Altered state of consciousness

An altered state of consciousness is a brain state wherein one loses the sense of identity with one's body
or with one's normal sense perceptions. A person may enter an altered state of consciousness through such
things as sensory deprivation or overload, neurochemical imbalance, fever, or trauma. One may also
achieve an altered state by chanting, meditating, entering a trance state, or ingesting psychedelic drugs.

The testimonies of mystics and meditators who claim that their ability to enter altered states of
consciousness has brought them enlightenment or transcendence are generally regarded with great
skepticism among the majority of scientists in Western society. Other researchers, especially those in the
field of parapsychology, maintain that Western science must recognize the value of studying altered states
of consciousness and face up to the fact that what scientists consider baseline or normal consciousness is
not unitary. In the opinion of many parapsychologists, science must abandon the notion that waking,
rational consciousness is the only form of any value and that all other kinds are pathological.

Researchers who study aspects of human consciousness have suggested that within the course of a single
day an individual may flicker in and out of several states of consciousness. Some theorize that there are
six states of "nonreflective consciousness," characterized by the absence of self-consciousness. These
states include:

1. Bodily feelings, which are induced by normal bodily functioning and are characterized by
nonreflective awareness in the organs and tissues of the digestive, glandular, respiratory, and
other bodily systems. This awareness does not become self-conscious unless such stimuli as pain
or hunger intensify a bodily feeling.
2. Stored memories, which do not become self-conscious until the individual reactivates them.
3. Coma, which is induced by illness, epileptic seizures, or physical injuries to the brain, and is
characterized by prolonged nonreflective consciousness of the entire organism.
4. Stupor, which is induced by psychosis, narcotics, or over-indulgence in alcohol, and is
characterized by greatly reduced ability to perceive incoming sensations.
5. Non-rapid-eye-movement sleep, which is caused by a normal part of the sleep cycle at night or
during daytime naps, and is characterized by a minimal amount of mental activity, which may
sometimes be recalled upon awakening.
6. Rapid-eye-movement sleep, which is a normal part of the nighttime sleep cycle, and is
characterized by the mental activity known as dreams.

The reflective, or self-conscious, states of consciousness are:

1. Pragmatic consciousness, the everyday, waking conscious state, characterized by alertness, logic,
and rationality, cause-and-effect thinking, goal-directedness. In this level of consciousness, one
has the feeling that he or she is in control and has the ability to move at will from perceptual
activity to conceptual thinking to idea formation to motor activity.
2. Lethargic consciousness, characterized by sluggish mental activity that has been induced by
fatigue, sleep deprivation, feelings of depression, or certain drugs.
3. Hyperalert consciousness, brought about by a period of heightened vigilance, such as sentry duty,
watching over a sick child, or by certain drugs, such as amphetamines.
Levels or types of consciousness with varying degrees of what could be considered an altered state might
include:

