{"id":3912,"date":"2022-09-22T13:18:29","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T11:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/convegnoistinto50anni.it\/posters\/paralisi-del-sonno-o-della-veglia-una-lettura-alla-luce-della-teoria-della-nascita\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T09:56:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T07:56:10","slug":"paralysis-of-sleep-or-of-waking-a-reading-according-to-fagiolis-human-birth-theory","status":"publish","type":"posters","link":"https:\/\/convegnoistinto50anni.it\/en\/posters\/paralysis-of-sleep-or-of-waking-a-reading-according-to-fagiolis-human-birth-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Paralysis of sleep or of waking? A reading according to Fagioli\u2019s Human Birth Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marta is a nineteen-year-old girl who has been suffering from panic attacks for 6 years. Between theage of 15 and 17 her emotional distress grows. She begins a heavy use of alcohol and cannabis. Suicidal thoughts appear occasionally. For the last few years, she reports \u201cSleep paralysis\u201d 1\u00a0<\/sup>, which she describes as experiences where \u201cthe mind wakes up from sleep, but the body continues to sleep, she can’t open her eyes, she can\u2019t move, she\u2019s like paralyzed”. Fear and anguish accompany these episodes, perceived as interminable even if they last a few secondsor minutes.<\/p>\n

Recently in one of these episodes she “heard her father\u2019s voice, even though she knew she was aloneat home. Then she heard an ugly voice of a man and his footsteps approaching her, she felt as if shewas groped and raped\u201d. Laura a 22-year-old girl has always been very good at studies and sport, but something over the lastyears has changed. She\u2019s not able to concentrate and reports a growing early insomnia with suddennocturnal awakenings accompanied by chest oppression and difficulty in breathing. Over the yearssleep paralysis has returned. The first episodes in her past were between kindergarten and primaryschool. During nocturnal awakenings a terrible monster appeared to her, she was awake, but her bodycould not move. As soon as she was able to move, she called her mother who captured the monsterusing a hoover and who calmed her telling that maybe she had heard a bad story at school.There are various popular beliefs2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0proposing explanations for the phenomenon of sleep paralysis.<\/p>\n

This fact explains their diffusion and the associated anguish. Scientific literature states that sleep paralysis is a common phenomenon in general population, witha prevalence rate of 7.6% 3\u00a0<\/sup>during individual life for the recurrent isolated sleep paralysis and of 40% 4\u00a0<\/sup> for single episodes. Sleep paralysis are called hypnagogic if they occur at the wake-sleep transition, i.e. during fallingasleep process; conversely, they are defined hypnopompic when they occur at sleep-wake transition, i.e. during waking process5\u00a0<\/sup>Age and gender do not appear to be particularly influential risk factors. Sleep paralysis can occur atany age, but the first signs seem to happen more frequently in childhood, adolescence, and earlyadulthood6\u00a0<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Other variables associated with these experiences are7\u00a0<\/sup>: substance use, stress and trauma, genetic\u00a0influences, physical illness, personality aspects, sleep problems and disorders8\u00a0<\/sup>, particular beliefs,psychiatric disorders as well as specific symptoms of psychiatric illness (particularly anxietysymptoms).Despite all these studies, the cause of sleep paralysis seems to remain unknown and consequently thepossibility of a specific treatment9\u00a0<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

