Visual Misperception Scale
In sleep studies researchers have found that there is a progression of cognitive symptoms that indicate increasingly severe sleep deprivation. As you go down this list note your answers.
Please be aware there are other causes besides sleep deprivation for these symptoms, contact your doctor if you are experiencing these symptoms and are not having troubles with sleep.
69) Do you have difficulty thinking of words (but for the most part can communicate normally) or feel like your mental process has slowed?
70) Do you make occasional mistakes or have failures in thinking and speech which can be corrected easily?
71) a) Do you lose your train of thought, forget what you are thinking or talking about, leave statements incomplete, etc. (b) Do you have sudden unexplained shifts in your trend of thought or speech that you can correct with effort if asked?
72) a) Do some of your thoughts or statements become completely incoherent and you find that you can’t clarify them? b) Do you confuse fantasies, dreams, or intrusive thoughts with reality?
73) Do you find yourself rambling, having incoherent speech for brief periods with a failure to recognize errors? Have you been unable to straighten out the jumble of incoherent thoughts when asked?
This scale differs from the other two scales in measuring sleep deprivation symptoms because the symptoms here tend to show up regularly with various forms of psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Yes answers to questions 69 and 70 are frequently present for people who are concerned about insomnia.
Yes answers to questions 71 and 72 are more rare. They are associated with sleep deprivation as well as some psycholgical disorders. One of the problematic issues in evaluating insomnia and sleep problems is that it is difficult to discern as to whether insomnia is creating psychological difficulties or if the psychological difficulties are causing insomnia. There are other sections of the Sleep Program site that help to clarify this confusion.
Yes answer to question 73 shows significant impairment. Evaluating the impairment for this question requires the same considerations as the previous questions.
This site is created by and belongs to: Iris Publishing
email: Webmaster@Iris-Publishing.com
Regular Mail: P.O. Box 1092, Coupeville, WA 98239
Phone: (360) 678-6409
Copyright 1996-1998 Sarah Richards