1. Rapturous consciousness, characterized by intense feelings and overpowering emotions and

induced by sexual stimulation, the fervor of religious conversion, or the ingestion of certain
drugs.
2. Hysterical consciousness, induced by rage, jealousy, fear, neurotic anxiety, violent mob activity,
or certain drugs. As opposed to rapturous consciousness, which is generally evaluated as pleasant
and positive in nature, hysterical consciousness is considered negative and destructive.
3. Fragmented consciousness, defined as a lack of integration among important segments of the total
personality, often results in psychosis, severe neurosis, amnesia, multiple personality, or
dissociation. Such a state of consciousness is induced by severe psychological stress over a period
of time. It may also be brought about temporarily by accidents or psychedelic drugs.
4. Relaxed consciousness, characterized by a state of minimal mental activity, passivity, and an
absence of motor activity. This state of consciousness may be brought about by lack of external
stimulation, such as sunbathing, floating in water, or certain drugs.
5. Daydreaming, induced by boredom, social isolation, or sensory deprivation.
6. Trance consciousness, induced by rapt attentiveness to a single stimulus, such as the voice of a
hypnotist, one's own heartbeat, a chant, certain drugs, or trance-inducing rituals and primitive
dances. The trance state is characterized by hypersuggestibility and concentrated attention on one
stimulus to the exclusion of all others.
7. Expanded consciousness, comprising four levels: A) the sensory level, characterized by
subjective reports of space, time, body image, or sense impressions having been altered; B) the
recollective-analytic level, which summons up memories of one's past and provides insights
concerning self, work, or personal relationships; C) the symbolic level, which is often
characterized by vivid visual imagery of mythical, religious, and historical symbols; D) the
integrative level, in which the individual undergoes an intense religious illumination, experiences
a dissolution of self, and is confronted by God or some divine being. Each of these four levels
might be induced by psychedelic drugs, hypnosis, meditation, prayer, or free association during
psychoanalysis. Through the ages, many of humankind's major material and spiritual
breakthroughs may have come from these virtually unmapped, uncharted regions of the mind.

There are many reasons why the great majority of scientific researchers remain doubtful about the validity
of altered states of consciousness, such as the misuse of hypnosis by amateur practitioners, the lack of
understanding by professionals and public alike of the creative processes, and the disastrous results of the
recreational use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs. Descriptions of mystical revelations become almost
florid as self-proclaimed seers and mystics attempt to translate their psychedelic drug or trance state
experiences into the language of a technically oriented society. Quite frequently, creative geniuses of
Western culture have compared their moods of inspiration to insanity. The composer Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) once compared his behavior during creative periods to that of a madman. Such
comparisons are regrettable, and it is unfortunate that modern culture has few models other than madness
to describe the throes of creativity.

William James (1842–1910), the great pioneer of the study of consciousness, wrote in the Varieties of
Religious Experience that what is called "normal waking consciousness" is but one special type of
consciousness, while all about it, separated by the slightest of barriers, "there lie potential forms of
consciousness entirely different." While many individuals may go through life without suspecting the
existence of these states of consciousness, "…apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in
all their completeness…No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these forms of
consciousness disregarded."
While skeptical psychological researchers continue to label claims of revelation and transcendence
through altered states of consciousness as delusional and self-deceptive, others call for a serious
examination of various states of consciousness and ask for more research to learn the particular
significance of each state on the totality of the human entity. Many parapsychologists firmly believe that
continued research into altered states of consciousness may well reveal that humankind's most important
discoveries, its highest peaks of ecstasy, and its greatest moments of inspiration occur in reverie, in
dreams, and in states of consciousness presently ignored by the professional world and the general public.

Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming (WILD)

Aug 23rd, 2009 by admin

This technique takes some learning but once mastered it is the most effective way of entering lucid
dreams. With the wake initiated lucid dreaming technique you begin in a waking state and create
conditions that allow you to transition through a hypnagogic state into a lucid dream. I like to practice
wake initiated lucid dream in the natural dip in alertness that takes place after launch. But the traditional
way to practice this technique, is to wake yourself up after five hours of sleep and follow the procedures
outlined below.
 
Preparation
 
If you are practising wake initiated lucid dreaming after a rousing yourself from sleep then the only
preparation required to set the alarm clock. If you are practising during the day, you need to find a quiet
room that you can make reasonably dark and where you are not likely to be disturbed. It is best to wear
earplugs to keep out the daytime noises, they also have the added benefit of emphasising the sound of
your heart beat and your breathing, this aids the transition into an altered state of consciousness. You will
need either to lie down on a couch or bed or in a recliner chair that offers you complete support so you
can completely relax. Your clothing should be loose and the room needs to be at a comfortable heat.
 
The Process
 
You begin by closing your eyes and setting an intention. The intention can be a general one like “I’m
going to enter a lucid dream and let myself experience whatever arises”, OR you can set a specific
intention like “I am now going to allow myself to enter into a lucid dream where I will meet Napoleon”. It
is best to begin by setting general intentions until you have mastered the art of lucid dreaming.
 
