Consciousness, Sleep Disorders, and Psychoactive Substances

The Brain-Mind Problem and Consciousness

The brain-mind problem is solved by considering that consciousness emerges from brain organization and is able to reenact on the brain, directing its steps.

Characteristics of Consciousness

Characteristics of consciousness involve short-term memory that is independent of sensory input, requires managed attention, and has the ability to make alternative interpretations of complex or ambiguous data. It disappears in deep sleep, returns in dreams, and covers different basic sensory modalities in a single unified experience.

Levels of Consciousness

• Excessive surveillance
• Attentive vigilance
• Relaxed state
• Dream
• Light sleep
• State of coma

Sleep Patterns and Insomnia

Whenever we wake up at midnight, we do not always remember the same dreams. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder and is characterized by the difficulty of initiating or maintaining sleep. Insomnia can be caused by biological or psychological factors.

Slow-Wave Sleep (SOL)

Slow-wave sleep involves the slowing of vital activity, low muscle tone, and the absence of eye movements. It may include nightmares, sleepwalking, and night terrors; the subject often appears confused and amnesiac, though the state sounds logical.

Paradoxical Sleep (SOR)

Paradoxical sleep features a clear variety of physiological parameters, relaxed arm and leg muscles, teeth grinding, and lucid, fantastic visual dreams that remain logical.

Hypnosis and Altered States of Consciousness

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness characterized by reduced attention and increased suggestion.

Methods of Hypnosis

• Rapid Induction: The subject is in a state of great attention.
• Induction of Fixing: The subject is asked to stare at an object.
• Induction with Progressive Relaxation: The hypnotist uses repeated utterances and suggestions that facilitate eyestrain.

Characteristics of Altered States

Altered states of consciousness involve abnormal thinking, loss of the sense of time, loss of control, changes in the expression of emotions, perceptual changes, changes in body image, changes in meaning or significance, and increased suggestibility.

The Impact of Drugs on the Central Nervous System

Drugs are substances that act on the Central Nervous System (CNS) and affect perception, feelings, and behavior.

Social Factors of Drug Use

• Social values and group norms
• Family and friends
• Knowledge and ease of use

CNS Depressants

1. Alcohol: A drug whose consumption is stimulated by advertising and social traditions; its influence depends on the amount and frequency of ingestion.
2. Barbiturates: Overdose can cause coma or death because they cause paralysis of the brain's respiratory centers.
3. Anxiolytics: These are used to combat anxiety or relieve stress and nervousness.
4. Opiates: These result in tolerance, as well as physical and psychological dependence.

CNS Stimulants

1. Amphetamines: These speed up the use of physical resources and produce a variety of behavioral effects, such as increasing performance, improving alertness, and fighting fatigue.
2. Cocaine: Increases the activity of pathways sensitive to two brain chemical messengers: norepinephrine and dopamine.

Freudian Theory of Dreams

The dream is a state adopting a determined stance with little movement and no response to stimuli. According to Freud's Theory of Dreams, dreams involve spontaneous association, reveal the unconscious, and contain subjects of resistance.