Chapter 7



Chapter 7: Altered States of Consciousness

Section 1: Sleep and Dreams

(Read Exploring Psychology)

A. Sleep is vital to mental health

a. If a person is deprived of sleep, they will develop psychological (and physical) symptoms

b. Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity and inactivity

c. Consciousness is a state of awareness.

i. Can range from alertness to nonalertness

ii. The study of sleep has been aided by the development of the electroencephalograph (EEG0

d. Why do we sleep?

i. No one knows, possible reasons

1. Characterized by unresponsiveness to the environment and limited physical mobility

2. Maybe to restore our batteries

a. Brain is recovering from exhaustion and stress

3. Primitive hibernation

a. We sleep to conserve energy

4. An adaptive practice

a. Kept humans out of harm’s way at night when we would have been most vulnerable

5. To clear out minds

a. Gets rid of useless information

6. We sleep to dream

e. Stages of sleep

[pic]

|Stage |Bodily Activity  |Depth Of Sleep |Thought Process |Miscellaneous |

|0 |Slows down, decreased muscle|Borderline wakefulness  |Relaxation, mind wanders,|Heart rate, pulse, |

|   Awake |tension | |awareness dulls |temperature and blood |

| | | | |pressure slightly |

| | | | |diminished. |

| |Eyes roll slowly on falling |Light sleep, easily |Drifting thoughts and |Temperature, heart rate, |

|1 |asleep, eyes quiescent in |awakened, might deny being|floating sensation. |pulse decline further. |

| |later stage 1 periods. Body |asleep if awakened. | |Regular breathing. May have |

| |movements slowed.  | | |hypnogogic hallucinations on|

| | | | |falling asleep. |

| |Eyes quiet. Few body |Light to moderate sleep. |Some thought fragments, |Decreased heart rate, pulse,|

|2 |movements.           Snoring|Relatively easy to awaken.|memory processes |blood pressure, temperature |

| |is common.  |Eyes will not see if open.|diminished, may  |and metabolic rate, regular |

| | | |describe vague dream if |breathing with increased |

| | | |awakened |airway resistance. |

| |Occasional movement, eyes |Deep Sleep, takes louder |Rarely able to remember |Metabolic rate, pulse, heart|

|3 |quiescent. |sounds to be awakened. |thoughts. A few vaguely |rate, blood pressure and |

| | | |formed dreams.  Possible |temperature decrease |

| | | |memory consolidation.  |further. Increased secretion|

| | | | |of growth hormones.  |

| |Occasional movement, eyes |Deepest sleep, very |Virtually oblivious, very|Continued decline in heart |

|4 |quiet. |difficult to awaken. |poor recall of thoughts |rate, temperature and |

| | | |if awoken possibly |metabolic rates. Increased |

| | | |involved in memory |secretion of growth hormone.|

| | | |consolidation.  |(possibly to restore bodily |

| | | | |tissues) |

| |Large muscles paralyzed. |Variable. If sound is |80 percent dreaming, good|Heart rate 5 percent greater|

|REM |Fingers toes and facial |incorporated into dream, |vivid dream recall, |than above stages. Pulse, |

| |muscles twitch. Erections, |then harder to awake. |especially later in the |temperature and metabolic |

| |snoring uncommon. | |evening.  Possibly |rates increase.  Irregular |

| | | |involved in unconscious |breathing one-half extra |

| | | |conflict resolution. |breath per minute.  |

1. Stage 1

a. Pulse slows and muscles relax

b. Breathing becomes uneven and brain waves grow irregular

c. “Just drifting” time

d. Lasts 10 minutes or so

2. Stage 2

a. Eyes roll from side to side

b. Lasts 30 minutes

3. Stage 3

a. Short periods of large delta waves

4. Stage 4

a. Deepest sleep of all

b. Difficult of wake during this stage

c. Disoriented if woken up

d. Talking out loud, sleep walking and bet wetting can occur here, leaving no memory

e. Important to physical and psychological well-being

f. While muscles are more relaxed than before, eye begin to move rapidly – REM sleep

i. REM sleep – time during which pulse and breathing become irregular, adrenal and sexual hormone levels rise, face and fingers twitch, large muscles in legs and arms are paralyzed

ii. Brain waves resemble those of someone who is fully awake

iii. Active Sleep

iv. Dreaming takes place

1. Falling out of bed, hitting the ground, alarm clock inclusion examples

5. People spend 75% of their sleep in stages 1 through 4

f. How much sleep do we need?

