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Hypnagogic hallucinations are recognized by the following characteristics:
i.Hypnagogic hallucinations are real hallucinations as in a dream. It is true that just before falling asleep, ideas often flare up in vivid colours, yet the subject knows that what he is perceiving is not reality, but fantasy.
ii.Hypnagogic hallucinations are, like the dream, terminated with the experience of awakening.
iii.The transition from the waking state to sleep is a sudden one. Even in the most detailed self-observation, no continuity can be proved between the ideas that exist before falling asleep and the resultant hypnagogic hallucination. Suddenly the hypnagogic hallucination, as well as the dream, transports us to another world.
iv.Finally, it is valid to state that hypnagogic hallucinations, as well as dreams, are divorced from the conscious will. As in the dream, we are not able to hold a given image fast or to recall it. In pre-conscious fantasy thinking, however, it is possible to re-experience wilfully a single image, although not the whole chain of associations.
I will now point out some qualities in which dreams and hypnagogic hallucinations differ.
i.In hypnagogic hallucinations there is no loss of muscle tone; the eyelids close, but it is still possible to continue standing, walking, riding on a horse, or sitting. In cases of narcolepsy I have observed hypnagogic hallucinations of fire, of faces, and of falling while the patient was standing (15).
ii.Spontaneous awakening is easier from the hypnagogic hallucination and the threshold for being awakened is lower. If falling asleep is slowed down purposely or pathologically, then short hypnagogic states with spontaneous awakening may follow each other several times.