“I had an extremely strange dream last night,” Linda said as
she, Marc, and Todd were standing around at school waiting for
the bell to ring.
“What was it about? Was I in it?” Marc wanted to know.
“Sorry, Marc, you weren’t,” Linda replied. “Actually, you know
who was in it? Nick. And it was weird because it was Nick the
way he used to be before he had the drug problem, before he
started spacing out all the time. Back when you could talk with
him and know that he was actually listening.”
The group was silent for a few seconds while they recalled the
way Nick used to be. They were all glad his parents had
convinced him to go to a treatment center for help.
“But Nick wasn’t the only person in my dream,” Linda continued.
“The thing is, I can’t remember who else was there. It was
someone I know, but I can’t think of who!” She was obviously
annoyed.
“Did it work?” asked Linda.
“Well, in the movie it did,” said Todd. “But I read in a magazine
article that you can only be hypnotized if you want to be.”
“How did he hypnotize her in the movie?” Linda wanted to know.
“What kinds of things did he do?”
“Well, first he got out a chain with something hanging form it.
He began to swing it slowly back and forth in front of the
woman’s eyes, and he told her to concentrate on it. Then he
told her that she was getting sleepy, very sleepy, and that her
eyelids were getting heavy. Once he’d put her in a trance, he
asked her some questions about her dreams, and she was able to
answer them. It was amazing.”
“Huh,” pondered Linda. “Sounds a little creepy to me.” Just
then the bell rang, and everyone went off to class. Linda never
did figure out who else had been in her dream.
Rathus, 104
INTRODUCTION TO
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness is a state of awareness of
ourselves and our world
It is a construct—a concept that cannot be
seen or touched
It includes our thoughts, feelings,
sensations and perceptions
FOCUSED AWARENESS: concentration only
on the immediate task at hand, such as an
athlete “being in the zone”; wide awake,
fully alert, and fully engaged
DRIFTING AWARENESS: daydreaming; a
low level of awareness; fantasizing; idle but
directed thinking while awake
DIVIDED CONSCIOUSNESS: multiple
“awareness” of separate thinking processes
MULTI-TASKING: the concurrent or
interweaved execution of two or more
jobs by a single CPU.
perceptions
CONSCIOUS LEVEL
present
awareness
hidden;
“non-awareness”
thoughts
recalled
awareness
PRECONSCIOUS LEVEL
memories
stored knowledge
UNCONSCIOUS LEVEL
selfish needs violent motives
fears
immoral urges
Unacceptable desires
biological
functions
shameful experiences
NON-CONSCIOUS LEVEL
Lack of awareness of one’s surroundings or loss
of consciousness
coma
head trauma
anesthesia
ALTERED STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
Sleep
1. The brain and the body recover from stress
2. Develop healthy immune system
3. Growth and regeneration of body cells
4. Primitive form of hibernation—we sleep to
conserve energy
Different people need different amounts of
sleep; an “age related” pattern
1.Babies 16 hrs/day
2.Teenagers 9 hrs/day
3.Adults 7-8 hrs/day
4.Older adults 5-6 hrs/day
Sleep debt: a lack of sleep creates a need to
“make-up” the loss
Increase susceptibility to illness
Unusual levels of anxiety
Apathy
Slowed reflexes
Reduced ability to concentrate
Circadian rhythm: daily cycle of bodily
processes
•The human biological clock functions on a 25
hour cycle
Alert Wakefulness: state of focused attention
on active thought
Relaxed Wakefulness: state of resting quietly
with your eyes closed
Stage 1 Sleep – light sleep from which the
person can be easily awakened
Stage 2 Sleep – deeper sleep, but still easily
awakened
Stage 3 Sleep – deep sleep; difficult to arouse
the sleeper
Stage 4 Sleep – deepest stage of sleep
REM – rapid eye movement sleep; stage when
dreams occur
Purpose of dreaming
 To process and reorganize information
 To work out unresolved problems
 To make sense of random stimulation to
the brain
“…to sleep, perchance to dream….”
