My (20F) sister (13F) is experiencing something seriously scary and I’m not sure what to do?

A 20-year-old Reddit user shares their concerns about their 13-year-old sister, who has been experiencing disturbing hallucinations of violent, mutilated figures that appear when she tries to fall asleep. The sister has been dealing with these hallucinations for the past five days and is unable to sleep properly, causing emotional distress.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the sister is reluctant to tell their parents, fearing she might be disbelieved. The Reddit user is worried about the toll these hallucinations are taking on her sister’s mental health and academic performance and is unsure how to help her in a strict boarding school environment.

‘ My (20F) sister (13F) is experiencing something seriously scary and I’m not sure what to do?’

I’m in college and my sister is in a boarding school. Today she asked me to call her (calling from her hostel is regulated and only to registered 3 numbers, of which I am not one). This is a rare occurrence, she doesn’t ask that of me often, only when she’s extremely worried and needs to speak in confidence.

We talked normally for some time until she asked me shakily if I ever had hallucinations, particularly the violent kind. Before I go any further, here are a few things you should know. My sister is not very academically gifted, her exams are in a day. She had recently attended a compulsory camp (which is a part of academic credit) in another part of her city.

I have my exams in two days too and live in a different city than her’s. She was trying very hard to maintain her composure as she detailed how she was feeling unwell 5 days ago at the camp and was asked to rest in the room assigned to her school group alone and trying to fall asleep, at which point I heard her voice get choked up and could sense her oncoming tears.

She said she sees ‘them’ every day ever since, 5 minutes after closing her eyes and feels like she’s being watched all the time. I asked her to describe what she meant by them. All she said was ‘it’s so bloody.’ To help her verbalize I asked her to reply with yes/no while I described things that she could’ve possibly seen. I asked her if she saw a mutilated body.

By this point she had started sobbing, saying ‘they’re so many of them.’ I asked how many, she said 3-4 each time, depends. I asked her if she knew any of them, and she said she doesn’t, but that although they’re not always the same, it almost seems like they’re on rotation because she sees recurring faces once in a while.

I asked her how they appear, and she said that they would always walk towards her, and on asking about the BG, she said she saw approximations of her surroundings at whatever point in time she tries to fall asleep. Its been 5 days and she’s barely had any proper rest or sleep. By this point, she’s near hysterical, barely able to breathe as she talks.

I asked to speak to her (few) friends (whom she’s told this to) who reaffirm her story her. She goes on to ask me to not tell our parents because she doesn’t want to worry them or be made out to be a l**r. I spoke (after asking her permission) to our eldest sibling (22M) who thinks she might be making this up to not give her exams because in his words,

‘the (only other) alternative (to him, something supernatural) is too fucked up and horrifying to consider.’ I asked her to speak to her school counselor tomorrow. I’m inclined to believe she’s telling the truth because I know her to be capable of many things,

but feigning hitched breaths to near hysteria over the phone while telling such a gut-wrenching ordeal merely to weasel her way out of paltry exams is not one of them. I had to sing to help her calm down, something I haven’t done in the last 4 years. I’m holding out hope that this is either stress or a recurring nightmare.

Her school is extremely strict, and there is a near-impossible chance that they would believe her enough to let her take the exams some other time. She has not been able to keep up in class or her sports practices (she has to leave for a national-level competition soon after the exams are over).

The whole ordeal is affecting not only her athletic and academic performance but also taking an emotional and mental toll on her. I haven’t heard her sound so worse for wear in years. I’m frustrated I can’t help her, scared of what she’s going through, and want to know what I can do for her. Is there any way to help?

Take a look at the comments from fellow users:

thither_and_yon −  It is possible to be stressed and sleep-deprived enough to experience hallucinations and psychosis as an otherwise healthy person, and it’s also possible (though not common) to develop schizophrenia that young, or another psychotic disorder. I find it impossible to imagine that the school would not accept “actively experiencing a psychotic break,”

which is clearly what’s happening to her if she’s telling the truth, as a reason for exam postponement. The only reasonable thing to do for her is to get her into serious therapy immediately and get her assessed for inpatient treatment. If she’s lying, then whatever. If she’s not lying, she needs urgent help.

holohoaxacaust −  Your brother thinks the only other alternative to making it up is that she has supernatural abilities? How about mental illness? sheeshk. She needs to see a Dr.

