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Attacking My Wife At Night

by Maurice H.
(UK)

While infrequent, I start to beat my wife at night while sometimes shouting things like "get out". She usually manages to restrain me - or jump out of bed to avoid my violent thrashing. I seem to try to beat her (or someone) and if I have any memory of it (like in a dream) the "beating" is not like aiming a fist, but banging a fist downward like a hammer. I frequently have absolutely no knowledge of what I do - complete blank. Other times it is associated with with panic and fear. I ofter wonder if some childhood negative treatment has effected me.


This does not happen all that often - perhaps 3-4 times a year and my wife is very tolerant but I would dearly love to be able to find some way of avoiding the very upsetting incidents.

I get a bit depressed - and when in a low state I often wake up - or half wake - and see someone bending over the bed or standing close to the bed. It can be a woman or a man, and sometimes not clear which. It is very disturbing - and can sometimes be coupled with a "beating" incident.

Comments for Attacking My Wife At Night

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Oct 22, 2014
 Look Into RBD
by: Kevin

Hi Maurice, Thank you for sharing your story. I apologize it took this long to publish on the site, but we've had trouble keeping up with the volume of stories submitted. If you have any updates to how this is going since submitting your story, please feel free to share in the comments.

It would likely be worth looking into REM Behavior Disorder (RBD) which is the sleep disorder most often linked to hitting bed partners at night, often without memory of the incident. You can read details about the condition at the following link, as well as other visitor-submitted stories similar to you at the bottom of the page:

http://www.end-your-sleep-deprivation.com/rem-sleep-behavior-disorder.html

Regarding seeing someone by your bed, it may be worth reading about sleep paralysis, or hypnopompic hallucinations.

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