Hamlet
Psychology of dreaming
 Freud believed dreams
represent a form of wish
fulfillment – dreams were the
“royal road to the
unconscious”
 Manifest content: the
story line, images and
other perceptual aspects of
dreams
 Latent content: the hidden
meaning of dreams that
 A bio-psychological approach traces
dream activity to simple electric impulses
 No scientific evidences supports the claim
that dreams have mystical or predictive
meanings
Insomnia
Types of
 Trouble getting
to sleep
 Trouble staying
asleep
 Trouble return
to sleep after
awakening
 Characteristics of Insomnia Sufferers
 Higher levels of autonomic nervous
system activity
 Higher anxiety levels
 More tension in the forehead
 More concerned about physical
complaints
 Coping with Insomnia




Sleeping pills
Practice relaxation techniques
Avoid worrying in bed
Establish a regular routine
Narcolepsy. A sudden sleep during
daytime hours; rapid onset of
REM; duration may be as long as
15 minutes
Sleep Apnea. Stopping breathing while
sleeping; often caused by an overly thick
palate or enlarged tonsils that block a
person’s airways; snoring is clue to apnea;
risks are hypertension, high blood pressure,
and tiredness
Nightmare Disorder. Disturbing nightmares
that are very vivid and intense; elaborate,
story-like dreams that feel extremely
threatening; stress contributes
Night Terrors. More intense than nightmares;
they occur in deep sleep, not REM; appears to
be an association with delayed stress
(soldiers); hearts pounding, rapid breathing,
Sleep Walking. Performing, while asleep,
activities normally done while awake; generally
harmless and not related to a larger emotional
or psychological problem
ALTERED STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
Drugs
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS include any chemical
that affects the nervous system and results in
altered states of consciousness.
There are differences between USE, MISUSE,
and ABUSE.
The American Psychological Association lists
three criteria for drug use, becoming drug
abuse
 Pathological use
(habitual, maladaptive, and compulsive)
 Impairment of occupational or social
functioning
 Lasts one month or more
Dangers of Drug Abuse
 Death or injury by overdose or accident
 Legal consequence
 Destructive behavior
 Loss of control
 Drug dependence -- addiction
 Physical dependence: caused by
repeated usage that changes body
chemistry
 Psychological dependence: a pattern of
behavior to satisfy a psychological need
depressants
opiates
mixed
PSYCHOACTIVE
DRUGS
tranquilizers
hallucinogens
stimulants
Treatments for Drug Abuse
 Detoxification
 Maintenance programs – controlled use to
minimize addiction
 Counseling – helpful only if the use of the
drug is for psychological reasons
 Support groups
Regardless of the method for treating drug
abuse, the person must realize he has a
problem and desire to change
ALTERED STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
Hypnosis
A state of consciousness resulting from a
narrowed focus of attention and
characterized by heightened suggestibility
A trance-like state in which subjects do not
exercise critical-thinking skills
It is not…
…sleep
…drug-induced sleep
Entertainment and amusement
Posthypnotic Suggestion – made during
hypnosis that influences the participant’s
behavior afterward
 to remember or to forget after the
trance
 to help change unwanted behavior
Hypnotic analgesic – reduction of pain through
reduced anxiety and increased relaxation
To reveal problems and gain insights –
hyperamnesia – retrieval of lost memories
A trust relationship between the hypnotist and
subject; cooperation, not domination
A hypnotist induces a trance by slowing
persuading the subject to lose interest in
external distractions
 Braid method
 Eye method
 Machine method
Embarrassment due to external control
Dissociation – unusual change in one’s selfidentity; mental images are lost to conscious
awareness and become unavailable to
voluntary recall
Symptom substitution – hypnosis may eliminate
disorders, but unless the cause is eliminated
it may manifest itslelf another way
ALTERED STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
Meditation
The focusing of attention to clear one’s mind
and produce relaxation (Kasshau, 195)
1. Transcendental Meditation. The mental
repetition of a word or phrase;