[Reddit User] −  She may be having hallucinations. This is not something you keep to yourself. She needs to be evaluated by professionals to determine if she is just stressed, or experiencing symptoms of a mental disorder.

axion_decay −  Could be sleep paralysis — I’ve experienced this before. Right as I would be falling asleep or waking up I’d feel like I was being watched and suddenly I’d see a tall thin black creature in the doorway whilst hearing banging pots & pans.

Usually the hallucinations were accompanied by a feeling of total body paralysis that passes in moments but it’s truly terrifying and absolutley feels like something supernatural. I had episodes where this feeling wasn’t overwhelming but more of a weighted sluggishness while experiencing horrible hallucinations.

It certainly flared up for me during stressful times when I was younger. Exams alone are enough to send any kid into anxiety overload but if she’s hallucinating mutilated bodies — total hysteria as you call it and insomnia is a due response. Talk to her counselor & keep being the supportive sister you’ve been! For me the sleep paralysis eventually went away, but I know I’d be reduced to tears if I experienced it again as an adult.

boredrandoguy −  Your brother is being an i**ot if he thinks that the only possibilities are that she’s either making it up or that she’s seeing ghosts – there are plenty of clinical reasons why she could be seeing these things. It could be that she has a mental illness, or it could be carbon monoxide poisoning in her room.

She might be sick with a fever or overheating when she tries to sleep. It could even be sleep paralysis, which is VERY not fun to experience when you don’t know what’s going on and what is happening to you. It could also be that she’s too stressed to sleep due to exams and is hallucinating because of sleep deprivation.

I have personally seen some absolutely insane s**t during crunch times back at university and let me tell you, once you hit that “48 hours awake” mark, the world can sort of melt on you. The point is, assuming your sister isn’t lying about this condition (and if she is, then that’s a huge mental health red flag in and of itself) she needs some professional help to narrow down what’s happening to her.

Have a frank discussion about how to help her with your parents (if you think they’re mental health literate enough to not flip out) or discretely organise a doctor’s appointment for her on your own to figure out what’s going on. Don’t worry about the academic side of things – she’s 13. She can bounce back and catch up just fine after she gets this issue sorted out.

bbyghost −  Why is it whenever a teenage girl brings up mental health issues literally everybody’s first thought is “she must be lying”. That kind of mindset is exactly what prevents actual mentally ill people from getting the help they need

[Reddit User] −  She needs to see a doctor asap.

phelgmdounuts −  A close family member of mine had similar hallucinations in his teens. For months he would see bloody barbed wire, dismembered boby parts and bloody surgical tools. He had a psychotic episode. His mother works in mental health services, saw the signs and got him the help he needed. He was sectioned for a few months.

He received early intervention care. In most cases, when people experience their 1st psychotic episode really young and they get proper medical care, they won’t experience another one again. This member now is in his 40s, working a fantastic well paid job, has his own house and a fantastic social life. He has had no other mental health issues since.

I share this story because there’s still a lot of stigma regarding mental health and people are often prevented from getting the help they need due to this which makes it worse as it is left untreated. My family member is living a fantastic life and it’s because of the intervention and that he got treated early on. I’m not a professional but it’s highly likely that your sister is having a psychotic episode. She might not be but lets not rule this out.

friendispatrickstar −  Sleep deprivation + stress is a classic, SCARY combination that can often lead to terrifying hallucinations and paranoia. I know from first hand experience bc I had a similar situation happen merely a month ago. My psych doc saved my life.

I was going insane… but at the time I thought it was supernatural. Now I have therapy (and meds tbh) that help so much. Have only had one scary hallucination since and I think it was sleep paralysis. She needs a doc! Chances are she is having psychosis from psychological stress

Memequeen933 −  Sounds like sleep paralysis.