Exploding Head Syndrome is a condition that afflicts those who suffer it with sudden starts during the night, awakenings caused by loud, exploding noises, in the head—hallucinatory, perhaps—which may also be accompanied with similar sensations of an actual explosion.
The American Sleep Association has long associated the condition with people older than 50 years of age. However, study author Brian Sharpless, believes that this may not be accurate.
He says that this condition may occur is as many as one in five young people too.
Furthermore, he also admits that there is still not much known about the condition and, more importantly, what the possible remedies might be.
The assistant professor and director of the Washington State University psychology clinic contributes, “Unfortunately for this minority of individuals, no well-articulated or empirically supported treatments are available, and very few clinicians or researchers assess for it.”
He even goes so far as to add, “Some people have worked these scary experiences into conspiracy theories.” In fact, these theories, he says, can lead people to actually think they are experiencing some unnatural event. Sharpless continues, “For this scary noise you hear at night when there’s nothing going on in your environment, well, it might be the government messing with you.”
He says it can even be so terrifying that some patients are afraid to tell their friends or spouse or loved ones about the condition.
“They may think they’re going crazy and they don’t know that a good chunk of the population has had the exact same thing,” Sharpless confides. “Unfortunately for this minority of individuals, no well-articulated or empirically supported treatments are available, and very few clinicians or researchers assess for it.”