Now with your eyes closed at yourself become more and more relaxed and become aware of the images
float into your mind. As you relax you will begin to experience hypnagogic imagery this starts to occur
when your mind is on the boarder between being awake and asleep. Do not try and influence the images
just observe them and let them go wherever they want to go. They will probably start off as random
patterns that are constantly moving and changing.
 
It is important that you remain an observer, keeping your mind still and trying to avoid any word based
thoughts. As you go deeper  the patterns will begin to be replaced by random images, that constantly shift
and change. Now let yourself be sucked into the images, at this point the images will most probably like
short film clips that keep shifting and changing around.
 
As you continue to observe the images they will slowly become more and more real and eventually
become three dimensional. When this happens it’s time to step into the scene and begin the process of
lucid dreaming.
 
 
You Need to Keep Practicing
 
This technique requires practice in order to perfect it. It is very unlikely that you will achieve full lucid
dreaming at your first few attempts. Even without achieving a lucid dream this process still delivers some
fascinating experiences. The secret is to keep practising,  good luck.

Sleep Talking: Sleep as an Altered State of Consciousness

by Robert Sack, M.D.

The risks and benefits of losing consciousness while asleep

By definition, to be asleep is to be unconscious. From a biological perspective, sleeping would seem like
a dangerous thing to do, considering the associated vulnerability to predators or competitors; therefore,
from an evolutionary standpoint, it must have some significant survival value. Perhaps there is a
Darwinian payoff that derives from the need for a sleeping animal to find a safe retreat and thereby keep
out of harm's way for a significant portion of the day. Another biological benefit of sleep may derive from
energy conservation, although surprisingly, calorie consumption is only slightly less than when lying
quietly awake. Because sleep is actively promoted by the brain and is such a powerful biological
imperative, the reason for its occurrence must lie with some brain process that is best carried out in an
unconscious state. Memory consolidation could be one such function.

The restorative quality of sleep is highly dependent on sleep continuity; that is, the duration of continuous
unconsciousness between awakenings or arousals. The total time asleep is of secondary importance. A
person with sleep apnea may accumulate the same number of minutes of sleep as another person, but
nevertheless feel pathologically sleepy during the day because of the repeated arousals (interruptions to
sleep) caused by airway obstructions.

Not quite awake, not quite asleep

The dichotomous terms conscious and unconscious imply that consciousness is an either/or state -- the
brain is either on or off. But the transition from wake to sleep is rarely like turning out the lights. More
often there is a gradual reduction in consciousness with fuzzy, halfway states in between. When
intentionally awakened from the lightest stage of sleep (Stage I as determined by EEG monitoring), about
half the time, people will report that they were, in fact, awake. In other words, it is difficult to perceive
the difference.

While falling asleep takes some time (10 to 20 minutes is perfectly normal), the reverse transition, from
sleep to wake (as when the alarm rings), should be almost instantaneous. However, if awakened
prematurely, or after a long nap, sleepiness persists, generating a groggy, sluggish feeling that is
technically known as sleep inertia . It normally goes away with time or a strong cup of coffee.

For people who have more than the usual amount of difficulty with sleep inertia, the term sleep
drunkenness is used. These folks can be perfectly nice when fully conscious, but if you try to wake them
up before they are ready, they can be quite uncivilized -- swearing and even swinging at you.

Sleepwalking ( somnambulism ) and sleep talking occur commonly in children and in some vulnerable
adults. These behaviors can be thought of as extreme forms of sleep inertia in which a person only
partially arouses from the deepest levels of sleep -- awake enough to mumble some words or maybe even
get out the bed and wander around. Amnesia for the episode is the rule.

