title: Delusional confusion of dreaming and reality in narcolepsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated a generally unappreciated feature of the sleep disorder narcolepsy, in which patients mistake the memory of a dream for a real experience and form sustained delusions about significant events.
  
  
  METHODS
  We interviewed patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls to establish the prevalence of this complaint and identify its predictors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Academic medical centers in Boston, Massachusetts and Leiden, The Netherlands.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients (n = 46) with a diagnosis of narcolepsy with cataplexy, and age-matched healthy healthy controls (n = 41).
  
  
  METHODS
  N/A.
  
  
  RESULTS
  "Dream delusions" were surprisingly common in narcolepsy and were often striking in their severity. As opposed to fleeting hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations of the sleep/wake transition, dream delusions were false memories induced by the experience of a vivid dream, which led to false beliefs that could persist for days or weeks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The delusional confusion of dreamed events with reality is a prominent feature of narcolepsy, and suggests the possibility of source memory deficits in this disorder that have not yet been fully characterized.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA ; Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA ; Department of Psychology, Furman University, Greenville, SC.
authors: Erin
authors: E
authors: Wamsley
authors: Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors: Claire E H M
authors: CE
authors: Donjacour
authors: Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA ; Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
authors: Thomas E
authors: TE
authors: Scammell
authors: Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands ; Sleep Wake Center SEIN, Heemstede, The Netherlands.
authors: Gert Jan
authors: GJ
authors: Lammers
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA ; Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Stickgold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001900:Boston; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003221:Confusion / Q000523:psychology*; D003702:Delusions / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D004325:Dreams / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D009426:Netherlands; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Dreaming; memory; narcolepsy