Violent somnambulism: a parasomnia of young men with stereotyped dream-like experiences

Anna Szűcs; Anita Kamondi; Rezső Zoller; Gábor Barcs; Pál Szabó; György Purebl

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2014.04.012

Violent somnambulism: a parasomnia of young men with stereotyped dream-like experiences

Med Hypotheses. 2014 Jul;83(1):47-52. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.04.012. Epub 2014 Apr 13.

Authors

Anna Szűcs¹, Anita Kamondi², Rezső Zoller³, Gábor Barcs², Pál Szabó⁴, György Purebl³

Affiliations

¹ National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: szucsan@gmail.com.
² National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Budapest, Hungary.
³ Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Semmelweis University, Hungary.
⁴ Institute of Psychology, University of Debrecen, Hungary.

PMID: 24831087
DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.04.012

Abstract

Objective: To characterize a subgroup of arousal parasomnias associated with violent behavior in adults.

Design: A pilot study on clinical and polysomnographic data of 13 adult patients seen in a tertiary sleep center for the suspicion of arousal parasomnia associated with violence.

Results: Nine young patients (8 males 1 female) had a common pattern of abnormalities: similar 'claustrophobic' dream-like experiences and complex, vehement dream enactments; no REM sleep without atonia on polysomnography. We call this syndrome 'violent somnambulism'. The rest of the patients had alcoholic delirium, partial epilepsy, possible REM sleep behavior disorder and a single sleep walking episode provoked by a sleeping pill.

Conclusions and hypothesis: Sleep related violence needs thorough diagnostic evaluation for preventing life-threatening consequences. Violent somnambulism appears to be a distinct NREM sleep-related overlap parasomnia.

MeSH terms

Female
Humans
Male
Sleep, REM
Somnambulism*
Violence*