Quote:
Current cognitive psychology research suggests that SP with HH triggers a threat-awareness scan in the brain known as the vigilance system. This process is largely unconscious and normally is responsible for identifying possible threats (“What’s that noise?”) and making quick decisions about our physical safety (“Oh, it’s just the cat.”). But in SP/HH, our eyes are open and we are projecting our dreams into physical space. The combination of sensing and imagining makes the system go a little haywire, causing the vigilance system to stay activated because it cannot clarify exactly what the threat is. “Threat!” the system calls, again and again. This, in turn, makes our fear intensify because a part of the brain responsible for intense emotions, the amygdala, is already heightened in this dream state. So we project images of our worst fears into the room, intensifying our fear even further as the Stranger takes form.
It is an escalating fear-vision feedback system that precipitates the apparition beside our bed with its darkened face and evil-feeling presence. We co-create the nightmare without even knowing it.
So...back to the question...how to stop the scary SP hallucinations. It's as simple as this: take a scary situation, and make it funny. You don't realize it while you are in SP because you feel so powerless and vulnerable, but you actually DO have control over the hallucinations and you can change them and make them whatever you want. It's just that most people never realize they have control or think to try and change the situation, so they remain afraid.