Chapter 7 - Altered States of
Consciousness
Lesson Objectives:
1. Describe the research related to sleep and
dreaming
2. Define hypnosis and hallucinations
3. Discuss effects of drug states and alcohol
4. Describe research on biofeedback and
meditation
Section 1 Sleep and Dreams
Objectives:
-Describe the research related to sleep and
dreams
-list and discuss sleep disorders
Altered State of Consciousness
• Involves a change in mental processes
• Studies began in 1960’s by having people
sleep, meditate, undergo hypnosis, and take
drugs
• In a lab, they observe changes such as
breathing rate, body temp and brain activity
– brain activity is measured by an
electroencephalograph (EEG)
Sleep
• Is a state of altered consciousness with
different patterns of brain activity
• very difficult to study
• helped by the EEG, researchers discovered
2 types of sleep patterns:
– quiet sleep (stages 1-4)
– active sleep (REM or stage 5)
Sleep
• Twilight State:
– When you begin to fall asleep:
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temperature drops
pulse drops
breathing slows
brain emits alpha waves (shows absence of
concentrated thought)
Stage I Sleep
• Pulse continues to slow
• Muscles relax
– May trigger a reflex muscle twitch called a hypnic jerk
• Breathing becomes uneven and brain waves are
irregular
– Alpha and Theta waves
• If woken in this stage, you will most likely say
you were, “just dozing”
• Lasts about 10 minutes
Stage II Sleep
• Eyes roll from side to side
• EEG shows sleep spindles – distinctive bursts of
brain activity that indicate a person is asleep.
– Spindles seem to mark the true boundary of sleep
– Within 4 minutes after spindles appear, most people
will say they were asleep
• Peaks of brain waves become higher
• Lasts up to 30 minutes
Stage III Sleep
• Known as delta sleep or deep sleep
• EEG shows amplitude delta waves (very
slow brain waves)
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Stage IV Sleep
Most people reach this stage after 1 hour
Difficult to wake up sleeper
Brain waves are almost pure delta waves
50 % of time sleep is in stage 4
State of oblivion
If woken up you are very confused and disoriented
Sleep walking, sleep talking and bedwetting can
occur during this stage
• Important to physical well being
– this is where your body gets its rest
• 1 1/2 hours a night
EEG Sleep Stages
Sleep
• 75% of sleep time is in
Stages 1-4
• 25% of sleep time is in
REM Sleep (Rapid
Eye Movement)
REM SLEEP
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Characterized by rapid eye movement
Pulse and breathing are irregular
Adrenal and sex hormones rise in the blood
Face and fingers start to twitch
Muscles in arms and legs feel paralyzed
– This prevents some hilarious and DANGEROUS nighttime
escapades.
– REM Behavior Disorder – the paralysis does not happen and the
sleeper can leap out of bed, thrash violently and possibly attack
their bed partner
• REM sleep is also called active sleep
• Stage 1-4 are NREM (non-rem)
REM Sleep (CONT)
• Almost all dreaming takes place in REM
sleep
• last about 10 minutes long
• cycles every 90 minutes or so
• as stage IV decreases, length of REM sleep
increases until you wake up
How much sleep do you need?
• Varies from person to person based on age,
but the averages are:
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newborns: 16-18 hours a day (half in REM)
16 years old: 10 - 11 hours
Grad School (age 25ish): 8 hours
70 years old: 5 hours
Sleep Disorders
• Nightmares and Night Terrors –
– Nightmares – occur during the dream phase of
REM sleep
– Night terrors - occur during Stage IV
• A person suffers total panic and may hallucinate
frightening dream images into the bedroom
• Most common in early childhood, but they can
continue to plague about 2 in every 100 adults.
• People seem to have an internal biological clock
that regulates the sleep-wakefulness cycle.
• Blood pressure, heart rate, appetite, secretion of
hormones and digestive enzymes, sensory
sharpness, and elimination processes all follow
circadian rhythms.
• A circadian rhythm is a biological clock that is
genetically programmed to regulate physiological
responses within a time period of 24 or 25 hours.
• They operate even when the normal day and night
cues are moved.
Sleep Disorders
• Insomnia – a prolonged and usually
abnormal inability to obtain adequate sleep.
– Has many causes and takes many forms
– Some people cannot sleep because of anxiety or
depression
– Overuse of drugs or alcohol can also cause
insomnia
Sleep Disorders
• Sleep Apnea – causes frequent interruptions of
breathing during the night
– One of the common symptoms is a special kind of
snoring that may occur hundreds of times a night
– A blockage of the breathing passages actually causes
the snoring
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During this time, the victim is in fact choking
The flow of air to the lungs stops
Sleep Apnea affects 1 in 100 Americans
People who have this may feel listless, sleepy, and irritable
during the day
• Sleep apnea is usually caused by a physical problem that
blocks the airway such as enlarged tonsils, repeated
infections in the middle ear or throat, or obesity
Sleep Disorders
• Narcolepsy – characterized by a permanent
and overwhelming feeling of sleepiness and
fatigue.
– Other symptoms include unusual sleep and
dream patterns
– These people have sleep attacks during the day
– Accompanied by brief periods of REM sleep
– These people may have difficulties in areas of
work, leisure, and interpersonal relations.
Sleep Disorders
Section 2 – Hypnosis,
Biofeedback, and Meditation
Objectives:
-Determine how hypnosis relates to consciousness
-Describe research into such techniques as
biofeedback and meditation.
