Chapter 7

Altered States of
Consciousness
 Chapter 7
Altered states of consciousness
Topics Covered Today - Monday November 27
***Hand out Chapter 7 Note Packages***
- Sleep and Dreams
- Why we sleep
- Stages of Sleep
- Sleep Disorders: Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, Narcolepsy, Nightmares/Night
Terrors, Sleepwalking and Sleep Talking
- Content of Dreams
- Dream interpretation
All About Sleep
Consciousness - is a state of awareness (people can have different levels of
awareness) including a person's feelings, sensations, ideas, and perceptions.

Sleep is vital to mental health - with NO sleep you could experience psychological
symptoms like hallucinations.

Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns

of brain activity and inactivity.

Page 183-184 of your text package

Why Do You Think We Sleep?

Turn and talk with your table group partners.

Some People Believe We Sleep Because…
● It is restorative - allows us to “charge up our batteries.”
● A time for the brain to recover from exhaustion and stress.
● Hibernation - we sleep to conserve energy.
● An adaptive process - in earlier times this kept humans away from harms of
night (less vulnerable to animals with night vision).
● Some believe we sleep to clear our minds of useless information or just to
dream.

Which one do you think makes the most sense?

Page 184 of your text package

EEG (Electroencephalograph)
Sleep is extremely difficult to study!
- To find out what a person is experiencing you would have to wake them up.

The study of sleep was aided by the development of the EEG which is a
device that records the electrical activity of the brain.

EEG Video (Next Slide): Preparing for your EEG

REM Sleep
As you begin to fall asleep… Your body may twitch, your eyes roll, and brief visual
images flash across your mind.

Next… you enter a more active type of sleep characterized by rapid eye
movement (REM Sleep).

● Pulse and breathing become irregular

● Adrenaline (like you are participating in a physically demanding activity) and
hormones in your blood rise
● Muscles in your arms and legs are paralyzed
● Most dreaming takes place in REM sleep

Page 186 of your text package

Sleep Disorders: affect our overall health, and quality of life.
Insomnia Sleep Apnea

Definition A prolonged and usually Frequent interruptions of

abnormal inability to obtain breathing during sleep.
adequate sleep

Causes ● Anxiety ● Physical problems that

● Depression block the airway
● Drug/Alcohol overuse ● Enlarged tonsils
● Throat infections
● Obesity

Other Common Sleep Disorders:

● Narcolepsy - Suddenly falling asleep or feeling very sleepy during the day
● Nightmares - Unpleasant dreams
● Night Terrors - Involving screaming, panic, or confusion
● Sleep walking/talking
Page 187 of your text package
Dreams:

Dreams happen during REM sleep.

What are in your dreams?

- Commonplace settings: Your house, cars, streets
- Strenuous Recreational Activities - running
- Emotions experienced in dreams are often negative - angry, sad, anxious.

Dreams correspond to a realistic time scale.

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Dream Interpretations (starting at 6:09 min)
What do you dream about?

What symbols are in your dreams?

Do you think your dreams have meaning?

Chapter 7: Altered states of consciousness
Continued…
Topics Covered Today - Tuesday November 28

- Ms. Dennis and I will be away today on a Law field trip.

- Your Task: Read the article “The Truth About Hypnosis”
- Complete the article trekking worksheet after reading.
Chapter 7: Altered states of consciousness
Continued…
Topics Covered Today - Wednesday November 29
*** Collect Hypnosis Article Review ***
Make sure you handed in your “Learning Snapshots”
- Hypnosis (Uses, theories, psychologists, etc.)
- Hypnosis videos
- Biofeedback
- Meditation (Example/exercise)
What is Hypnosis?

● Hypnosis is a form of altered consciousness

in which people become highly suggestible to changes in behaviour and

thought.

● A hypnotic trance does NOT put us to sleep.

○ Participants actually become highly receptive and responsive to certain internal and external
stimuli. (Able to put all their focus on one tiny aspect of reality and ignore all other input.)
○

● Anyone can resist hypnosis by refusing to open their mind to the hypnotist.

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Psychologist Input on Hypnosis
Theodore Barber (1965) - Believes hypnosis is not a special state of
consciousness but instead is simply a result of suggestibility.

Ernest Hilgard (1986) - Believes people who are hypnotized are very
suggestible.
- They go along with the hypnotists and do not initiate activities themselves
- They can more easily imagine and remember things.

