Observations placeholder
Eighty three Irish students go out of body
Identifier
006497
Type of Spiritual Experience
Out of body
Vision
Hallucination
Background
Much of what is being described here are the precursors to out of body experiences.
Fear is the effect not the cause of the experiences.
A description of the experience
Ir J Med Sci. 2011 Dec;180(4):917-9. doi: 10.1007/s11845-011-0732-2. Epub 2011 Jul 21. Experiences of sleep paralysis in a sample of Irish university students. O'Hanlon J, Murphy M, Di Blasi Z. School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
BACKGROUND: Sleep paralysis (SP) is characterised by an inability to move voluntarily for a period on going to sleep or on waking. It is also associated with hallucinations, and often with fear. This study seeks to explore the experience of SP in an Irish university sample.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was employed, with a validated scale for the assessment of SP being distributed to 2,500 students. A total of 418 responded, of whom 83 reported having experienced SP.
RESULTS: The most commonly reported and most intense hallucinations were falling, sensed presence, visual hallucination, pressure on the body and belief they might be dying. Fear was also commonly experienced. Bivariate analyses showed an association between fear and several hallucination types.
CONCLUSION: SP in university students often includes experience of hallucinations. These, in turn, are associated with frequent and intense fear.
PMID: 21779941