Consciousness, Sleep, Hypnosis, and Drugs

Consciousness

  • Consciousness: Our awareness of ourselves and our environment; involves alertness, self-awareness, free will, and mental content.

  • Altered States of Consciousness: Can be spontaneous (daydreaming, dreaming), physiologically induced (food/oxygen starvation, hallucinations, orgasm), or psychologically induced (sensory deprivation, hypnosis, meditation).

  • Dual-Track Mind (Two-Track Mind):

    • Conscious "high" track: Deliberate, intentional actions (e.g., problem solving).

    • Unconscious "low" track: Automatic actions, often without awareness (e.g., walking, processing sensory details).

  • Consequences of Dual-Track Mind: Blindsight, Selective Attention, Selective Inattention.

  • Selective Attention: Ability to focus mental awareness on a particular stimulus (e.g., cocktail party effect).

  • Selective Inattention: Failure to notice parts of our environment when attention is directed elsewhere.

    • Inattentional Blindness: Missing obvious things due to focused attention.

    • Change Blindness: Failing to notice changes in the environment.

Sleep and Dreams

  • Circadian Rhythm: Body's natural 2424-hour cycle, influencing body temperature, arousal, and mental sharpness.

    • Regulated by light, which suppresses melatonin via the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

  • Sleep Stages: Distinct patterns of brain waves and muscle activity, cycled through in about 9090 minutes.

    • Not yet asleep: Beta waves (awake, alert), Alpha waves (relaxed, awake).

    • NREM-1 (falling asleep): Slowing breathing, irregular brain waves, hypnagogic hallucinations.

    • NREM-2: Deeper sleep, non-dreaming.

    • NREM-3: Deepest sleep, non-dreaming.

    • REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement): Wild brain activity, rapid eye movements; heart rate/breathing rise; "sleep paralysis" (brain active, body immobile); dreaming occurs. Duration increases later in the night.

  • Why We Sleep: Protection from predators, brain/body restoration, memory consolidation, creative problem-solving, growth hormone release.

  • Effects of Sleep Loss: Reduced brainpower, weight gain, weakened immune system, irritability, increased accident risk (impaired attention, slower reaction time).

  • Sleep Disorders:

    • Insomnia: Inability to fall or stay asleep.

    • Narcolepsy: Sleep attacks, sudden collapse into REM sleep.

    • Sleep Apnea: Repeated awakening due to breathing cessation.

    • Night Terrors, Sleepwalking, Sleeptalking: Occur in NREM-3 sleep, mostly in children, not considered dreaming.

  • Dreams: Stream of images, actions, feelings experienced in REM sleep.

    • Often include negative events, rarely explicit sexuality; incorporate real-world stimuli.

  • Theories of Dreams:

    • Wish Fulfillment (Freud): "Psychic safety valve" for unacceptable feelings; manifest (remembered) content and latent (hidden) meaning.

    • Information-Processing: Sorts day's events, consolidates memories.

    • Physiological Function: Regular brain stimulation preserves neural pathways.

    • Activation-Synthesis: REM sleep triggers random visual memories, which the brain weaves into stories.

    • Cognitive-Developmental: Reflects dreamer's cognitive development and understanding.

Hypnosis

  • Definition: Social interaction where one person suggests perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors to another; a state of heightened suggestibility or trance.

  • Highly Hypnotizable Individuals: More imaginative, able to focus and lose themselves in fantasy.

  • Benefits: Pain blockage, reduced obesity/anxiety/hypertension, improved concentration (via posthypnotic suggestions).

  • Limits: Cannot force cooperation, bestow superhuman abilities, or accurately boost memory recall (can implant false recall).

  • Theories:

    • Social Influence Theory: Subjects role-play willingly.

    • Divided Consciousness Theory: Hypnosis is a special state of dissociated (divided) consciousness.

Drugs and Consciousness

  • Psychoactive Drugs: Chemicals altering perceptions, mood, and conscious experience.

  • Addiction Factors:

    • Tolerance: Diminished effect with repeated use, requiring higher doses.

    • Withdrawal: Painful symptoms when the drug is absent.

    • Dependence:

      • Physical: Body craves drug to end withdrawal.

      • Psychological: Drug becomes "needed" for daily coping.

  • Criteria for Dependence: Tolerance, withdrawal, using more than intended, failed attempts to regulate use, preoccupation, reduced activities, continued use despite consequences.

  • Types of Psychoactive Drugs:

    • Depressants (Alcohol, Barbiturates, Opiates): Reduce neural activity and body functions.

      • Alcohol: Slows processing, impairs memory (disrupts REM), reduces self-control; chronic use can cause brain damage.

      • Barbiturates (Tranquilizers): Reduce anxiety, induce sleep; impair memory/judgment, dangerous with alcohol.

      • Opiates (Morphine, Heroin): Reduce pain/anxiety; high doses cause euphoria; act on endorphin receptors.

    • Stimulants (Caffeine, Nicotine, Amphetamines/Meth, Cocaine, Ecstasy): Intensify neural activity and bodily functions (e.g., dilated pupils, increased heart rate).

      • Caffeine: Energy boost, disrupts sleep; withdrawal symptoms (headaches, irritability).

      • Nicotine: Arouses brain, increases heart rate/blood pressure, relaxes muscles; highly addictive.

      • Cocaine: Blocks reuptake of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, causing euphoria followed by crash, agitation, depression; tolerance leads to worse withdrawal.

      • Methamphetamine: Sustained dopamine release, euphoria; later irritability, insomnia, depression; highly addictive.

      • Ecstasy (MDMA): Increases dopamine and serotonin; causes euphoria, CNS stimulation, artificial social connectedness; risks (dehydration, hyperthermia, high blood pressure, long-term serotonin neuron damage).

    • Hallucinogens (LSD, Marijuana/THC): Alter perceptions, cause hallucinations.

      • LSD: Interferes with serotonin transmission, causes vivid hallucinations.

      • Marijuana/THC: Binds to cannabinoid receptors; amplifies sensations, disinhibits impulses, euphoric mood; impairs motor coordination, memory, reaction time; THC accumulates in body.

  • Influences on Drug Use:

    • Biological: Genetic predispositions, neurotransmitter variations.

    • Psychological: Lacking purpose, stress, psychological disorders (e.g., depression).

    • Social-Cultural: Urban environment, cultural attitudes, peer influence.

  • Factors Leading to Dependence: Biological (genetic sensitivity, dopamine reward system), psychological (seeking gratification, depression, identity issues, poor risk assessment), social (media glorification, peer observation).