Page 193 of your text package

Uses of Hypnosis
● Entertainment, Medical (Smoking,
addictions, overeating), Therapeutic
- Posthypnotic Suggestion - a suggestion
made during hypnosis to change
behaviour afterward.
- Hypnotic Analgesia - to reduce pain.

● Therapists will often combine hypnosis

with other forms of therapy.
While watching this video, note (write down) 3 facts to share
What are some facts about hypnosis you found interesting
in that video?
Can You Hypnotize Yourself? Can I Hypnotize You?
Biofeedback

● Biofeedback makes LEARNING possible.

● It is the process of learning to control bodily states with the help of

machines to tell people about very subtle, moment-to-moment

changes in the body.

○ Example: If you learn that tensing your forehead muscles gives you headaches,

you could use this biofeedback to learn how to relax this specific muscle.

Page 194 of your text package

Meditation
● Focusing your attention on an image or thought with the goal to to clear

your mind and produce relaxation.

- Transcendental Meditation - Mental repeating of a mantra (statement/slogan)

with eyes closed, often for 15-20 minutes.
- Mindfulness Meditation - Focuses on the present moment. Often focusing on
a point of your body or areas that cause pain.
- Breath Meditation - Concentration on inhaling and exhaling.

Page 195 of your text package

How Do You Feel After Meditation?
Chapter 7: Altered states of consciousness
Continued…
Topics Covered Today - Thursday November 30

- Drugs and Consciousness

- How drugs work
- Drug abuse and treatment
- Mini Projects
● Marijuana (cannabis)
● Hallucinogens/Hallucinations
● Alcohol
Drugs and Consciousness
How Drugs Work
● Carried up in the blood and taken to target tissues of various parts of the
body.
● The drug molecules will act like neurotransmitters and hook onto the
dendrites of neurons and send out their own chemical messages.
○ Example: LSD molecules may cause circuits in the brain to start firing together instead of
separately… resulting in hallucinations.

● Psychoactive Drugs - Chemicals interact with and affect the nervous system
and alter a person's mood, perception, and behaviour (resulting in an altered
consciousness)
○ Includes both stimulants like caffeine in coffee and pop, and depressants like alcohol.

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 Drug Abuse and Treatment
Drug abuse: those who regularly use illegal drugs OR excessively use legal drugs.
● Reasons people abuse drugs:
○ To avoid boredom
○ To fit in
○ Gain self-confidence
○ Forget problems
○ Relax/feel good
Addiction: an overwhelming and compulsive desire to obtain and use drugs.
Treatment:
- 1. Admit you have a problem,
- 2. Enter a treatment program/get therapy,
- 3. Remain drug free (support groups to help prevent)

Page 202 of your text package

TASK: Pages 198-202
*Create a mini Google Slides project to educate your peers about your topic.
● Each table group needs to cover all three project topics of MARIJUANA,
HALLUCINOGENS, or ALCOHOL. All must be discussed at your table.
Rock, paper scissors to decide!
● Each person will choose one of the three topics (you will have to decide which
one you will be exploring). Some tables with more than 3 people will cover the
topic twice). But each person will produce their own work.
● Your project must include:
○ What your topic (drug) is.
○ How it is used.
○ The effects of the drug on humans/our consciousness.
○ Statistics or interesting facts.
○ What are the long-term effects of using this drug?
○ Presentation creativity.

You will have the rest of today (Thursday, Nov. 30) and Friday + the weekend
to complete this. *** Presentations on Monday Dec. 4 ***
Chapter 7: Altered states of consciousness
Continued…
Topics Covered Today - Friday December 1

-Work Period for your Mini Projects

● Marijuana (cannabis)
● Hallucinogens/Hallucinations
● Alcohol

- Presentation Day: Monday December 4

Continue Working on Your Mini Projects

*Continue your mini Google Slides project

● Each table group needs to cover all three project topics of MARIJUANA,
HALLUCINOGENS, or ALCOHOL. All must be discussed at your table. Rock,
paper scissors to decide!
● Each person will choose one of the three topics (you will have to decide which one
you will be exploring). Some tables with more than 3 people will cover the topic
twice). But each person will produce their own work.
● Your project must include:
○ What your drug is.
○ How it is used.
○ The effects of the drug on humans/our consciousness.
○ Statistics or interesting facts.
○ What are the long-term effects of using this drug?
○ Presentation creativity.

*** Presentations on Monday Dec. 4 ***