Sleep Paralysis Postepisode Distress Modeling Potential Effects of Episode Characteristics, General Psychological Distress, Beliefs, and Cognitive Style

Sleep paralysis (SP) is a brief paralysis experienced when falling asleep or waking up. It is often accompanied by vivid imagery and extreme fear. In addition to the fear during episodes, people often report marked distress following episodes. With the goal of developing an integrative account of SP...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inClinical psychological science Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 135 - 148
Main Authors Cheyne, James Allan, Pennycook, Gordon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2013
Sage Publications
Subjects
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Biological and medical sciences
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
sleep paralysis
psychological distress
hypnagogic experiences
cognitive style
supernatural beliefs
Belief
Human
Affect affectivity
Nervous system diseases
Psychological distress
Sleep paralysis
Sleep disorder
Cognition
Emotion emotionality
Cognitive style
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Summary:Sleep paralysis (SP) is a brief paralysis experienced when falling asleep or waking up. It is often accompanied by vivid imagery and extreme fear. In addition to the fear during episodes, people often report marked distress following episodes. With the goal of developing an integrative account of SP postepisode distress, we examined the effects of several potential determinants of postepisode distress sampled from diverse domains: characteristics of the SP episodes (reported fear and vividness of experiences during SP and frequency of episodes), psychological distress sensitivity, supernatural beliefs about SP experiences, and cognitive style. All factors made independent contributions to postepisode distress. A conceptually derived path model integrating these separate factors was tested and largely corroborated. An analytic cognitive style had both direct and indirect effects on postepisode distress. Postepisode distress was found to be approximately equally affected by contextual, cognitive, and affective variables.
ISSN:2167-7026
2167-7034
DOI:10.1177/2167702612466656