Altered States of Consciousness

1
Altered States of Consciousness

• What they are and how they effect our behavior.

2
States of Consciousness

• What is Consciousness?
• our awareness of ourselves and our environment
• Part of dual processing (aware vs automatic)

3
Defining Consciousness

• Consciousness
• States of consciousness
• Sleep
• Wake
• Altered states

4
Defining Consciousness
5
Defining Consciousness
6
Defining Consciousness
7
Defining Consciousness
8
Defining Consciousness
9
Defining Consciousness
10
Defining Consciousness
11
Hypnosis
12
Hypnosis

• Hypnosis
• an altered state in which people become highly
  suggestible to changes in behavior and thought
• a social interaction in which one person (the
  hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that
  certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts or
  behaviors will spontaneously occur
• a relaxed state

13
Hypnosis

• You are not asleep!
• A trans induced by persuading subject to relax
  and lose interest in external distractions.
• It is an atmosphere of
• cooperation not domination.
• Fantasy Prone Personality
• imagines and recalls experiences with lifelike
  vividness
• spends considerable time fantasizing

14
Hypnosis

• Suggestibility
• related to subjects openness to suggestion
• ability to focus attention inwardly
• ability to become imaginatively absorbed
• Posthypnotic Suggestion
• suggestion to be carried out after the subject is
  no longer hypnotized
• used by some clinicians to control undesired
  symptoms and behaviors
• Friends Strong Confident Woman
• Posthypnotic Amnesia
• supposed inability to recall what one experienced
  during hypnosis
• induced by the hypnotists suggestion

15
Hypnosis as a Social Phenomenon
Social influence theory Good hypnotic
subjects
16
Hypnosis as Divided Consciousness

• Hilgard
• Dissociation a special type of dual processing
  in which there is a split in consciousness which
  allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur
  simultaneously with others.
• Unified account of hypnosis

17
Hypnosis as selective attention?

• May explain hypnotic pain relief.
• MRI show decrease in area that processes pain
  stimuli.
• Does not block sensory input, only our attention
  to that stimuli.

18
HypnosisLevels of Analysis for Hypnosis
19
HypnosisLevels of Analysis for Hypnosis
20
HypnosisLevels of Analysis for Hypnosis
21
HypnosisLevels of Analysis for Hypnosis
22
Hypnosis Can it help us remember?

• Memory
• sometimes a relaxed, focused state can improve
  recall
• hypnotically refreshed memories are unreliable
• false memories or pseudomemories can be implanted
• intentionally
• unintentionally

23
Other Altered States

• Meditation
• One focuses in order to clears ones mind and
  produce relaxation or an inner peace.
• Usually focus on a single object obtain this
  effect.
• Biofeedback
• A technique in which one learns to control
  internal physiological processes with help of
  feedback. (ex. EEG)
• Often effective in treatment of some illnesses
  (ex. Headaches.)

24
Sleep

• Sleep
• An altered state of consciousness characterized
  by specific brain patterns
• Brain Waves
• A EEG measures the electricity of the brain.
• Alpha Waves slow waves of relaxed, awake brain
• Delta Waves large, slow waves of deep sleep.

25
Sleep Stages

• Circadian rhythm
• the biological clock
• regular bodily rhythms that occur on a 24 hour
  cycle
• Ultradian Rhythm
• more than 1 per day
• Infradian Rhythm
• 1 per month

26
Why do we sleep?

• Sleep protects
• Sleeps helps us recuperate
• Sleeps helps us restore and rebuild fading
  memories.
• Sleep feeds creativity
• Sleeps supports growth

So what is sleep anyway?
27
Sleep

• Sleep periodic, natural loss of consciousness
  as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a
  coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation.
• 90 minute cycles with both REM and NonREM
• REM Sleep rapid eye movement sleep a recurring
  sleep state during which vivid dreams commonly
  occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep, because
  the muscles are relaxed (except for minor
  twitches) but other body systems are active.
• NonREM Sleep non-rapid eye movement sleep
  encompasses all sleep stages except for REM sleep.

28
Biological Rhythms and Sleep
29
Biological Rhythms and Sleep

• Measuring Sleeps Activity
• Eye Movements
• Muscle Tension
• EEG Patterns
• Beta Waves Awake and alert
• Alpha Waves Slower waves. Awake but relaxed.
• Delta Waves Large slow waves. Associated with
  deep sleep.

30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
Stages of Sleep

• Pre-sleep
• muscles relax
• pulse, blood pressure and body temp decrease.
• Breathing becomes slower, deeper and more
  regular.
• There are three cycles of relatively quiet sleep
  all referred to as stages of non-rapid sleep,
  before you go into REM.

33
The New Model of Sleep

• NREM I Slowed breathing and irregular brain
  waves. Lasts no longer than 5 min. Easy to
  awake from this. Only here once. May experience
  hallucinations, very common.
• NREM II Sleep spindles (bursts of rapid
  brain-wave activity) appear. 1st time you enter
  it will be for less than 20 min, but you will
  spend ½ of your sleep time here.
• NREM III After about 30 min you enter here.
  Often called slow-wave sleep. Brain emits large
  delta waves. Brain waves will slow to less than 1
  cycle per sec vs. 15 in NREM II. Difficult to
  awake during this stage. 1st time in you will be
  here for about 30 min. This cycle will drop out
  after the second or third time through the cycle.
  Sleep walking, talking, bed wetting etc occur
  here with no memory
• New cycle NREM I, NREMII, NREM III, NREM II,
  REM, NREM II, NREM III.

