What happens to Pat Willson when she goes to sleep is not simply a case of bad dreams...
 Pat Willson |
Although she has suffered for about twenty years, Pat Willson has only recently discovered that her problem has a name - sleep paralysis. Sufferers wake in the middle of the night, conscious but unable to move their bodies or speak.
But, Pat says, "The most terrifying thing is the feeling that there is this other being in the room. It feels like they are putting pressure on the upper part of your body, pushing you down into the bed". And sometimes she feels and hears breathing on the back of her neck. It's a good thing that Pat's sleep paralysis is a rare experience for her - only twenty times in as many years.
One of the suggestions for coping is to try to make slight muscle movements which may eventually wake you up. But even when Pat does wake out of it, she's left with a great sense of anxiety. Pat was brought up a strict Catholic and has a great fear of the occult. She feels that her sleep paralysis is somehow tied into this.
Pat's family find her sleep paralysis astonishing. Her husband is sympathetic, but feels that she's just experiencing very bad dreams. Now Pat can put a name to it, she's become less fearful of it. It doesn't affect her everyday life.
Although about 6% of all Europeans suffer from sleep paralysis, Pat has yet to meet any other sufferers. "Part of the fear for me was feeling that I was the only one who had ever experienced this". She says, "I'd dearly like to know whether there is anyone else out there whose suffered or felt the experience".
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