i. Humans spend 1/3 of their life sleeping

ii. Newborns – 16 hours, half in REM

iii. 16 year olds – 10 to 11 hours

iv. College – 8 hours

v. 70 or older – 5 hours

vi. Adults 25% in REM

B. Sleep Disorders

a. Insomnia

i. Insomnia is a prolonged and usually abnormal inability to obtain adequate sleep

1. Causes – anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug overuse

b. Sleep Apnea

i. Sleep apnea causes frequent interruptions of breathing during sleep

1. Snoring that leads to a stop of breathing, leads to a complete blockage of the breathing passage, choking the person. Ends when low levels of oxygen or high levels of carbon dioxide trigger the breathing reflex to start again

2. Occurs in 1 in 100 people, usually older

c. Narcolepsy

i. Narcolepsy is characterized by a permanent and overwhelming feeling of sleepiness and fatigue

ii. Unusual sleep and dream patterns

1. Hallucinations

2. Feeling temporarily paralyzed

3. Sleep attacks, falling to sleep anywhere, at any time

d. Nightmares and Night Terrors

i. Nightmares – frightening dreams, during the dream phase of REM sleep

1. May frighten the sleeper, waking up with a vivid memory of a movielike dream

ii. Night Terrors – occur during Stage IV sleep (within an hour of sleep)

1. Can last 5 to 20 minutes, involving screaming, sweating, confusion and rapid heart rate

2. Sudden awakening or a persistent fear at night

3. If woken up by the terror, the subject will not be “awake” and could continue with the terror

4. Most will not remember the night terror at all

e. Sleepwalking and Sleep Talking (Somniloquy)

i. A disorder in which a person is partly, but not completely, awake during the night

ii. People may walk or perform other tasks and have no memory of it

iii. Sleepwalking mostly associated with children

iv. It is NOT dangerous to wake sleepwalkers

v. Sleep talking can occur in REM or nonREM sleep

1. Long sentences or just a couple of words

2. You can engage a sleep talker in conversations occasionally

f. Sleep Motor Starts

i. A sudden, often violent, jerk of the entire body that occurs upon falling asleep

g. Teeth Grinding (BRUXISM)

i. Grinding teeth during sleep is a very common occurrence and little evidence suggests that teeth grinding is associated with any significant medical or psychological problems.

C. Dreams

a. Any mental activity that takes place during sleep is dreaming

i. Everyone dreams

ii. First dreams are usually vague thoughts left over from the day’s activities

iii. As night goes on, dreams become longer, more vivid and dramatic

1. Especially dreams taking place in REM sleep

2. Last dream is usually the longest and the one people remember

3. If you miss REM sleep, subsequent sleep will contain increased REM sleep

a. Suggests that REM sleep is necessary

b. Content of Dreams

i. We often incorporate our everyday activities into our dreams

ii. Most occur in commonplace settings: home, car, streets

iii. Most involve either strenuous activities or passive events

iv. Most involve unpleasant emotions

v. Dreams are in real time, not in a split second

c. Dream Interpretation

i. Freud believed that no matter how simple or mundane a dream, they contain clues to thoughts the dreamer is afraid to acknowledge in their waking hours

ii. Some say that dreams serve no function

1. That it’s a by-product of stimulating brain cells during sleep

2. Another says that dreaming allows people the chance to review and address some of the problems they faced during the day

3. Another says dreams are the brain’s way of removing certain unneeded memories

iii. Daydreams

1. Requires a low level of awareness and involves fantasizing but directed thinking while we are awake

a. Serves purposes such as reminding us of or preparing us for events in our future

b. May improve our creativity by generating thought processes

c. Or to help us control our emotions

Section 2: Hypnosis, Biofeedback and Meditation

(Read Exploring Psychology)

A. Hypnosis

a. Hypnosis is a form of altered consciousness in which people become highly suggestible to changes in behavior and thought

i. People can be made conscious of things that they are normally unaware of and unaware of things they normally notice

