A 26-year-old woman requesting an evaluation for a 3-month history of “spells of paralysis.” These began after an old man death incident in the neighborhood. After two days of that incident, she began having episodes of emerging from sleep to a state of being fully awake but unable to move, accompanied by a sense of fear and breathlessness. Sometimes, she would have visual imagery or strange sensations, such as feeling a distinct foreign presence in the room, seeing shadows, or hearing footsteps. Typically, episodes would occur from a nocturnal awakening and could happen at any time of night and day as well.
Initially, they would occur at random, from weekly, to a month or two apart. For the preceding month, events increased to several times a night and occurred during daytime napping. She became fearful of sleeping and complaints and that the dead person is not allowing her to sleep…
