Help Sleep paralysis and how it effects the psyche

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I'm wondering if anybody here has experience with severe sleep paralysis episodes or has info on causes/effects of these visions or correlation with depression. I have been reading up on Jungian psychology (originally for an answer to this question), but have never seen this mentioned. also feel free to discus your own experiences with SP.

I started to get sleep paralysis episodes when i was ~6 or 7 years old. I would get them nearly every night. They consisted of me trying to sleep or waking up to find myself paralyzed. then usually a typical shadow figure would approach. It had long fingers (not sharp, just like normal fingers but long) with which it would forcefully poke me between the ribs (below my arms) until it impaled me. It was incredibly painful, but since i was paralyzed I couldnt scream. all that would come out would be a hard breath. sometimes instead of the typical shadow figures i would see a family member open my door and move "unhumanly" towards me. it would have a slightly distorted face and then show me the long fingers before it would impale me. Since i was raised catholic i tried to pray for it to go away the first few times this happened but it wouldnt make them stop. I became terrified of sleeping and would occasionally even faint at school from lack of sleep. Nobody believed that these werent just nightmares since sleep paralysis/lucid dreaming etc were not very well known topics at this time. I began to believe that i was being tormented by demons and that god wouldnt help me because i was born evil.

The only time I got them to stop was when I got so angry at the shadow that i felt like i left my body and choked the figure. it left that night and i snapped back into my body. however i kept getting sleep paralysis until i was 17 and wasnt able to get out of my body anymore. the episodes gradually tapered off in frequency. What is interesting in hindsight is that the sleep paralysis began when i first became depressed and became less frequent the more depressed I got. This makes me think there must be some connection.

I dont get sleep paralysis anymore, though i do sometimes have nightmares about it. I feel like this may help me piece together what caused my depression and help me recover.

I am aware of the scientific explanation so far, that you wake up from REM before the melatonin in your body flushes out. I want to know the psychological (Jungian maybe) causes/implications of sleep paralysis episodes. My first instinct would be to assume that it is an appearence of the psyche's shadow, but i dont think i had so much repressed evil in me as a child to have experienced this.

 

[-Raven's Night-]

I have the experience with severe sleep paralysis or hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations. I started to have them like at the age for primary school but not until I was in high school and after two years of becoming depressed, I started to have them on a daily basis. After I tried meds, the frequency dropped significantly and now it only occasionally occurs.
In my sleep paralysis there's something extremely real, like an inner world of me. My body was paralyzed but in the inner world I fly with an extremely real sensation. But I was frequently controlled by an entity in my brain called dark, he created the hypnagogic hallucinations of self harm, etc., really heavy stuff that I don't like to recall. And I can see spiders, etc., on the wall when I opened my eyes with body still paralyzed. Human voices speaking something in my ear, figures standing at the door... I experienced many times of almost floating out of my body during the sleep paralysis, but only one time I completely had an out of body experience, which was just unbelievable feeling. I think if I drown myself deeper in it, then the reflection is stronger and I have them more frequently. It also may have something to be done with depression.

 

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I have the experience with severe sleep paralysis or hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations. I started to have them like at the age for primary school but not until I was in high school and after two years of becoming depressed, I started to have them on a daily basis. After I tried meds, the frequency dropped significantly and now it only occasionally occurs.
In my sleep paralysis there's something extremely real, like an inner world of me. My body was paralyzed but in the inner world I fly with an extremely real sensation. But I was frequently controlled by an entity in my brain called dark, he created the hypnagogic hallucinations of self harm, etc., really heavy stuff that I don't like to recall. And I can see spiders, etc., on the wall when I opened my eyes with body still paralyzed. Human voices speaking something in my ear, figures standing at the door... I experienced many times of almost floating out of my body during the sleep paralysis, but only one time I completely had an out of body experience, which was just unbelievable feeling. I think if I drown myself deeper in it, then the reflection is stronger and I have them more frequently. It also may have something to be done with depression.

I'm sorry you had to deal with this too. It's interesting that SP seems correlated to depression for you as well. What meds did you take? did you ever have positive or neutral experiences with SP?

 

[-Raven's Night-]

I'm sorry you had to deal with this too. It's interesting that SP seems correlated to depression for you as well. What meds did you take? did you ever have positive or neutral experiences with SP?