1. May recall forgotten memories in detail

2. Feel no pain from a pin prick

ii. Does not put people to sleep

1. The trance makes people more receptive and responsive to internal and external stimuli

2. Able to focus attention on minute details and ignore all other inputs

3. They are conscious and aware

4. Can be convinced to do things that they normally wouldn’t do (Note your book’s text here!!)

a. BUT the hypnotist cannot make you do or say something that you normally wouldn’t do or say unless you want to

b. The mind rejects undesired suggestions automatically

c. Your will, morality and ethics will not allow it to happen

5. Anyone can resist hypnosis by refusing to open their minds, you must be willing to be hypnotized

iii. Theories of Hypnosis

1. A simple result of suggestibility

2. Reveals that people have potential abilities that they do not use

iv. Uses of Hypnosis

1. Posthypnotic suggestion – when a hypnotist suggests things for their participants to remember or forget when the trance is over

a. Memory can be aided or enhanced through this type to hypnosis

2. Helping people change unwanted behavior such as overeating and smoking

3. To reduce pain

a. Reduces the patients anxiety and encourages relaxation

4. Combination of hypnosis and therapy can help people work through their problems

B. Biofeedback

a. Biofeedback – technique in which one learns to control their internal physiological processes with the help of feedback

i. A light goes off when your heart rate goes above 80, you learn to keep your heart rate below 80 to keep the light off

ii. Can be used to teach people to control a variety of physiological responses such as

1. Brain waves

2. Heart rate

3. Blood pressure

4. Skin temperature

5. Sweat gland activity

iii. Uses machines to give feedback on subtle, moment to moment changes in the body

C. Meditation

a. Meditation – focusing one’s attention on an image or thought with the goal of clearing the mind and producing relaxation, or inner peace

i. Transcendental meditation – mental repetition of a mantra or phrase

1. Sitting with eyes closed and meditating for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day

ii. Mindfulness meditation – from the Buddhist tradition, focusing on the present moment

1. Moving one’s focus throughout the body while paying attention to areas that cause pain

iii. Breath meditation – concentrating on one’s respiration, inhaling and exhaling

b. Most people would benefit from this type of relaxation

i. Lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate

Section 3: Drugs and Consciousness

ii. Psychoactive drugs – drugs that interact with the central nervous system to alter a person’s mood, perception and behavior

1. Examples: caffeine, depressants (alcohol), marijuana and LSD

A. How drugs work

a. Carried by the blood and taken to tissues throughout the body

b. Taken into the body from the outside

c. Attach themselves to the ends of nerve cells (neurons) and send out their own chemical message

i. Alcohol molecules tell nerve cells not to fire

1. More and more cause a person to become slower and leads to unconsciousness

ii. LSD causes circuits in the brain to start firing together instead of separately causes hallucinations

B. Marijuana

a. In some cultures, is legally and morally more acceptable than alcohol

b. Illegal for sale, possession and use is illegal in most states, but not legal by national law (becomes a constitutional issue over state vs. federal law)

c. A subculture drug before late 1970’s and 80’s

d. Active ingredient is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)

i. Made by drying the plant

1. Hashish is the gummy powder made from the resin from the top of the female plant

ii. Usually smoked, but can be cooked with food and eaten

e. Effects vary from person to person

i. Depend on the setting its taken in, the mood the person is in and the users past experience

ii. Psychological Pleasant and Unpleasant Effects

1. Sensory experiences are greatly augmented

a. Music sounds fuller

b. Colors look brighter

c. Smells are stronger

d. Food is more intense in flavor

2. Users feel elated

3. Ordinary events take on extraordinary significance

4. Psychologically addictive and dependent

5. Instill or heighten unpleasant experiences

a. Those frightened, unhappy or depressed will have those emotions blown out of proportion

b. Can bring on psychological disturbances in those unstable before using the drug

iii. Physical Effects

1. Can cause lung disorders

a. More damaging than cigarette use

b. Holding in the smoke can hinder lung function

2. Disrupts memory formation, making it difficult to carry out mental and physical tasks

3. Can lead to long term dependence

4. Lower IQ scores

C. Hallucinations

a. Hallucinations – perceptions that have no direct external cause (hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, or feeling things that don’t exist)

i. Caused by hypnosis, meditation, certain drugs, drug withdraw, psychological breakdown and sensory deprivation

ii. Can occur under normal conditions

1. During dreaming

2. When deprived of sleep

3. High emotions

4. Concentration

5. Fatigue

6. Daydreams

iii. Very much alike from one person to the next

1. May be due to the way the drug affects the brain

a. The part that responds to incoming stimuli is disorganized and the central nervous system is aroused

iv. More likely to involve color

D. Hallucinogens

a. Hallucinogens – drugs whose main effect is to produce hallucinations

i. Found in plants grown throughout the world

ii. Used since the earliest recorded human history

iii. Create lost of contact with reality

1. Create a false body image, loss of self, create dreamlike fantasies and hallucinations

b. Examples

i. LSD – most studied and most potent (LSD-25)

