Illusions, hallucinations and sleep loss

Williams, Harold L.; Morris, Grant L.; Lubin, Ardie

doi:10.1016/s0001-6918(61)80372-7

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Most of the hallucinations reported in the present study were visual. This seems to be in line with most previous reports (Babkoff et al, 1989;Belenky, 1979;Hurdiel et al, 2015;Williams et al, 1961) although this is at odds with one study suggesting that auditory hallucinations may dominate during sleep deprivation (Hurdiel et al, 2012). Overall, the findings indicate that the visual modality is more sensitive to hallucinations due to sleep loss compared to other modalities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…These comprised among others the physical state of the officers. Sleep deprivation seemed to have to reach a certain level in order to elicit hallucinations, which are in accordance with case observations (Ross, 1965) and more systematic studies (Belenky, 1979;Williams et al, 1961). This suggests that the risk of hallucinations increases with increased sleep propensity, which further would be in line with the state-dissociation theory (Mahowald & Schenck, 1991, 1992.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…One of the first studies (Williams, Morris, & Lubin, 1961) that systematically assessed hallucinations during sleep deprivation involved 70 to 100 hours of sleep loss. About half of the subjects reported visual hallucinations after 65 hours, which seemed to progress from blurred vision after about 30 hours of sleep loss to full-blown hallucinations occurring about 65 to 90 hours into the sleep deprivation period.…”

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Sleep deprivation and hallucinations. A qualitative study of military personnel

Pallesen

Olsen

Eide

et al. 2018

Military Psychology

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Much anecdotal evidence suggests that sleep deprivation not only impairs performance, but also brings about other extraordinary effects like hallucinations. However, knowledge about how sleep deprivation may trigger hallucinations is limited. To qualitatively describe hallucinatory experiences during sleep deprivation 12 male military officers from the Norwegian Armed Forces who all had experienced at least one sleep loss-induced hallucinatory experience were recruited. Data were collected and analyzed by semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification of three distinct main themes: (1) Modalities, (2) circumstances/triggers and (3) reactions to hallucinations. Hallucinations were experienced in several modalities (visual, auditory and multi-modality), although visual hallucinations seemed to dominate. Typical reported circumstances/triggers were sleep loss, physical exhaustion, time-of-day, low calorie intake, mental exhaustion and lack of external stimuli (low sensory and social input, boring situations, and monotonous activity). Negative emotions were dominant during the hallucinatory episodes. Often some reasoning and checking on behalf of the officers were necessary to differentiate between real percepts and hallucinations. In some cases the hallucinations caused erroneous actions. Retrospectively, most officers viewed their hallucinatory experiences in light of positive emotions and several emphasized having learned something from them. The results are discussed in relation to the existing literature and suggestions for future studies are outlined.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

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confidence: 99%

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Sleep deprivation and hallucinations. A qualitative study of military personnel

Pallesen

Olsen

Eide

et al. 2018

Military Psychology

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Sleep and Dream Patterns of Child Schizophrenics

ONHEIBER¹

1965

Arch Gen Psychiatry

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Toward the experimental control of dreaming: A review of the literature.

Tart¹

1965

Psychological Bulletin

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The study of nocturnal dreaming has been mainly a matter of correlational studies. This article brings together and reviews those scattered studies in which an attempt was made to actively influence dreaming. Despite a great diversity of methods, aims, and results, it is apparent that dreaming can be experimentally manipulated, and thus it may be possible to develop a functional experimental approach in which dreams become more immediate and observable aspects of behavior, rather than only memories.Scientific research is carried out with two basic kinds of procedures. One is the observational or correlational approach, where we observe "what happens naturally" and try to make sense of it by finding relations or correlations between various aspects of our observations. This approach leads to statements of the order, "subjects classified as Sensitizers report recalling dreaming significantly more frequently than those classified as Repressers" on the MMPI (Tart, 1962). The other approach is the functional method, where we actively manipulate one factor or variable and observe the effect of some dependent variable. This approach leads to statements of the order, "A large dose of alcohol reduces the amount of EEC stage 1-REM time and inferred dreaming in normal Subjects . . ." (Gresham, Webb, & Williams, 1963). Both approaches are used in most fields of science, as they are complementary.Research into the nature of dreaming has been, by and large, a matter of correlational research (ignoring for the moment the last decade's research using the electroencephalo-1 This investigation was supported (in part) by a Public Health Service postdoctoral fellowship (1-F2-MH-14,622-01) from the National Institute of Mental Health. I also wish to thank Leslie M. Cooper and Ernest R. Hilgard for their helpful comments during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Illusions, hallucinations and sleep loss

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Sleep deprivation and hallucinations. A qualitative study of military personnel

Sleep deprivation and hallucinations. A qualitative study of military personnel

Sleep and Dream Patterns of Child Schizophrenics

Toward the experimental control of dreaming: A review of the literature.

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