The pattern of isolated sleep paralysis among Nigerian nursing students

Abstract

In a cross-sectional study of the pattern of isolated sleep paralysis among the entire population of nursing students at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Abeokuta, Nigeria (consisting of 58 males and 37 females), 44% admitted having experienced this phenomenon. The findings largely supported the results of a similar study of Nigerian medical students, except that there was a slight male preponderance among those who had the experience. Visual hallucination was the most common perceptual problem associated with the episodes, and all the affected subjects were most distressed by the experience. Whereas sleep paralysis in this country has not been found to be significantly associated with psychosocial distress or differences in personality profile, the popular view in Africa and the United States is that it is caused by witchcraft.