1. One of the most powerful drugs known to man

2. Synthetic

3. Synthesized by Dr. Albert Hofmann in Switzerland in 1938

a. Searching for medicinal properties of a fungus, contained lysergic acid

b. Synthesized 24 prior lysergic acids before hand

c. Noticed the hallucinogenic properties 5 years later while studying it

d. Made himself a guinea pig

4. A dose of a few millionths (that’s .000001) of a gram produces a noticeable effect

a. 100 to 300 micrograms produces a “trip”

i. Lasts 6 to 14 hours

ii. Distributed on strips of paper (tabs, blotters) or on sugar cubes

5. Experiences

a. Intense and rapidly changing perceptions

b. The expectations, mood, beliefs and circumstances under which they take “acid” affect the experience

i. Can be terrifying

ii. Perceptual hallucinations

iii. Progressive hallucination that evolve over time

iv. Senses intermingle: hearing visual stimuli and seeing sounds

v. Dissociation with one’s self

vi. Distortions of time

vii. Single stimuli can become the focus for hours

viii. Impairs thinking

ix. Panic reactions abound

x. Flashbacks

1. “Remembering” the trip without the overt presence of the drug, stimuli from the senses present without physical stimuli

2. Possible chromosome damage

c. Counterculture of the 1960’s

i. Dr. Timothy Leary

1. For spiritual growth

2. Turn on, tune in, drop out

3. Professor at UC Berkley and Harvard

E. Opiates

a. Also known as narcotics

b. Include opium, morphine and heroin

c. Produce analgesia – pain reduction, euphoria – pleasurable state somewhere between wake and sleep, and constipation

d. Leads to physical addiction

i. Can lead to death from respiratory failure

F. Alcohol

a. Most widely used and abused mind-altering substance

i. A disease? Or an addiction

b. Encouraged throughout our society and traditions

i. Up to debate

c. Effects

i. Immediate – loosening of inhibition

1. More likely to engage in behaviors and actions one normally wouldn’t take part in (sexual, other drugs)

ii. A depressant that inhibits brain functioning

iii. Acting without social restraint or self-control

iv. Depends on the amount drank, frequency of drinking and body weight

1. The more consumed in a quicker time period, the less function a person has increases

a. Slurred speech

b. Blurred vision

c. Impaired judgment and memory

i. Blackouts

v. Long Term Effects

1. Permanent brain damage

2. Liver damage

3. Change in personality

Progressive Effects of Alcohol

[pic]

|Blood Alcohol |Changes in Feelings |Physical and Mental |

|Concentration |and Personality |Impairments |

|0.01 — 0.06 |Relaxation |Thought |

| |Sense of Well-being |Judgment |

| |Loss of Inhibition |Coordination |

| |Lowered Alertness |Concentration |

| |Joyous | |

|0.06 — 0.10 |Blunted Feelings |Reflexes Impaired |

| |Disinhibition |Reasoning |

| |Extroversion |Depth Perception |

| |Impaired Sexual Pleasure |Distance Acuity |

| | |Peripheral Vision |

| | |Glare Recovery |

|0.11 — 0.20 |Over-Expression |Reaction Time |

| |Emotional Swings |Gross Motor Control |

| |Angry or Sad |Staggering |

| |Boisterous |Slurred Speech |

|0.21 — 0.29 |Stupor |Severe Motor Impairment |

| |Lose Understanding |Loss of Consciousness |

| |Impaired Sensations |Memory Blackout |

|0.30 — 0.39 |Severe Depression |Bladder Function |

| |Unconsciousness |Breathing |

| |Death Possible |Heart Rate |

|=> 0.40 |Unconsciousness |Breathing |

| |Death |Heart Rate |

G. Drug Abuse and Treatment

a. Drug abusers are those who regularly use illegal drugs or excessively use legal drugs

b. Reasons for drug abuse

i. Avoid boredom

ii. To fit in socially

iii. To gain self-confidence

iv. To forget about problems or cope with pain

v. To relax or feel good

c. Risks

i. Death or injury due to overdose or accident

ii. Health damage

iii. Legal consequences

iv. Destructive behavior

v. Loss of control

vi. Addiction

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