What is the meaning of an awaken mind in a body \u201cstill sleeping\u201d?Are the terrifying images that accompany these experiences nightmares, illusions or hallucinations10\u00a0<\/sup>? Is it correct to define them as paralysis of sleep or should we indicate them as paralysis of the waking?We were stimulated by clinical cases of adolescents, who spontaneously asked for psychological helpfor sleep disorders and anxiety in public health care units. Particularly, we questioned ourselves andwere led to formulate, along with the anamnestic data, a few etiopathogenetic hypothesis as well asconsequent ways of intervention which we are sharing with the aim of developing scientific researchon this phenomenon still very little researched in its causes and consequently in the possibility oftreatment with psychotherapy.Considering the psychiatrist Massimo Fagioli\u2019s11\u00a0<\/sup>Birth Theory and the present knowledge in the fieldof neuroscience12\u00a0<\/sup>, we know that sleep is fundamental for the survival of human being.If we don\u2019t sleep, we die13\u00a0<\/sup>. Why? According to Fagioli it\u2019s fundamental for the human being \u201cto fallasleep and dream14″.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The dream is a language by images15\u00a0<\/sup>: \u201cDreams are a transformation of consciousthought into unconscious thought. From the verbal thought to the thought through images. There areno words, there isn\u2019t articulated language, the dream is a free thought. Articulated language is learnedwhile the dream isn\u2019t, it expresses spontaneously something which comes from inside. Images are created\u201d and more: \u201cthe oneiric image is never a conscious remembering reproducing exactly what happened during the waking hours, because it creates a new image stimulated by what was lived andthought during the waking hours16\u00a0<\/sup>.\u201dWe believe that to fully understand the symptomatic phenomenon of sleep paralysis in all itscomplexity and in its variety of expression of a pathological process of variable severeness from caseto case, it is essential to know the physiology of the dream and wake rhythm which doesn\u2019t excludewhat has been mentioned above and which in no doubt doesn\u2019t exclude the \u201cphysiology of dreaming\u201d. Consequently, it will be essential, in case of a deviation from the physiological aspect as we have insleep paralysis in the strict sense, considering the relevance in the dynamics of the annulment pulsion, described for the first time by Fagioli in 1972 as well as that of the negation17. In this context of ourwork, we intend to underline the original (because even this one has never been done before)differentiation of the dynamics of falling asleep from that of the waking up done by Fagioli andoutline, for the research of the sleeping paralysis, the role and the possible differences between theoneiric images and the psychopathological phenomenon as illusions (which don\u2019t always have apathological meaning), hallucinations, delusions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Denis, D., French, C. C., & Gregory, A. M. (2018). A systematic review of variables associated with sleep paralysis. Sleep medicine reviews, 38, 141\u2013157. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.smrv.2017.05.005
\n2Jalal, B., Romanelli, A., & Hinton, D. E. (2021). Sleep paralysis in Italy: Frequency, hallucinatory experiences, andother features. Transcultural psychiatry, 58(3), 427\u2013439. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1363461520909609
\n3 Sharpless, B. A., & Barber, J. P. (2011). Lifetime prevalence rates of sleep paralysis: a systematic review. Sleep medicinereviews, 15(5), 311\u2013315. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.smrv.2011.01.007
\n4 Stefani, A., & H\u00f6gl, B. (2021). Nightmare Disorder and Isolated Sleep Paralysis. Neurotherapeutics: the journal of theAmerican Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 18(1), 100\u2013106. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s13311-020-00966-8
\n5 Cheyne, J. A., Newby-Clark, I. R., & Rueffer, S. D. (1999). Relations among hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiencesassociated with sleep paralysis. Journal of sleep research, 8(4), 313\u2013317. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1046\/j.1365-2869.1999.00165.x
\n6 Farooq M, Anjum F. Sleep Paralysis. 2021 Dec 8. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing;2022 Jan\u2013. PMID: 32965993.
\n7 Denis, D., French, C. C., & Gregory, A. M. (2018). A systematic review of variables associated with sleep paralysis. Sleep medicine reviews, 38, 141\u2013157. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.smrv.2017.05.005
\n8 Denis D. (2018). Relationships between sleep paralysis and sleep quality: current insights. Nature and science of sleep,10, 355\u2013367. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2147\/NSS.S158600
\n9 Farooq M, Anjum F. Sleep Paralysis. 2021 Dec 8. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing;2022 Jan\u2013. PMID: 32965993.
\n10 Farooq M, Anjum F. Sleep Paralysis. 2021 Dec 8. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing;2022 Jan\u2013. PMID: 32965993; Kompanje EJ. ‘The devil lay upon her and held her down’. Hypnagogic hallucinations andsleep paralysis described by the Dutch physician Isbrand van Diemerbroeck (1609-1674) in 1664. J Sleep Res. 2008Dec;17(4):464-7. doi: 10.1111\/j.1365-2869.2008.00672.x. Epub 2008 Aug 5. PMID: 18691361; Jalal B. Theneuropharmacology of sleep paralysis hallucinations: serotonin 2A activation and a novel therapeutic drug.Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2018 Nov;235(11):3083-3091. doi: 10.1007\/s00213-018-5042-1. Epub 2018 Oct 5. PMID:30288594; PMCID: PMC6208952.
\n11 https:\/\/massimofagioli.com\/teoria-della-nascita\/
\n12 Nollet M, Wisden W, Franks NP. Sleep deprivation and stress: a reciprocal relationship. Interface Focus. 2020 Jun6;10(3):20190092. doi: 10.1098\/rsfs.2019.0092. Epub 2020 Apr 17. PMID: 32382403; PMCID: PMC7202382.
\n13 Ivi
\n14 Addormentarsi e sognare. Tempi dispari, 16 gennaio 2013, Intervista di Francesco Gatti, Il sogno della farfalla, 4, 2017,L\u2019Asino d\u2019oro edizioni, Roma, pp. 41-44.
\n15 Cfr. M Fagioli, La psichiatria come psicoterapia, L\u2019Asino d\u2019oro edizioni, 2021, Roma.
\n16 M. Fagioli, \u201cLa parola \u00e8 realizzazione\u201d, intervista di Ilaria Bonaccorsi a Massimo Fagioli comparsa nel N.41 di \u201cLeft\u201d il 24.10.2015, pp. 74-75.
\n17 Cfr. M. Fagioli, Istinto di morte e conoscenza (1972), L\u2019Asino d\u2019oro edizioni, Roma, 2017. M. Fagioli, La psichiatria esiste? L\u2019Asino d\u2019oro edizioni, Roma, 2022, pp. 155-156; F. Fagioli, Avaunt, and quit my sight!… Hence, horribleshadow, Unreal mock\u2019ry, hence\u201d in La medicina abbandonata, Atti degli \u201cIncontri di Ricerca Psichiatrica\u201d, Aula Magna dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 di Roma \u201cLa Sapienza\u201d, 10 maggio, 24 maggio, 7 giugno 1997, a cura di Marcella Fagioli, Nuove Edizioni Romane, Roma, 1998, pp. 135-158.<\/p>\n

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Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n