Inuit Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2394527
AutoresSharmistha Law (0000-0002-1918-8782, University of Toronto), Samuel Law, L J Kirmayer (0000-0002-6228-1739, McGill University)
Año2005
Volumen42
Número1
Páginas93-112
Fecha de publicación2005-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTranscultural Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1363-4615 • E-ISSN: 1461-7471
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1363461505050712
PMID15881270
OpenAlexW1593283618
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas19

Traditional and contemporary Inuit concepts of sleep paralysis were investigated through interviews with elders and young people in Iqaluit, Baffin Island. Sleep paralysis was readily recognized by most respondents and termed uqumangirniq (in the Baffin region) or aqtuqsinniq (Kivalliq region). Traditional interpretations of uqumangirniq referred to a shamanistic cosmology in which the individual's soul was vulnerable during sleep and dreaming. Sleep paralysis could result from attack by shamans or malevolent spirits. Understanding the experience as a manifestation of supernatural power, beyond one's control, served to reinforce the experiential reality and presence of the spirit world. For contemporary youth, sleep paralysis was interpreted in terms of multiple frameworks that incorporated personal, medical, mystical, traditional/shamanistic, and Christian views, reflecting the dynamic social changes taking place in this region

Cognition · Epistemology · Paralysis · Psychiatry · Sleep disorder · Sleep paralysis · Sociology · Soul · Neuroscience of respiration and sleep · Philosophy · Psychology · Sleep and related disorders · Sleep and Wakefulness Research