Dreams, Hypnosis and Meditation

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Dreams, Hypnosis and Meditation

• States of Consciousness

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What are dreams?

• The concept of dreaming is currently undergoing
  revision in scientific circles.
• Not all in REM sleep
• Not as bizarre as originally thought
• People more aware that they are dreaming than
  originally thought
• Mental processes during dreams are much like they
  are when awake

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Theories of Dreaming

• Freud
• Dreams as wish fulfillment
• May be in symbolic rather than literal terms

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• Rosalind Cartwright cognitive problem solving
  view
• Dreams as problem solving
• Dreams allow more creative thinking and less
  censorship therefore people can solve complex
  problems in their dreams
• Limited support for this view just because you
  are dreaming about something doesnt mean you are
  solving the problem.

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• Activation-Synthesis Model Hobson and McCarley
• Dreams are simply byproducts of random
  subcortical electrical impulses
• The cortex then attempts to weave these impulses
  into a story that makes some sense.

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• There are many other theories of the function of
  dreams.. But they are all only theories.

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Hypnosis

• First? Practiced by Anton Mesmer in the 18th
  century
• Claimed to heal people but really only used the
  power of suggestion
• Proven a charlatan and discredited

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• The word hypnotism was coined in 1843 by James
  Braid
• He used hypnotism as an anesthesia for surgery
• But it could not compete with new more powerful
  medications for anesthesia

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Hypnotic susceptibility

• Hypnosis typically produces a heightened state of
  suggestibility
• Not everyone is equally hypnotizable
• About 10 of the population cant be hypnotized.
  About 10 of the population is highly
  hypnotizable.

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Effects of Hypnosis

• Anesthesia
• Sensory distortions and hallucinations
• May report seeing hearing things that no one else
  does
• Disinhibition
• Generally cant get someone to do something under
  hypnosis that they would consider unacceptable.
  However, hypnosis can lower inhibitions.

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• Posthypnotic suggestions and amnesia
• Suggestions made during hypnosis can impact on
  future behavior
• This is how hypnosis can be used successfully to
  treat smoking, overeating, and other behavioral
  problems.

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Is Hypnosis Real?

• Who knows????
• Some say its a separate state of consciousness
  hypnotic trance
• Others say its all role playing
• Dissociative state? Two levels of consciousness
  simultaneously?

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• Some plausibility for the dissociative state
• Highway hypnosis
• Everyday experiences dont remember if you did
  something or not because you were thinking about
  something else

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Meditation

• Group of practices that train people to heighten
  their awareness and bring their mental processes
  under greater control

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Types

• Yoga
• Zen
• Transcendental meditation
• Most originally had a religious significance

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What happens during meditation?

• Alpha and theta waves predominate (like in
  drowsiness and stage 1 sleep)
• Heart rate and respiration rate drop
• High level of activity in prefrontal cortex
• Low level of activity in parietal lobe
  (information processing and sensation)

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Benefits of meditation

• Stress reduction
• Improved mental health
• Lessened anxiety
• Lower blood pressure
• Increased creativity
• Improved mood