The first meds and also the meds I took around that time was Escitalopram, and though it doesn't have such an indication, it did help me with the sleep paralysis. Yes I absolutely have positive experience, that was when the entity called dark I mentioned above didn't appear in SP, and I had something pretty similar to lucid dream in the time of SP and I traveled in my inner world, those breathtaking scenery, and the sensory of flying above the ocean and drowning (but still breathing) to the depth of the lake, I can write a lot about those beautiful stuff. There would be an extremely real sensory of a fall, then I would see universe, etc., and I can create something there like a wooden house. Actually if not because of those negative experiences, I do miss a lot of the ''lucid dreams'' coming with SP.

 

[Challu]

Use your Sleep Paralysis to Astral Project.

 

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Use your Sleep Paralysis to Astral Project.

I have looked into this a bit and have been able to do it 3 times with much difficulty. I think i have a block that prevents me from doing it further: i'm immensely afraid of encountering these figures that haunted me. I want to learn more about them so i can understand what causes them to appear and what it has done to me (possibly how to defend myself or get them to go away), as well as the psychological implications.

I have only been able to get about 50 feet from my body before something startles me and snaps me back. The last time i tried this I felt a shock and woke up with intense stomach pain that lasted a few days. Because of this, I decided that im not fully ready yet and should learn more before I try this again. Thank you for the resource. Do you have any other resources?

The first meds and also the meds I took around that time was Escitalopram, and though it doesn't have such an indication, it did help me with the sleep paralysis. Yes I absolutely have positive experience, that was when the entity called dark I mentioned above didn't appear in SP, and I had something pretty similar to lucid dream in the time of SP and I traveled in my inner world, those breathtaking scenery, and the sensory of flying above the ocean and drowning (but still breathing) to the depth of the lake, I can write a lot about those beautiful stuff. There would be an extremely real sensory of a fall, then I would see universe, etc., and I can create something there like a wooden house. Actually if not because of those negative experiences, I do miss a lot of the ''lucid dreams'' coming with SP.

That sounds a lot like astral projection! I'm asking because despite the SP being terrible, i remember a few times when it broke routine and was positive or at least not malicious. I remember on some of my worst days I would feel the shadow approaching but instead of hurting me like usual, it just gave me a hug until it faded away. I also remember a really intense one where my eyes were paralyzed too (i could usually move them around) and a pair of hands held a photograph in front of my eyes of a government building and then set the picture on fire.

Since not all of the SP episodes are malicious, it makes me wonder what its purpose is.

 

[murphyy]

I began experiencing SP around high school. It's really interesting cause, same as you, that's also when my depression started to develop. So maybe there's something to it.

During an episode I always made sure I closed my eyes, the only part of my body I had control over, so I didn't see anything. Still felt the panic and being absolutely terrified, along with this specific loud buzzing in my ears. And wanting to scream even though I physically couldn't.

I didn't get it every night, maybe a few times a week. I sometimes had periods of no SP for weeks. The frequency was very random, really.
I stopped getting SP altogether since I've started taking SSRIs.

 

[squarely]

I began experiencing SP around high school. It's really interesting cause, same as you, that's also when my depression started to develop. So maybe there's something to it.

During an episode I always made sure I closed my eyes, the only part of my body I had control over, so I didn't see anything. Still felt the panic and being absolutely terrified, along with this specific loud buzzing in my ears. And wanting to scream even though I physically couldn't.

I didn't get it every night, maybe a few times a week. I sometimes had periods of no SP for weeks. The frequency was very random, really.
I stopped getting SP altogether since I've started taking SSRIs.

I definitely think there is a connection with depression and SP after reading what you guys have to say. i found this article here that shows factors which correlate with SP. though it doesnt really help with an explanation.

 

[O_oreo.]

They happen to me often
Before they were not so common and it was just the feeling of not being able to get up.
Now it has become more horrible, I am short of breath and I feel like I am being touched or I feel tingling like cramps.
It also started when my depression worsened at 13-14 years old.
And auditory hallucinations until 2 years ago.
They used to be worse because I would hear screaming or my name being called out.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I don't have that many experiences with sleep paralysis but I do seem to hallucinate sometimes when coming out of sleep.

My eyes and mind will 'see' something in the room that isn't there. Quite often- it will turn an object or shaddow into something else. It's peculiar and frightening- like dreams are being overwritten on reality. I once 'saw' a hole high up on the wall with water pouring in. At the time- I was worrying about a leak- so- it kind of related.

I 'see' all sorts of things though- even bright neon-like lights, figures, a dogs head. It's always something horrible and threatening though and it only lasts a few seconds. I usually leap out of bed, or, sit bolt upright- so- for me- it isn't associated with sleep paralysis.

I'd like to know the reason too. It seems to be happening more and more recently.