Even when fully asleep, there are elements of consciousness that are preserved. For example, sleepers
normally keep track of their body's position in space as evidenced by the observation that only confused
or brain-injured adults fall out of bed. If it were otherwise, no one would sleep in the top bunk.

Although we usually measure the depth of sleep by how intense a stimulus is required to trigger an
awakening, the meaning of the stimulus is also important. For instance, a person is more likely to awaken
to the sound of his or her own name than to another name of equal loudness. Moreover, sleeping mothers
have an uncanny ability to hear their babies starting to cry during the night (fathers seem to have a higher
threshold). Furthermore, some studies have found that mothers are more likely to awaken to the sound of
their own baby crying compared to the cry of another baby of equivalent loudness.

During sleep, there is often a sense of time passed, even if one does not specifically awaken or look at the
clock. Some people are so good at judging the passage of time while asleep that they never set an alarm,
even if they have an airplane to catch.

During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the dreaming brain is (in a way) conscious; however, not with
regard to the external environment, but rather to an internal theater of images generated from deep within
the brainstem. Solipsistic philosophers have difficulty disproving the proposition that our normal waking
state is just another kind of dream. (Maybe you can prove you are not just dreaming as you read Open
Spaces .)

In other stages of sleep, there can also be a certain amount of mental activity. Although most people in
non-REM sleep report being unequivocally unconscious, some say (when tapped on the shoulder) they
have been awake and ruminating. In the extreme, this discontinuity between subjective and objective
assessments of sleep constitutes a diagnosable sleep disorder called sleep misperception or subjective (as
opposed to objective) insomnia . I believe that such people truly feel awake even when our polygraphs
indicate they are asleep.

Sleeping pills can counteract the tendency for sleep misperception by inducing amnesia for brief
awakenings that are a normal occurrence during sleep. In many clinical trials, sleeping pills seem to have
a larger effect on the subjective sense of sleep than on the objective indicators. It is not uncommon for
actively treated patients to get only about 15 minutes more sleep than patients given a placebo, but their
subjective estimates of sleep time may be increased by an hour or more.

Most people feel that descending into a deeply unconscious state is a desirable aspect of sleep. Bobbing
near the surface of wakefulness is an annoying experience, although this could be in some respects an
attitudinal problem. In an experiment conducted by Thomas Wehr at the National Institute of Mental
Health, subjects were kept in total darkness for 14 hours a day for a month, thereby consigning them to
many hours of quiet, relaxed wakefulness. Once they got used to it, many of these people welcomed it as
an "altered state of consciousness, not unlike meditation."

Sleep, General Anesthesia, Coma and Persistent Vegetative State

Being "put to sleep" with a general anesthetic is, in a sense, a metaphor. In some ways, the anesthetized
state resembles sleep but just what is going on in the anesthetized brain remains a mystery. Brain waves
are present, but there is no response to pain-inducing stimuli and there is no memory of the experience.
 Curiously, general anesthesia blocks the sense of a passage of time so that even if you have been in
surgery for hours, when you "come to," it seems like almost no time has passed.

Coma is a consequence of acute brain injury. Comatose patients are continuously unconscious and do not
have a sleep wake cycle. It can be prolonged but is usually a transitional state. It may be followed by a
full recovery or may proceed to a chronic neurological impairment death.

Occasionally a patient with pervasive brain injury recovers a minimal but stabile level of function called
persistent vegetative state (PVS). Notably, in PVS, the sleep-wake cycle returns even though
consciousness, in any conceivable sense, is gone. PVS has been characterized as being awake without
being aware . There is neither sentient perception nor response. The occasional vocalizations (not speech)
and semi-coordinated, reflexive movements make PVS heart-rending for families. It can appear that the
patient is somehow (hope against hope) capable of truly waking up . The deeper brain centers that control
breathing, heartbeat, as well as the sleep wake cycle, are functional, but the cerebral cortex, the primary
organ of consciousness, is damaged beyond repair. Poor Terri Schiavo's cerebral cortex was dramatically
shrunken and her brain waves were perfectly flat.

