/early twenties where it felt like a 'Ghost' was sitting on my stomach and I couldn't move. (The 'old hag' syndrome.)
I've had it where you feel like you are being electrocuted.
I've had a moment where I thought I was having a heart attack, collapsed and couldn't move - Hardly funny IMO.

The other phenomenon I used to get is when you were overtired by going to bed really late, where you used to get the constant 'mind chatter' and imagery, due to the hypnagogic transition when retiring to bed. That could be really strange.

I made the mistake of telling a work friend at the time about this, in regard to the different voices I'd heard on dropping of to sleep - They just think you are 'mad', simply because they do not understand what is going on.

One positive thing about Sleep Paralysis is that once you had it multiple times, you won't really be interested in horror movies anymore... Or at least that's the case with me.

A dead girl laying next to me, staring at me with full white eyes, a zombie with blood running down it's mouth climbing on my bed, or a rat running around on my sheets and biting my hand, which also hurt... or just a random guy in a biohazard suit watching me IS BETTER THAN HORROR, lol.

Originally Posted by littlezoe

One positive thing about Sleep Paralysis is that once you had it multiple times, you won't really be interested in horror movies anymore... Or at least that's the case with me.

A dead girl laying next to me, staring at me with full white eyes, a zombie with blood running down it's mouth climbing on my bed, or a rat running around on my sheets and biting my hand, which also hurt... or just a random guy in a biohazard suit watching me IS BETTER THAN HORROR, lol.

Recently, I haven't had much trouble with SP 'nightmare' scenarios.
I did occasionally have the frightening experience as if I was trying to twist and fight my way out of my body during an SP episode with the really loud noises accompanying it all - I would know this as I would immediately go lucid.

However, if I do get one of those moments then I don't fight it and just relax. I have found in my case then the more you experience (conscious) SP then the less worried you will be about it. That's the positive thing.

I had SP (or I was on the very border of it?) last week and found it really relaxing. It was a really nice blissful experience.

I don't fill my mind during the waking hours with blood, gore or fantasy from fake Hollywood movies. This would explain why I hardly have nightmares relating to such things.

^ I had more than 50 SPs already, i'm not afraid of it I just said that to some degree the hallucinations are always scary, and they are definitely better than horror movies

I wouldn't say that she's stupid, she's probably just not aware of this kind of thing because many people regard it as "Abnormal" or "Weird". To some people this could be a truly horrific experience. I hope you explained to her what it was though