Hypnosis
• A form of altered consciousness in which
people become highly suggestible and do
not use their critical thinking skills
• By allowing the hypnotist to guide and
direct them, people can be made conscious
of things they are usually unaware of
• does not put the subject to sleep
• able to focus attention to one tiny aspect of
reality and ignore all other imputs
Hypnosis
• Oxygen consumption and EEG levels are
different then someone who is sleeping
• Oxygen consumption remains the same
throughout a hypnotic session
• The EEG shows brain waves of those of a
person who is wide awake
Hypnosis
• Not everyone can be hypnotized, but,
researchers believe 9 out of 10 people
can be hypnotized to some degree
• Hypnosis has been used in therapy,
medicine, and in the courtroom
– in legal cases, hypnosis is used to enhance memory
– in most cases, courts have refused to admit evidence
received from hypnosis
• Hypnosis is sometime used to reduce
pain
– Hypnotic analgesia refers to the reduction o pain
reported by patients after they have undergone
hypnosis.
Biofeedback
• Involves learning to control you internal
physiological processes with the help of
feedback from these physiological states
– biofeedback has been used to teach people how to
control a wide variety of physiological responses,
including brain waves (EEG), heart rate, blood
pressure, skin temperature and sweat-gland activity
• Basic Principle: feedback makes learning
possible
Biofeedback
• It involves using machines to tell people
about very subtle, moment to moment
changes in the body
• Biofeedback has been used by doctors to
treat ailments such as high blood pressure,
migraine headaches and tension headaches
Meditation
• Focusing attention on an image or
thought with the goal of clearing
one’s minds and producing an
“inner peace”
• Studies done in 1975 on
meditation revealed that regular
practice of meditation was
physically relaxing but also led to
changes in behavior such as
decreased drug use.
• Herbert Benson’s book,
Relaxation Response, suggest that
all forms of meditation lead to
just that, a relaxation response
which is more distinct than more
casual states of relaxation
Meditation
• Meditation has been practiced in various parts of
the world for thousands of years.
• Three major approaches to mediation
– Transcendental meditation – involves the mental
repetition of a mantra, usually a Sanskrit phrase
– Mindfulness meditation – developed from a Buddhist
tradition, focuses on the present moment.
• They move there focus from the tips of their toes to their head.
– Breath meditation – concentrating on one’s respiration
– the process of inhaling and exhaling.
Meditation
• Most researchers believe there is a benefit
to systematic relaxation.
• It has been found to help lower blood
pressure, heart rate and respiration rate.
Section 3 Drugs and
Consciousness
Objectives:
-Describe the effects drugs have on
consciousness
-Define drug abuse
Psychoactive Drugs
• Interact with the central nervous system
– alter mood, perception and behaviors
– changes the chemistry of the brain
• ex: caffeine, marijuana, alcohol and amphetamines
and LSD
Hallucinations
• Perceptions that have no direct external
cause
– seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or feelings
things that aren’t there
– involve color
Hallucinations
• What can produce hallucinations?
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Hypnosis
meditation
drugs
withdrawal from drugs
sleep deprivation
dreams
Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana:
– use increased during the 60’s and 70’s
– active ingredient is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
• complex molecule that naturally occurs in three
varieties of hemp (cannabis)
– usually smoked or can be ingested
Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana (cont..)
– appears to heighten most sensory experiences
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objects are more distinct
colors take on a subtle shading
drawings or photographs may seem 3-d
musical notes sound purer
food tastes better
Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana (cont..)
– it heighten unpleasant events
– if user is already frightened or depressed,
marijuana intensifies feelings
– can cause acute anxiety, accompanied by
paranoid thoughts and feelings of dying
– interferes with memory
• unable to recall certain information
• patterns resembles affects of Alzheimer's Disease
Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana (cont...)
– affects the lungs
– has 50% more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than
cigarettes
– causes lung cancer
– attacks the body’s immune system, makes a
user more susceptible to infection
– loss of ambition
Psychoactive Drugs
• Marijuana (cont..)
– can bring on psychological disturbances in
people who already unstable or people who
have psychological disorders in their family
– heavy use impairs the hormone testosterone in
males and lowers sperm counts
Hallucinogens
• Produce hallucinations, also called
psychedelic
• one out of every ten Americans older than
twelve has taken a hallucinogen at least
once
• synthetic hallucinogens include lysergic
acid diethylamide (LSD) and phencyclidine
(PCP)
Hallucinogens
• PCP (a.k.a. angel dust) may be taken by
mouth , smoked w. marijuana, snorted or
injected
• it can produce stupor, coma or even death
depending on the dose
Hallucinogens
• LSD:
– one of the most powerful drugs known
– 4,000 times stronger than mescaline
– the user embarks on a trip lasting from 6 to 14
hours
– during a trip mood can change drastically
– hallucinations are common
– perception may be distorted that familiar
objects are unrecognizable
Hallucinogens
• LSD (cont..)
– time is distorted
– impairs thinking, causes panic reactions
• can be terrifying
• when panic is severe, medical attention is needed
Depressants
• Retard the action of the central nervous
system, so the neurons fire more slowly
– produce intoxication and euphoria
– decrease alertness and motor coordination
– slurred speech, unsteadiness and
unconsciousness
Alcohol
• Alcohol is a depressant, NOT a stimulant
• most widely used and abused
• immediate affect is loosening of your
inhibitions
• slurred speech, blurred vision and impaired
judgement
• can have permanent damage on your brain
and liver
Alcohol
• Alcohol affects memory impairing the
ability to process and store new information
• chronic or heavy use of alcohol can lead to
alcoholism
• chronic alcoholic have memory blackouts:
after they sober they cannot remember what
happened during the intoxication