34
EEG and Stages of Sleep
35
Sleep and Dreams

• REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep
• recurring sleep stage
• vivid dreams
• paradoxical sleep
• muscles are generally relaxed, but other body
  systems are active

36
Typical Nightly Sleep Stages
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39
REM changes with age
Amount of REM sleep decreases with
age  - percentage of REM sleep stabilizes at 20
- 25 at about age 10. After age 60, this
percentage declines significantly, until at age
70, people get only about 45 minutes of REM sleep
per night.
40
(No Transcript)
41
What Affects Our Sleep Patterns?

• Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
• a pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that
  controls circadian rhythm. In response to light,
  the SCN causes the pineal gland to adjust
  melatonin production, thus modifying our feelings
  of sleepiness.
• melatonin

42
Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia
• persistent problems in falling or staying asleep
• Narcolepsy
• uncontrollable sleep attacks

43
Sleep Disorders

• Sleep Apnea
• cessation of breathing
• often associated with snoring
• repeatedly awakes sufferer
• Night Terrors
• high arousal- appearance of being terrified
• usually in Stage 4, within 2-3 hours of falling
  asleep

44
Night Terrors and Nightmares
Sleep stages

• Night Terrors
• occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling asleep
• during NREM 3
• Nightmares
• occur toward morning
• during REM sleep

Awake
1
2
3
REM
4
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Hours of sleep
45
Sleep Deprivation What happens if we dont get
enough sleep?

• Effects of Sleep Loss
• fatigue
• impaired concentration
• immune suppression
• irritability
• slowed performance
• accidents
• planes
• autos and trucks

46
Sleep Deprivation Effects of Sleep Loss
47
Sleep Deprivation
48
Dreams
49
Dreams

• Dream Theories Theories of Dreams
• Characteristics of dreams
• Most are an extension of daily events
• ½ have a sexual element
• Unpleasant emotions are common
• Most people dream in color
• Information Processing
• helps consolidate days memories
• stimulates neural development
• REM Rebound
• REM sleep increases following REM sleep
  deprivation

50
Dreams and Freud

• Sigmund Freud- The Interpretation of Dreams
  (1900)
• wish fulfillment
• discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings
• A window to the subconscious
• Manifest Content
• remembered story line
• Latent Content
• underlying, uncensored meaning
• Condensation combination of people..ex. Mom,
  dad, teacher authority figure

51
More Freud

• Displacement direct emotions to a safe
  target..ex. Mad at parents so dream about
  crashing their car.
• Symbolization very controversial way of
  interpreting specific items in the dream. Often
  has a sexual connotation, go figure.
• Secondary meaning he would often ask the person
  to elaborate on the dream. They would make sense
  of it and add details.

52
What do others say?

• Ann Farraday Dreams set the mood for the day.
• Milton Kramer Pay attention to the obvious in
  the dream. Ex. If you have a toothache in the
  dream concern about your teeth.
• Rosalind Cartwright There are stages to dreams
• 1. Quick review of the day
• 2. An old reaction to a problem
• 3 4. Wish fulfillment
• 5. Symbolic Wrap Up Freudian

53
(No Transcript)
54
Stop Here
55
Drugs and Consciousness

• Psychoactive Drug
• a chemical substance that alters perceptions and
  alters mood
• Physical Dependence
• physiological need for a drug
• marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms
• Psychological Dependence
• a psychological need to use a drug
• for example, to relieve negative emotions

56
Dependence

• Tolerance
• need for progressively larger doses to achieve
  same effect
• Withdrawal
• discomfort and distress with discontinued use

57
(No Transcript)
58
Psychoactive Drugs Types

• Depressants
• drugs that reduce neural activity
• slow body function
• alcohol, barbiturates, opiates
• Stimulants
• drugs that excite neural activity
• speed up body function
• caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines

59
Psychoactive Drugs

• Hallucinogens
• psychedelic (mind-manifesting) drugs that distort
  perceptions and evoke sensory images in the
  absence of sensory input
• LSD
• PCP

60
Psychoactive Drugs

• Barbiturates
• drugs that depress the activity of the central
  nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing
  memory and judgment

61
Psychoactive Drugs

• Opiates
• opium and its derivatives (morphine and heroin)
• opiates depress neural activity, temporarily
  lessening pain and anxiety

62
Psychoactive Drugs

• Amphetamines
• drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing
  accelerated body functions and associated energy
  and mood changes

63
Cocaine Euphoria and Crash
64
Trends in Drug Use
65
Psychoactive Drugs

• LSD
• lysergic acid diethylamide
• a powerful hallucinogenic drug
• also known as acid
• THC
• the major active ingredient in marijuana
• triggers a variety of effects, including mild
  hallucinations

66
(No Transcript)