SLEEPWALKERS AND THEIR SECRETS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 20, 16 October 1937, Page 15

SLEEPWALKERS AND THEIR SECRETS

VEIL QF MYSTERY LIFTED

Somnambulism Explained

^HE AVERA.GE PERSON qonsijiers sleep-walking, or somnambulism, a8 it is fpphnicaliy known, an nnnaturai, uncanny phenomenon, says Dr. F. Kong in Illustrierte Zeituug, Leipzig. Actually some of the characteristics ascribed fo sleep-walkers are calculatqd to arouse a tlxrill pf wonder anfl ofteq. horrpr. They pre supposed suddenly fo develop almost. unbelievable physical strengthj to show no fear or uneasinesp in thp face of gravp danger; to plimb impospible heights withqut any o^vious exertion; and then— mirabile dictu — to remember nQthing of what has happened when they awake next morning? Further? a soninambulist will awake at the mere spund of his najnp; aqd pf eourse jve al] knqw how extremely jlnngerous jt is for him to be ro used from his sluiuber suddenly. . . F^,cf and fancy arg mixpd in thesw ggnernl notions abqut sleep-walking. U is true, however, that unusual ptrengtl' pnd dexterity are frequently develope in thjs stqte. Likewisp frue is thw atatement that nothing if j»eg^fd pf thq nocturnal peregrinations when the gpj>* jpct awaheps. Occasionally certain mcidents arp vaguely reealled as ono hazily remembers a dream. But it i1-"5 false to suppose that a night:walker can be easily aroused by npise, or as some peqple think, by light. Thp caus.es pf this peculiar coa.ditio" are vgrions, but thpy can be placpd in ihrpe njain grqupa. First: Somnambulism often appears as the cqjicomitant qf a _ serjpus ilinpss, for ins.tance epilepsy. Wheq this fype manifests itself among children it frequently heTalds a serious mental illness — schizoplirenia. "Tn these cases ij car) be reeognised, along with certain othpr sym^tpmjSj fte an aarly indication of this

incipient mental disorder and prevention" treatmpnt may be taken jmmediately. Glandjilar djsturbances (notably of the thyroid) may also occaeion the appearance of sleep-walking. Second : This group is compriscd of cases where sleep-walking oceure as a special phenomenon among mentally and physieally healtjiy, normal human beiugs. Iptere it may often jbe hereditary. A case on record in Berlin tells of the family of a certain profpsspr ,of philosqphy whpse nqctambulatipn " wus carefully pb|epred f o.r a peripd pf ign years. The prpfesspr .came from U °f sleep-walkers, and marripd a first cousin. The parents and their threp children were all §lepp walhers, a fact of which they were unaware for a long time. Once they al) collected around the dinner table about three o'clock in the morning. The seeond daughtar happened to overturn a chair accidentally which collided with a heavy mirror. shattering it to fragments with a loud crash. They all awakened suddenly out of thoir ' ' tranee, l ' rec.ognised their condition apd immediat.ely sought inedical treatroent. •Tliird; The largest and most interesting group pf sleep-walkers belong in tlijs fatcgory. Outside qf a gpnoynl psycjiqpatlnc j)rec]isposition no oUioi' sign of disease or ijiness can be found 1

in fhese people. They are not sp much mentally ill as spiritually ill; they are the yictims of ppnsonaUty disordprs. Hypersensitive and neuxotic, easily moved either to tears or to laughter, egocentric, given to cxtremes, these vacillating individuals are in a different mood every minute of the day. They are determined to indulge eaeh momentary whim or impulse indiscriminately without stopping to temper desire with reason. ^yhep. bent npon the attninment of a certain goal thq organism obeys this overppwerjng desire pven in sleep. They arise, jstill sjumbering, and make strpight fqr .the object of their fancv looking n.eifhpr to the right nor the -left, entirely oblivious tp .eypryj/hins" around them. And here is the expianation for the fact that it is infinitely more difficult to awaken a night-walker than an pr.diuaj-y sleeper. Their whole being is cono.entrated on one thing. the attainnient of their dpsire. Sq utjterly possessed are they with this oue groaf urge that they are able to performs feats of strength impossible under ordinary circumstances. .(Tjbis explaips the heightened power of certain faculties). And because of that very concentration of the tnind oij one fjjing it is understaudalile too, why there remaiiis no remeiubrauce ^ of thp pypnls oi thp night, That pne

desire becamp as it .were independent and eelf-snfficient, somethiug that atqpd out of yelationship to their ordinary life. The most efficacions means of waking the spmnambub^f by t^e applicatlpu of cold wafer. Sound and light, c,qntrary tp general bplief» ha.ye failed to awaken a patient .after pxolonged effort. A case on record tells of a night-walker whose wife placed § basin of col^ water beside the bed where he wa? ac.custpmed to step down. This method worked succe.ssfully geypral times; then be mereiy gpt puf on the other side of the bed. 'The drjying urge within- -him -led him to avoid a)J cbstacles that would interrupt his condition, The same psyeh,o)pgipal intcrpr.etatipn of somnambulism pxplains why children arp m.QtP. frequeatjy nff ifcte.d than adults. Loneliness, fear, ,or jealousy, perhaps unconseious or unexpressed in their "waking state, will drive a chHd. tawards his payent? when he is asleep.; This pecurs pf tenpst after fhp loss pf j |oyed uurse or ihe ^ir^i pf anothqr phild i» the family, when tho phUd. feeling negleeted, mpst needs the fove and tenderness that is suddenly lacking Elementary powerful desires arise which he attempls to realjsp ip his sle.epwalking. The cqndiiion usually disappsars as he matarae. This scientiiic ''expose." of somnambulism lifts the veil of mystery and terror from a highly-misundersto.od phenomenon. The rqmantie and often sinister dual persqnality qf thp sleepwalker in the pubjic min.d is thus pyplained away psycliologically and physieally. Nevertheles's, it should lead us to t-lie recognition of profound spiritual eurrents within the human organism ;hat are far more tliriljnjg than th© nest ijQiaginutjve novel pver conceived.'