Sleeping deeply, thinking deeply

Consciousness is a favorite topic for philosophers. I wonder how we would conceive of consciousness if
we never slept and therefore did not regularly experience its absence. Rene Descartes said, "I think
therefore I am." Apparently this famous equation would have as easily been translated, "I am conscious
therefore I am." In his formulation, Descartes separated mind from body ( a division that philosophers
have argued about ever since). The formulation also clearly asserted that consciousness is inexorably
connected to our definition of being alive. Because, in some sense, we all agree with Descartes, people
with beating hearts but no brain function can be considered to be dead. I like to think there is a corollary,
extended in the other direction. To be enlightened is to be awakened. The more conscious we are, the
more fully alive.

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH CONCENTRATION &

SUGGESTION

Meditation –form of consciousness change often induced by focusing on a repetitive behavior,

assuming certain body positions & minimizing external stimulation
Hypnosis – an induced alternate state of awareness,
characterized by heightened suggestibility and (usually) deep
relaxation.

•Procedure where hypnotist uses power of suggestion to induce changes in thoughts, feeling,
Sensation, perception in another person

•Hypnotizability – degree to which an individual is responsive to hypnotic suggestions

•Uses: research; pain control; desensitizisation (phobia)

 ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS and DRUG-INDUCED STATES

PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS –drugs that influence

subjective experience & behavior by acting on the
nervous system; alter normal mental functioning (e.g.
mood, perception, or thought
STIMULANTS – speed up activity in the CNS, suppress
appetite, & cause a person
DEPRESSANTS
HALLUCINOGEN

DRUG ADMINISTRATION and ABSORPTION

Ingestion
Injection
Inhalation
Absorption through
mucous
membranes of the
nose, mouth, and
rectum
drug addiction
(slavery to a substance)

Physical dependence – compulsive pattern of drug use

where user develops drug tolerance coupled
w/unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when drug is
discontinued

•Psychological dependence – craving or irresistible urge

for a drug’s pleasurable effects

DRUG ADDICTION
(slavery to a substance)

•Drug tolerance – when user becomes progressively less affected by the drug so that
larger & larger doses are necessary to maintain
the same effect

•Withdrawal symptoms – usu. physical & psychological, when a regularly used drug is
discontinued
•Addicts –habitual drug users who continue to use drugs despite its adverse effects on their health & social
life and despite their repeated efforts to stop using it.

COMMONLY ABUSED DRUGS

STIMULANTS
(“uppers”)
DEPRESSANTS
(“downers”)
HALLUCINOGENS
(“psychedelics”)

STIMULANTS
(drugs that speed up activity in the CNS, suppress appetite,
& cause perform to feel more awake, alert, & energetic)

-Caffeine
-Nicotine
-Amphetamines (increase arousal, relieve
fatigue, improve alertness, & suppress the
appetite)
-Cocaine (produces feeling of euphoria

DEPRESSANTS
(decrease activity in CNS, slow down bodily functions,
& reduce sensitivity to outside stimulation)
•Alcohol
•Barbiturates -addictive
depressants used as sedative,
sleeping pills & anesthetics
•Narcotics – derived from
opium poppy & produces pain-
relieving & calming effects
(ex. Heroin – derived from
morphine)
•Benzodiazepines or
Anxiolytics – calms user
(ex. Valium

HALLUCINOGENS
(alter perception & mood and can cause hallucinations)

Marijuana effects from relaxation & giddiness to

perceptual distortions & hallucinations
oLSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) – unpredictable
effects ranging from perceptual changes & vivid
hallucinations to states of panic & terror
oMDMA (methylene-dioxy-metamphetamine) –
produces both stimulant & psychedelic effects (ex.
Ecstasy)
PSYCHOLOGY

MARLEIJULE HERRERA
ABMC-1C
DRA. LITA S. SAGUN