Roommate is being visited by aliens (psychological problems?)

[Naturally]

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While I agree wholeheartedly that the girl should be evaluated for serious mental problems, I would also add that I have a couple of mentally healthy ‘new age’ type friends who also insist they are visited by at night by aliens. Ever since the Whitley Streiber book about alien abduction came out there are many ‘normal’ people who have bought into the whole idea. So, is it possible this girl just has an over active imagination, and has watched one too many episodes of the x-files?

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<p>There was actually a case of a kid getting kicked out of an art college [because</a> he denigrated a girl’s belief that leprechauns exist and live on the quantum plane.](<a href=“http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=84436&category=22101]because”>http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=84436&category=22101) The more you know!</p>

[TheyCallMeCC]

<p>not that i have anything to add here [oh! new alien abduction movie just came out–the fourth kind–yeahhh], but all of this is seriously freaking me out for next year…because i really don’t want a psychotic roommate D:</p>

[merryecho]

<p>Today’s paper mentioned that the wife of the leader of Japan (emperor? President? I forget) also says she has been abducted by aliens.</p>

[marite]

<p>No I think they mean the Prime Minister’s wife.</p>

[roshke]

<p>This article is dated, and I don’t know what, if anything, more recent research has uncovered about this condition, but seems quite relevant to this discussion:</p>

<p>[Alien</a> Abduction? Science Calls It Sleep Paralysis - The New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/06/science/alien-abduction-science-calls-it-sleep-paralysis.html?pagewanted=2]Alien”>http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/06/science/alien-abduction-science-calls-it-sleep-paralysis.html?pagewanted=2)</p>

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Called sleep paralysis, this disorder – the result of a disconnect between brain and body as a person is on the fringe of sleep – is turning out to be increasingly common, affecting nearly half of all people at least once. Moreover, a growing number of scholars believe that sleep paralysis may help explain many ancient reports of attacks by witches and modern claims of abduction by space aliens.

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<p>Apparently, sleep paralysis is much more common among people of Japanese descent - which could explain the Prime Minister’s wife’s claim.</p>

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‘‘I think it can explain claims of witchcraft and alien abduction,’’ said Kazuhiko <em>**uda, a psychologist at *</em>*ushima University in Japan and a leading expert on sleep paralysis. Research in Japan has had a headstart because sleep paralysis is well-known to most Japanese, who call it kanashibari, while it is little-known and less studied in the West.

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<p>There is a current movie, The Fourth Kind, out about this subject as we speak . Ads are everywhere right now. For someone experiencing sleep paralysis, the combination of that suggestion along with the scary experience itself,could be relevant: </p>

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Several scholars have found that people are more likely to report alien abductions when they have been exposed to movies or books about the idea. Simon Sherwood, a researcher on sleep paralysis in England, said that in one case study he gathered, a regular sufferer of sleep paralysis watched an alien film and then had a hallucination of ‘‘little blue aliens’’ inserting a metal probe into his forehead.

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<p>The schedule of college students, their patterns of interrupted sleep as well as their age may make them more predisposed to this:</p>

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Among ordinary people, sleep paralysis occurs most often after jet lag or periods of sleeplessness that interrupt normal REM patterns. Men and women seem to suffer it at equal rates, and although it is most common in the teen-age years, it is reported at all ages.

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<p>I’ve actually had a few episodes of sleep paralysis, myself. It was pretty scary the first time, when I was a teenager. I felt like I was awake but couldn’t move a muscle for ages. No levitations, visions of aliens (or anything else for that matter) - just the unnerving experience of not being able to move. I’ve probably had less than a handful in all the years since - much more of a momentary thing, but by then I knew what it was and didn’t panic. I think some people just have a more intense,mixed up in the dream state, version of this than others.</p>

[roshke]

<p>^^^ I meant to add, still better safe than sorry. It’s good that the school is aware of the situation.</p>

[toledo]

<p>Very interesting, roshke. Another interesting fact from the article was…</p>

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Sleep paralysis sometimes runs in families and appears to have a genetic component

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<p>…as she mentioned her cousin is also visited.</p>

[AnudduhMom]

<p>Of course, it’s possible that aliens paralyze you in your sleep before they abduct you.</p>

<p>:O</p>

<p>Sorry. Sorry. That was bad. Now don’t all jump on me! I just thought someone should inject a little note of levity, because all this is freaking me out a little. Makes you never want to send your kid to college!</p>

[DreamMom]

<p>Thank you for making me aware of sleep paralysis. This brings back scary memories. Both my sister and I had similar experiences when we were teenagers (long time ago!). My sister could describe in gory details of the spirits who had visited her while she slept. I remembered lying in bed unable to move but thinking clearly to myself “play dead so that the ghosts don’t know I am awake…” I never heard voices or felt anything besides the paralysis. I thought I had out-smarted the unwelcome visitors. I was always too afraid to actually peek to see if there was in fact someone or something in the room. I wish I had learned about sleep paralysis sooner!</p>

[oldfort]

<p>Only on CC. Every time I read the title, I just crack up.</p>

[Pseudonym]

<p>“my school enacted a policy this year that allows it to kick students out of university housing if they demonstrate obviously that they have a significant mental issue that they are not getting treatment for. This certainly helps with this situation.”</p>

<p>Not seeing how that’s helpful at all, except in absolving the school of liability while potentially leaving a vulnerable student homeless. Sounds like a great plan.</p>

[Northstarmom]

<p>I hope that the OP’s child lets the RA and/or Dean of Students know about the roommate. The roommate appears to have a very serious problem which could be a psychosis, brain tumor or even epilepsy. Any of those things could lead to the kind of experiences and beliefs that the roommate has been describing.</p>

[toledo]

<p>Son just informed me that the roommate is seeing the school’s counselor now. Unbeknownst to me, a few days before I contacted the university (and the R.A.), the roommate and some friends had been caught drinking in their campus apartment. Punishment had not been doled out at the time. The university was able to add “counseling sessions” for the drinking punishment. The roommate is surprised that the counselor spends more time talking about her alien encounters than the drinking issue. We feel very lucky for the coincidence in the timing of the two issues.</p>

[jym626]

<p>Maybe the aliens brought a 5th of Cuervo???</p>

<p>Sorry, jk</p>

[commasplice]

<p>Thanks for the update Toledo. I hope the counselor can handle it.</p>

<p>Long ago, when DH was a freshman in college, one day out of the blue his roommate left sticky notes pasted all over the room saying things like “You die, M…!” It was during finals at the end of the year. DH never told any teachers/administrators. He just slept on a friend’s floor until the end of the year. DH had not fought with the roommate or anything. They weren’t friends, weren’t enemies. The roommate just cracked during finals.</p>