An Investigation into Personality, Stress and Sleep with Reports of Hallucinations in a Normal Population—Hallucinations in Normal Population

Abstract

Emotion, especially anxiety, has been implicated in triggering hallucinations. Sleep behaviour has also been reported to have a modest influence on the judgments that lead to hallucinatory experiences. We report an investigation on the prediction of hallucinatory predisposition which explored emotion and associated processes (stress, personality and sleep behaviour) using a questionnaire survey in a student population (N = 127). Findings indicated significant associations between perceived stress levels and sleep, with stress and being a significant predictor of the hallucinatory experience. In addition there was a predictive relationship between the proneness to hallucinate and schizotypal personality traits, characterised by the subscale of cognitive disorganisation and unusual experiences. Stress and anxiety together with personality may need to be considered in the understanding of hallucinatory experience.

Are sleep disturbances causally linked to the presence and severity of psychotic-like, dissociative and hypomanic experiences in non-clinical populations? A systematic review

“…Thirteen studies explored the link between hallucinations and sleep disturbances in healthy populations including: self-reported insomnia (k=5; Koyanagi & Stickley, 2015;Ohayon, 2000;Sheaves et al, 2016;Sheaves et al, 2016b;Taylor et al, 2015); experimentally manipulated sleep deprivation (k=6; Giesbrecht et al, 2007;Hurdiel et al, 2014;Petrovsky et al, 2014;Meyhofer et al, 2017;2017bReeve et al, 2017; nightmare frequency (k=2; Rek et al, 2017;Sheaves et al, 2016); nightmare distress (k=2; Rek et al, 2017;Sheaves et al, 2016), chronotype (k=1; Sheaves et al, 2016); and one study improved sleep in a large randomised controlled trial (k=1; Freeman et al, 2017). One study was longitudinal (k=1; Sheaves et al, 2016b), four studies experimentally manipulated sleep (k=4; Freeman et al, 2017;Giesbrecht et al, 2007;Hurdiel et al, 2014;Reeve et al, 2017), six were cross-sectional (k=6; Barnes et al, 2011;Koyanagi & Stickley, 2015;Rek et al, 2017;Sheaves et al, 2016;2016b;Taylor et al, 2015), and one used a sleep intervention .…”

“…Eight studies explored the association between sleep disturbance and negative schizotypy: insomnia (k=2; Barnes et al 2011;Taylor et al, 2015); nightmare frequency (k=2; Levin & Raulin, 1991;Levin, 1998); nightmare distress (k=1; Claridge et al, 1997);and experimental sleep deprivation (k=3;Meyhofer et al, 2017;2017b;Petrovsky et al, 2014). All studies were cross-sectional with the exception of three studies which experimentally manipulated sleep (k=3;Meyhofer et al, 2017;2017b;Petrovsky et al, 2014).…”

“…examined an association between positive schizotypy and insomnia (k=1;Barnes et al 2011); nightmare frequency and positive schizotypy (k=3;Levin, 1998;Levin & Raulin, 1991;Levin & Fireman, 2002); nightmare distress and positive schizotypy (k=2;Claridge et al, 1997;Levin & Fireman, 2002); sleep spindles (k=1; Lustenberger et al, 2015); and sleep experiences (k=2;Knox & Lynn, 2014;Watson, 2001). All studies were cross-sectional with the exception of three studies which experimentally manipulated sleep(k=3; Meyhofer et al, 2017;2017b;Petrovsky et al, 2014).InsomniaBarnes et al (2011) conducted a cross-sectional study which examined correlations between PSQI and positive schizotypy scores. An increase in sleep disturbance was associated with an increase in unusual experiences scores with a small effect size (r=.24).…”

“…Barnes et al (2011) conducted a cross-sectional study which examined associations between the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Introvertive Anhedonia (IA) and Impulsive Non-Conformity (IMP) subscales of the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE;…”

Hearing voices: From the Experience Qualification to the Possibility of Care

“…In addition, eight respondents made clear the association between environmental and/or situational conditions, emotional state, mental pressure, and the "invasion" or worsening of voices. Memories of striking events and certain thoughts can also be triggers, just as stress and anxiety are considered determining factors in triggering voices (Barnes et al, 2011). Micaela talked about another important trigger:…”