Psychiatry diagnosis - Hypnophobia, sleep deprivation, recurring dreams, delusion
Genre: Weird fiction
Setting: UK, present day
Query: I need a clinical psychiatric diagnosis for a person presenting as follows; recurring nightmares of falling causing interrupted sleep, the fear that he isn’t real but might be someone else’s dream, extreme sleep deprivation, night terrors. The individual is terrified of falling asleep, and has the same dream every time he does. He refuses to take any kind of sleep aid. No family history of mental illness, no recreational drug use, no family history of cerebral cancer, no traumatic head injury. The patient is intelligent and otherwise rational, but is very afraid of what will happen to him when whatever is dreaming him ends. Patient has not had an EEG or an MRI or CAT scan, but these will show no anomalies.
What I’m looking for is how a psychiatric health professional would describe this person in his notes. Any help would be gratefully received!
Searches: I’ve researched a variety of sleep disorders, including night terrors, sleep paralysis, REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder. I’ve looked at psychological disorders involving a sense of unreality (dissociative disorders), but without knowing the clinical language I’m stuck.
Setting: UK, present day
Query: I need a clinical psychiatric diagnosis for a person presenting as follows; recurring nightmares of falling causing interrupted sleep, the fear that he isn’t real but might be someone else’s dream, extreme sleep deprivation, night terrors. The individual is terrified of falling asleep, and has the same dream every time he does. He refuses to take any kind of sleep aid. No family history of mental illness, no recreational drug use, no family history of cerebral cancer, no traumatic head injury. The patient is intelligent and otherwise rational, but is very afraid of what will happen to him when whatever is dreaming him ends. Patient has not had an EEG or an MRI or CAT scan, but these will show no anomalies.
What I’m looking for is how a psychiatric health professional would describe this person in his notes. Any help would be gratefully received!
Searches: I’ve researched a variety of sleep disorders, including night terrors, sleep paralysis, REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder. I’ve looked at psychological disorders involving a sense of unreality (dissociative disorders), but without knowing the clinical language I’m stuck.