Paper Summary:

The paper examines a case study of an individual who sees evil spirits and experiences out-of-body experiences. The paper discusses how these occurences can be understood by objective, scientific rationale. The paper's thesis is that these phenomena are components of a new parasomnia variant, conscious hypnagogic intermittent paralysis with spirit-like visual hallucinations secondary to post traumatic stress disorder.

Outline:
Thesis
Objectives
Review of Literature and Analysis
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The author's experience may at first seem unrelated to the fields of psychiatry or the neurosciences and may seem more appropriate as a case of the supernatural. A critical eye would scrutinize the case and, without more information, arrive at the same conclusion. However, science is an ever-changing body of organized knowledge that seeks out to explain rather than condemn seemingly unexplainable phenomena."
"The phenomena above have scientific counterparts as per description. Seeing evil spirits, out-of-body experiences, uncontrolled bodily actions and the unpleasant realization that these manifestations seem more powerful are very subjective experiences and need to be balanced by objective, scientific rationale in order to fully comprehend their full nature."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from http://www.behavenet.com
• Cheyne, JA, Newby-Clark, IR & Rueffer, SD. (1999). Relations among hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences associated with sleep paralysis. J Sleep Res, 8(4):313-7. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from the PubMed database.
• Cheyne JA, Rueffer SD & Newby-Clark IR. (1999). Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations during sleep paralysis: neurological and cultural construction of the nightmare. Conscious Cogn, 8(3), 319-37. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from the PubMed database.
• Girard TA, Cheyne JA. (2006). Timing of spontaneous sleep-paralysis episodes. J Sleep Res, 15(2), 222-9. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from the PubMed database.
• McNally RJ, Clancy SA. (2005). Sleep paralysis, sexual abuse, and space alien abduction. Transcult Psychiatry, 42(1), 113-22. Retrieved October 10, 2006 from the PubMed database.

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