concentration
2. Mindfulness Meditation. Focuses on the
present moment; observation of physiological
rhythms, inner thoughts, sensations or outer
objects
3. Meditation as a form of relaxation.
1 http://www.africanamericans.com/images2/TigerWoods.jpg
2 http://www.arcent.army.mil/cflcc_today/2005/january/images/afghan_patrol1.jpg
3 Belch, slide #5
4 http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/50/13/23361350.jpg
5 Belch, slide #6
6 http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:2cbZUNf8t0NhKM:http://processcoaching.com/images/Iceberg1.jpg
7 http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_35kDzNt-gTQ/STq4uP3bPJI/AAAAAAAABHk/tLDXV91eXLM/s400/sports-injury-picture-football-playercrashes-NFL-injuries.jpg
8 http://tcrogers.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/080401-tc-in-hospital-001.jpg
9 http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/nm_patient_anesthesia_080910_mn.jpg
10 Belch, slide #9
11 http://cdn-www.answerbag.com/images/answers/355028/1131406/tmb_HomerSleep1.jpg
12 http://www.hypnochick.co.uk/images/sleepdeprivation.jpg
13 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Biological_clock_human.PNG
14 unknown
15 http://meditationforthemasses.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/time-of-relaxation.jpg
16 http://www.50plushealth.co.uk/media/images/sleep-cy450.gif
17 http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/sleep-stages.gif
18 http://bigdaddyseashell.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/hamlet-yorik.gif
19 http://www.why-we-dream.com/images/freudsky.jpg
20 http://www.debbietomassi.com/Images/Fish-Dream-Big.jpg
21 http://karistiansen.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/insomnia-eye.jpg
22 http://promotehealth.info/wp-content/uploads/insomnia-cartoon.jpg
23 apnea: http://api.ning.com/files/XbyE*Qy6bC4V6G*bT4Qzw2y8*lGM4ef7dpg8FhPmudjmdrVE3FjmbjMNCU2qvsDHQBDCqpZB6BNAD3ytngaGiaNA8WQTeug/sleep_apnea.jpg?width=183&height=183&crop=1%3A1
24 http://www.todaystrucking.com/images/usr_240409140134_sleep-anea.jpg
25 http://www.sleepeval.com/SLEEP%20&%20ART/Fuseli_nightmare-1781.jpg
26 http://z.hubpages.com/u/1346286_f260.jpg
27 http://1heckofaguy.com/wp-content/toast2.jpg
28 http://breakingupdate.com/files/Depression-Alcohol-Abuse.jpg
29 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HIJol_XahNM/SXJH3ogoNBI/AAAAAAAAAVU/ikhjzNjsnoc/s320/drunks3.jpg
30 Drug abuse -- http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/bct/wp-content/blogs.dir/3/files/2008/06/wk_of_6.22/0623_Alcohol_Drug_logo.gif
31 Hypnosis -- http://musicforchange.com/cms/images/hypnosis.jpg
32 Braid method - http://www.hermes-press.com/braid2.jpg
33 Hypnotist - http://www.choosehypnosis.com/mike_massachusetts_hypnosis.jpg
34 Hypnotic wheel - http://www.prevention.com/pvnstatic-assets/images/298x232_article_size/health/298x232heal_faster_hypnosis-298x232_heal_faster_hypnosis.jpg
35 http://www.meditationguidance.com/wp-content/themes/CustomTheme/images/meditating2.jpg
36 http://www.gothamayurveda.com/_Media/prabhupada_textmedium.jpeg
37 http://higherbalance.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/mandala.jpg
Selected Bibliography
American Academy of Sleep Education. www.sleepeducation.com.
Belch, Hal. (2004). States of consciousness. Culver City, CA: Social Studies School Service.
Kasshau, Richard. (2003). Understanding psychology. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill.
McMahon, Judith W. and Romano, Tony. (2000). Psychology and you, 3rd ed. Lincolnwood, IL:
National Textbook Company.
Rathus, Spencer A. (2003). Psychology: principles in practice. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Travis, Fred. (2006). Are all meditations the same? Comparing the neural patterns of mindfulness
meditation, Tibetan Buddhism practice "unconditional loving-kindness and compassion," and
the transcendental meditation technique. Science of Consciousness. Retrieved from
http://www.fredtravis.com/talk.html