Altered States of Consciousness

1. “His was a great sin who first invented consciousness. Let us lose it for a few hours.” F. Scott Fitzgerald Altered States of Consciousness AP Psych, Myers – Ch. 7

2. Consciousness • Our awareness of ourselves and our environment (constantly processing information)

3. Altered States of Consciousness • Consciousness is a continuum ranging from alertness to unconsciousness.

4. Freud’s States of Consciousness • Conscious • Perception, thoughts • Preconscious • Memories, stored knowledge • Unconscious • Unavailable/hidden • Repressed memories, dangerous/sexual desires • Protection from anger, guilt, shame

5. Sleep “I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?” - Ernest Hemingway

6. Biological Rhythms • Periodic physiological fluctuations • controlled by your “biological clock” • Circadian rhythm - regular bodily rhythms that occur in a 24-hour period

7. Circadian Rhythm – Fun Facts • Light processed by retina triggers brain to increase/decrease production of melatonin • Can be disrupted/reset by adjusting sleep schedule • Jetlag, sleeping in late, etc • Artificial light delays sleep  25-hour circadian rhythm • The 24 hr sleep cycle is a product of industrialization and constant artificial light

8. Sleep Stages • Sleep - periodical, natural, reversible loss of consciousness • 5 Stages (90 min cycles) • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • REM • Awake/relaxed • Just before you fall asleep • Alpha waves

9. Stage 1 • Slowed breathing, irregular brain waves (typical of unremembered moments) • Sleep talking can occur • Hallucinations – sensory experiences that occur without sensory stimuli • feeling of free falling to be awoken by a jerk

10. Stage 2 • 20 minutes into sleep cycle • Periodic appearance of sleep spindles (bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity)

11. Stage 3 • Lasts only several minutes • Begin to produce large delta waves – the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep • Hard to awaken

12. Stage 4 • Combined with stage 3 to last about 30 minutes • Delta waves – deep sleep • Hard to awaken • At the end, sleepwalking or bedwetting or night terrors may occur.

13. REM Sleep • REM sleep – rapid eye movement sleep, a recurring sleep stage during which dreams commonly occur • Occurs about an hour into sleep cycles • Ascend through stages 4, 3, 2. • Sharp, short brain waves – look like waves of stage 1

14. REM Sleep • Heart rate and breathing rise • Eyes dart around behind the lids • Motor cortex is active, but blocks movement messages – essentially paralyzed – paradoxical sleep • Gets longer throughout the night • Easier to immediately slip into if awoken towards the morning • Hallucinatory dreams – vivid, story-like

15. SLEEP STAGES

16. Why Sleep? • Not everyone needs 8 hrs (newborns vs teens vs adults) • Unhindered = 9 hrs

17. Sleep Theories • Protection • evolutionary • Recuperation • body and brain • Memory • Shed unimportant info, strengthen important info • Growth • Growth hormone – babies sleep more

18. Am I Sleep Deprived? – True or False 3+ T’s = YOU NEED MORE SLEEP! • I need an alarm clock in order to wake up at the appropriate time. • It’s a struggle for me to get out of bed in the morning. • Weekdays mornings I hit the snooze button several times to get more sleep. • I feel tired, irritable, and stressed out during the week. • I have trouble concentrating and remembering. • I feel slow with critical thinking, problem solving, and being creative. • I often fall asleep watching TV. • I often fall asleep after heavy meals. • I often fall asleep within 5 minutes of getting in bed. • I often fall asleep while relaxing after dinner. • I often fall asleep in lectures or warm rooms. • I often sleep extra hours on weekend mornings. • I often need a nap to get through my day. • I have dark circles around my eyes. • I often feel drowsy while driving.

19. Sleep Deprivation • Depression • Increase likelihood of accidents • Decreased alertness • Decreased concentration • Irritability

20. Sleep Disorders - Insomnia • Recurring problems in falling/staying asleep • Natural and drug treatments

21. Sleep Disorders - Narcolepsy • Uncontrollable sleep attacks by falling into REM sleep at inappropriate times • ~5 min • 1 in 2,000 • Brain malfunctions • Underproduction of neurotransmitters that signal alertness • Reticular formation • Medication can help

22. Sleep Disorders – Sleep Apnea • Temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings • 1 in 20 • Typically overweight men • Irritability due to awakenings • Treatment - weight loss or mask that pumps air to keep airway open

23. Sleep Disorders – Night Terrors • High arousal and an appearance of being terrified • Stage 4, not REM (like nightmares) • Intense fear, panic, and movement • Mostly in children Sleep Infographic

24. Dreams “Dreaming is a phenomenon of purely individual consciousness, and consequently impossible to thoroughly deconstruct by a community of researchers. BUT dreaming matters.” -Andrew Weil

25. Dreams • Sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts during REM sleep • Lucid dreaming – awareness of dreaming while dreaming • Modern theories: • Information processing (to file away memories) • To develop/preserve neural pathways. • Activation synthesis theory (to make sense of random neural static)

26. Freud’s Dream theory • We dream to satisfy unconscious wishes and desires • Manifest content – the remembered storyline of a dream • Latent content – the underlying meaning of a dream • Unconscious drives and wishes that would be threatening if expressed directly • Freud – dreams are the key to understanding the unconscious • Modern scientists – Unscientific, everyone can interpret dreams differently

27. Complete the Attitudes on Hypnosis Questionnaire. Wait for instructions on how to calculate your score. Reverse the value given to statements 6,7,9,10,11,13, and 14. Then add all values for the 14 questions. Scores can range from 14 to 98. Higher scores reflect more positive attitudes toward hypnosis. Do you have past knowledge or a personal experience that influenced your answers in the questionnaire? Hypnosis

28. Hypnosis • A social interaction in which one person (hypnotist) suggests to another (subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur • SNL Hypnotist • Power of hypnosis lies in the subject’s openness to suggestion

29. FAQ - Hypnosis • Can anyone experience hypnosis? • Yes – depends on suggestibility and belief • Highly suggestible people usually have rich imaginations/fantasies, often become engrossed in novels, movies, storylines

30. FAQ - Hypnosis • Can hypnosis enhance recall of forgotten events/memories? • No – highly suggestible people can fall victim to leading questions from hypnotist

31. FAQ - Hypnosis • Can hypnosis force people to act against their will? • Sort of – depends on the suggestibility of the subject and the desire to conform to the “orders” of an authoritative figure

32. FAQ - Hypnosis • Can hypnosis be therapeutic? • Yes – has alleviated headaches, skin disorders, asthma • No – does not help addictions to alcohol, drugs, or tobacco • Post hypnotic suggestion – suggestion made during a hypnosis session to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized

33. FAQ - Hypnosis • Can hypnosis alleviate pain? • Yes – hypnotized patients in surgical experiments were found to require less medication, recover sooner, and leave the hospital earlier than nonhypnotized patients • Inhibition of pain-related activity

34. FAQ - Hypnosis • Is Hypnosis an altered state of consciousness? • Maybe…. 2 theories YES NO SYSK - Hypnosis