Are Sleepwalkers Real Killers? - It seems they are not
By: Stefan Anitei, Science Editor
We might think that sleepwalkers get out of bed with a knife and kill someone they're angry with. A new review based on 32 medical and legal cases shows that this naïve concept is off base. Sleepwalkers are seldom violent and do not look out for enemies to stab while in the sleep arousal state. It appears that if a sleepwalker turns violent, the victim is normally a person who got in the way, but not a previously targeted victim.
"Sleepwalkers are not inherently violent. Sleepwalking violence is quite rare." said author Dr. Mark Pressman, of Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
Sleepwalkers' brain is working at a low level, with their brain areas linked to planning and socialization turned off.
"Legal cases in which the defendant supposedly went somewhere and sought out the victim are not likely to be true cases of sleepwalking," said Pressman, an expert witness in many trials.
He checked the hypothesis that sleepwalkers can attack
people who touch them or are nearby, but they do not spontaneously harm other persons.
"For centuries there have been reports of violent acts by sleepwalkers, and even cases of people acquitted of murder because they claimed to have been asleep when they committed the act." said Pressman.
He classified the cases into three divisions: sleepwalking, confusional arousal (similar to sleepwalking but the patient doesn't get out of bed) and sleep terrors (sleepwalking caused by a sudden partial awakening linked to a frightening stimulus).
In cases of confusional arousal, the victims had been close to or touching the patient; the same was valid for 81% of the cases of sleep terror and 40-90 % of the sleepwalkers.
"Often the provocation was quite minor and the response greatly exaggerated. Sleepwalking appeared to occur when something "goes bump in the night" but a person did not wake up fully in response," said Pressman.
Sleepwalking seems to be hereditary, as it often runs in the family and up to 15 % of children are sleepwalkers (still, most of them do not experience it as adults).
"The old advice that people should not wake a sleepwalker was misguided because it was actually quite difficult to do so." said Pressman.
The proper method is to speak to them in a clear voice, employing simple language and attempt to guide them out of dangerous situations back into bed, with great care.
"There certainly is a possibility if you have a sleepwalker who is big enough to inflict damage and you grab them and you block them they may not respond as you expect, probably because they don't even recognize who you are." said Pressman.
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