Sleep Violence
What is Sleep Violence? It is a sleep induced dysfunctional state of aggression or violence that results in violent behavior towards objects or persons around.
When you sleep your body goes through 2 basic sleep cycles, rapid eye movement (REM) and non rapid eye movement (NON-REM) states. The condition can occur in any state. Sleep Statistics by Dr Fenwick, from London's Institute of Psychiatry shows that 4 in 10 men suffering from sleep disorders are often violent and that 1 in 7 can be seriously violent. A person with this condition can be very dangerous and can commit acts like self-mutilation, sexual assault, murder attempt and even suicide. Other minor S.V behaviors are jumping out of bed, kicking and screaming. It should be noted that during the violent episodes the individual is not at all aware of what he or she is doing, they are always in a dream state and in most cases the individual is having a nightmare or a bad dream. Before now, doctors like Professor John Stradling, of the Oxford Centre for Sleep Medicine perceived this illness to be a very rare occurrence but now sleep doctors are reporting more and more cases. SV dates way back. I heard of a story where a knight in 1600, stabbed his friend to death at night. Another case happened where a man left his room naked, got into another couples room, got into bed with them and put his hand on the woman’s genitals. There is also the case of an ex Japanese POW, who still dreams every night that he is still in jail, so much so that he attacks his wife thinking she is a Japanese guard. She now has to sleep in a different room. Types of S.V
Of the 6, RBD is the only one that the individual may manifest S.V during REM sleep and it is usually activated when one is dreaming. Causes of S.V Treatment for S.V Don’t be scared it probably just a phase in your life and you will be ok in no time.
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