Can you develop psychosis or hallucinations?
A lot of content on the internet describes how not sleeping for days can cause hallucinations. But they don't describe the cause of such sleep deprivation. Was the sleep deprivation voluntary or involuntary? Did the person in the study wish to sleep or actively worked against sleeping?
Can you reach such a point of sleep deprivation that you start to hallucinate completely, due to anxiety alone? Imagine you do every bit on your part to sleep (including a willingness to sleep, good sleep hygiene, closing your eyes, etc), can anxiety (which is meant to protect you) still keep you from sleep for days and eventually lead you into psychosis?
If you have any sources on this, I'd be super thankful for them.
Thank you
That is an interesting question,
. From what I understand, sleep psychosis can occur after a certain amount of time without sleep, regardless of anxiety levels or the desire for sleep. Mental illness can make psychosis worse, however. For instance, people with bipolar disorder often find their mania worsens with lack of sleep, sometimes leading to psychosis. Medically induced sleep can stop or slow the mania. Here is a study about bipolar disorder and sleep that might interest you: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4935164/. Here is a link to a study of sleep-degravitation-induced psychosis that you might find helpful: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6048360/. Because intentionally depriving someone of sleep for more than 48 hours is considered unethical, the authors relied on historical cases of healthy people. The psychosis seems to be triggered simply by deprivation, regardless of other factors. Not everyone experiences psychosis with sleep deprivation in the same schedule though. It would be interesting to learn why and whether attempts to rest in absence of sleep impact that. I hope you get some better answers from others in the community. Best wishes. - Lori (Team Member) Thank you so much! I think all these point toward how prolonged complete sleep deprivation (going days without sleep) without force is very rare and something researchers rarely find even as data (hence the comment on the ethics of *forcing* someone stay up beyond 48 hours). Here is another article I found where a psychologist explains that psychosis due to sleep deprivation doesn't usually happen: https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/no-sleep-deprivation-probably-wont-make-you-go-temporarily-insane-878036 As an anxiety sufferer myself, the prospect of not getting any sleep on a particular night is very scary because if you Google "what happens if you don't sleep for x days" you get chilling descriptions of losing one's mind and cognitive abilities. But they never state how the complete sleep deprivation actually happened in the first place whether it was *forced*. Some of these articles are from otherwise credible sources.
Getting a simple reassurance like "You won't develop psychosis unless you're *forced* to not sleep" or "Your body will not allow itself to be sleep deprived to the point of psychosis unless *forced* " would do wonders for me as I practise my CBT-I, but I've not found this anywhere either.
Hi
. It might reassure you to know that we have members who have gone a week or more without sleep and have not developed psychosis. It definitely does not happen to everyone. Maybe you could start a new forum post asking people for the longest stretch they have gone without sleep and whether they experienced psychosis. The responses might put you at ease. Psychosis and hallucinations are more common in our narcolepsy community, not necessarily because of sleep deprivation, but more so because of the way the narcoleptic brain is wired. I went more than 48 hours without sleep while giving birth to my twins and after they were born and did not experience psychosis. Are you taking any medication for your anxiety? If so, maybe it will help you stave off any extreme reactions to sleep deprivation. Thinking of you. - Lori (Team Member)
