Hypnosis and Drugs: The Mind-Altering Realities

1. Module 8 Hypnosis and Drugs

2. HYPNOSIS • Hypnosis definition • procedure in which a researcher, clinician, or hypnotists suggests that a person will experience changes in sensation, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, or behaviors • Who can be hypnotized? • not correlated with introversion, extraversion, social position, intelligence, willpower, sex, compliance, gullibility, being highly motivated, or being a placebo responder

3. HYPNOSIS (CONT.) • Who is susceptible? • individuals with the remarkable ability to respond to imaginative suggestions • best known test: Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale

4. HYPNOSIS (CONT.) • Theories of hypnosis • Altered States Theory of Hypnosis • holds that hypnosis puts a person into an altered state of consciousness, during which the person is disconnected from reality, which results in being able to experience and respond to various suggestions • Sociocognitive Theory of hypnosis • behaviors observed during hypnosis result not from being hypnotized, but rather from having the special ability of responding to imaginative suggestions and social pressures

5. HYPNOSIS (CONT.) • Behaviors • Hypnotic analgesia • Reduces pain and anxiety (dental tx) • Posthypnotic suggestion • Age regression • Posthypnotic amnesia

6. DRUGS: OVERVIEW • Reasons for use • include obtaining pleasure, joy, and euphoria; meeting social expectations; giving in to peer pressure; dealing with or escaping stress, anxiety, and tension; avoiding pain; and achieving altered state of consciousness • Psychoactive drugs • affect nervous system • may alter consciousness and awareness, influence how we sense and perceive things, and modify our moods, feelings, emotions, and thoughts

7. DRUGS: OVERVIEW (CONT.) Addiction • 3 C’s of addiction • Compulsion • Control • Consequences 1957 AMA declared alcoholism a disease 3 criteria known etiology known progression of symptoms known outcome

8. DRUGS: OVERVIEW (CONT.) Tolerance • after a person uses a drug repeatedly over a period of time, the original dose of the drug no longer produces the desired effect so that a person must take increasingly larger doses of the drug to achieve the same behavioral effect Dependency • refers to a change in the nervous system so that a person now needs to take the drug to prevent the occurrence of painful withdrawal symptoms Withdrawal symptoms • painful physical and psychological symptoms that occur after a drug-dependent person stops using the drug

9. DRUGS: OVERVIEW (CONT.) • Effects on nervous system • drugs affect neurotransmitters • Neurotransmitters • chemical keys that search for and then either open or close chemical locks to either excite or inhibit neighboring neurons, organs, or muscles • Mimicking • some drugs produce their effects by mimicking the way the neurotransmitters work • Reuptake • some drugs block reuptake

10. DRUGS: OVERVIEW (CONT.) • Effects on nervous system • some drugs directly activate the brain’s reward/pleasure center • also activated when one eats food, has sex, and does other pleasurable activities

11. STIMULANTS • Definition • stimulants, including cocaine, amphetamines, caffeine, and nicotine, increase activity of the central nervous system and result in heightened alertness, arousal, euphoria, and decreased appetite and fatigue

12. STIMULANTS (CONT.) • Caffeine • drug • mild stimulant, produces moderate physiological and psychological arousal, including decreased fatigue and drowsiness, feelings of alertness and improved reaction times • Nervous system • caffeine belongs to the chemical class called xanthines • blocks certain receptors (adenosine receptors) in the brain • mild physiological and psychological arousal

13. STIMULANTS (CONT.) • Caffeine • Dangers • mild to heavy doses of caffeine can result in addiction and dependency similar to those produced by alcohol, nicotine, and cocaine (two cups of coffee) • higher doses result in depression, tension, and anxiety

14. STIMULANTS (CONT.) • Nicotine • drug • stimulant that triggers the brain’s reward/pleasure center to produce good feelings • low doses improve attention, concentration, and short term memory • regular use causes addiction and dependency • leads to withdrawal

15. STIMULANTS (CONT.) Freud's drug addiction? • Nicotine • nervous system • stimulates the production of dopamine • also stops other controlling cells from turning off the pleasure areas • Dangers • very addicting • causes sexual problems including impotency • withdrawal symptoms range in severity and include nervousness, irritability, difficulty in concentrating, sleep disturbances, and strong craving 20 cigars/day

16. Smoking and Drinking

17. ALCOHOL • History and use • first brewery appeared in Egypt in about 3700 B.C. • national and CA legal definition of being drunk is 0.08 (after possibly 3-4 drinks) • effects the nervous system and results in behavioral and emotional changes

19. ALCOHOL (CONT.) • drug • ethyl alcohol is a psychoactive drug classified as a depressant • depresses activity of the central nervous system • alcohol seems like a stimulant but later depresses physiological and psychological responses

20. ALCOHOL (CONT.) • Nervous system • affects many parts of the nervous system • stimulates GABA neural receptors, leads to feeling less anxious and less inhibited • also impairs the anterior cingulate cortex, monitors the control of motor actions • drinkers fail to recognize their impaired motor performance (driving) • high doses: depresses vital breathing reflexes in the medulla (brain stem) • may lead to death

21. ALCOHOL (CONT.) • Dangers • hangover • includes upset stomach, dizziness, fatigue, headache, and depression • repeated and heavy drinking can result in tolerance, addiction, and dependency • withdrawal symptoms • shaking, nausea, anxiety, diarrhea, hallucinations, and disorientation • another serious problem, blackout • occur after heavy and repeated drinking

22. ALCOHOL (CONT.) • Dangers (cont.) • blackouts • person seems to behave normally but does not remember what happened when sober • repeated and heavy drinking can also result in liver damage, alcoholism, and brain damage

23. ALCOHOL (CONT.) • Risk factors • genetic risk factors • refer to inherited biases for predispositions that increase the potential for alcoholism • genetic factors contribute 50 to 60% to the reasons a person becomes an alcoholic

24. Beer and Ball: Student Binge Drinking

25. MARIJUANA • Use and effects • Most widely used illegal drug • medical marijuana • can be effective in treating nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, appetite loss in AIDS patients, eye disease (glaucoma), muscle spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis, and some forms of pain • gateway effect • says that using marijuana leads young people to try harder drugs

26. MARIJUANA (CONT.) • psychoactive drug whose primary active ingredient is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) • depending on the user’s state of mind, marijuana can either heighten or distort pleasant or unpleasant experiences, moods, or feelings

27. MARIJUANA (CONT.) • THC receptors are located throughout the brain, including the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, limbic system, cerebellum, and basal ganglia • the brain itself makes a chemical similar to THC (anandamide) currently under study

28. MARIJUANA (CONT.) • Dangers • can cause temporary changes in cognitive functioning • can temporarily decrease secretion of various hormones and effectiveness of the immune system • respiratory problems like bronchitis and asthma • high doses: may cause toxic psychoses, including delusions, paranoia, and feelings of terror

29. Drugs, Brain, & Behavior • Brain structures that may correspond with behaviors: • Thalamus: hallucinations, impaired decision-making • Hypothalamus: nausea, decreased appetite • Amygdala: Intense emotions, anxiety relief • Hippocampus: impaired decision-making • Pons: slowing of time, relaxed euphoria, drowsiness, alertness/wakefulness • Cerebellum: relaxation of body muscles, tremors • Medulla: increased heart beat, coma, death