Transpersonal Psychology

Altered States of Consciousness, Biofeedback and Neurotechnology

Raul Valverde

• Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9789815036459
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Transpersonal Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Transpersonal psychology is the study of human nature and development that assumes that human beings possess potentials that exceed the limits of ego developed normally. The main goal of transpersonal psychology is to integrate the spiritual experience within a broader understanding of the human psyche and consciousness. Transpersonal Psychology: Altered States of Consciousness, Biofeedback and Neurotechnology introduces the use of biofeedback and neurotechnology for the transpersonal therapist to induce and measure altered states of consciousness to deal with persons having mental conditions. The therapist and the patient can benefit from self-exploration and self-realization of altered consciousness that could be responsible for the mental condition of the patient. Chapters in the book start with an introduction to the theory of consciousness and transpersonal psychology followed by an explanation of the relationship of quantum physics to consciousness model. The book then progresses towards in depth topics such as biofeedback which covers the measurement parameters for understanding consciousness and computer-based technologies that help induce altered states of consciousness. Finally, the book concludes by linking all the concepts together to guide the transpersonal psychologist to measure and support transpersonal psychotherapy through a cybertherapy system. Transpersonal Psychology: Altered States of Consciousness, Biofeedback and Neurotechnology is an ideal guide for the transpersonal psychologist and psychotherapist and the enthusiast who wants to understand the science behind altered states of consciousness from a theoretical and experimental framework.

Altered States of Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology

Raul Valverde

Concordia University, Canada

Abstract

Transpersonal psychology is the study of human nature that begins with the assumption that humans have potentials that go beyond the limits of their ego and integrate spiritual experience into a broader understanding of the human psyche and consciousness. Altered states of consciousness have been used as psychotherapy in transpersonal to help individuals for self-exploration and self-analysis and proposed by many psychologists during the last decades as a way to explore the human psyche and provide a better understanding of the human mind.

Keywords: Altered States of Consciousness, Consciousness, Quantum consciousness, Quantum physics.

Introduction

The human being goes through various altered states of consciousness. Pathological states of consciousness, such as in the case of severe depression, especially psychosis, states of consciousness such as deep hypnosis produced by hallucinogenic drugs such as mescaline and LSD, and even altered states of consciousness that are common in the practice of yoga and in the case of mystical ecstasy, can all be altered. A concrete and precise definition of so-called altered states of consciousness would be impossible to provide (ASC).

Many people find it to be an ambiguous term. The scientific community is divided on how to define their functions, location, objectivity, and so on. Even with the added constraints of language, we try to be as objective as possible; however, as the general principles of quantum theory state, we must be aware that we can only know a part of the reality, which will always be “the reality” of the observer.

The Altered States of Consciousness

Historically, psychology distinguished two states of consciousness: waking and sleeping. However, in his time, the great psychologist William James (1985) stated, “I am sure that, between the two extreme states of consciousness that we

know, there are many other states that do not have to be pathological.” These were indeed prophetic words because we have now identified many of these states, many of which are beneficial to humans.

According to Stanley Kripner (2000), ASC are mental states that can be recognized by an objective observer other than the individual who experiences them as differences in mental functions; the individual's normal state, alertness, and waking. In fact, twenty states have been tentatively identified as deserving of further investigation, with significant overlap.

The ASC can occur spontaneously or as a result of a variety of factors. Among these are hypnosis, meditation, psychedelic drug use, hearing music, colors, or perfumes, sensory isolation, electronic brain stimulation with a brain synchro energizer (Ossebaard, 2000), and so on.

In general, they are mental states that are likely to be recognized by an individual (or an objective observer of the individual) as distinct from normal psychological functions of the individual alert. The most well-known and widely practiced ASC is meditation, which is now practiced in universities, colleges, and schools. Individuals realized as early as the cavern era that focusing on a single stimulus, such as sounds or breathing, produces a unique type of consciousness. Hardt and Kamiya (1978) discovered that in subjects who practiced meditation, alpha activity was more pronounced in the frontal and top of the head, despite the fact that these wave trains are more common in the occipital region.

Another known method of inducing ASC is through neurological rhythmical stimulation of the brain, which is accomplished through a repetitive quality of sensory stimuli that begins to generate a synchronous pattern of brain waves known as the Monroe effect (Monroe 1982). Ornstein (1973) describes a similar phenomenon known as the Ganzfeld effect, which is caused by looking at a white screen or by placing on the eyes two devices resembling half balls used in ping-pong games, after which the subject blocks his or her sense of sight while an electroencephalogram (EEG) detects an increase in frontal alpha waves.

These and other studies have shown that meditation increases blood flow and decreases oxygen consumption, both of which are caused by a profound change in metabolism. It also increases the electrical resistance of the skin, providing an index of the subject's state of relaxation. We can only mention that after several hours of sleep, the electrical resistance of the skin is doubled, whereas after a few minutes of meditation, it quadruples (Hafner 1982).

Meditation also causes a rapid decrease in blood lactate levels—a byproduct of cell metabolism—possibly because it is combined with calcium, which is required for nervous system transmission. In fact, a high blood lactate level has been linked to panic disorder (Hafner 1982).

Our brains build concrete images mathematically by interpreting frequencies from another dimension, a realm of primary reality that is significant, scheduled, and transcends time and space reality. In this sense, the brain can be described as a hologram interpreting a holographic universe, and the ASC may be due to a literal harmony with the invisible matrix that generates concrete reality (King 2012).

According to this scheme, if events arrive in the form of a holographic representation of frequencies that transcend space and time, they do not have to be communicable because they are potentially simultaneous and available everywhere. According to David Bohm (1980), the universe is a hologram that appears to be a range of frequencies that give the illusion of immediate and tangible apparently creation. The most harmonious and coherent states of consciousness are in tune with this fundamental reality. According to David Bohm (1980), whatever is manifested by nature has “n” dimensions, is timeless, and cannot be handled in any way.

What exactly happens neurologically when we enter alternate states of consciousness is still unknown. This gap in our understanding of these kingdoms is largely due to deficiencies in both research tools and philosophies used by scientific research, as well as society's general reluctance to accept such states as real. Understanding how our brains create the bridge to stimulate altered states of consciousness is important within the traditional scientific practice, but understanding it tells us little or nothing about the correlation with psychological phenomena with which we are able to interpret altered states of consciousness. This inner cosmological view, or its representation of our quantum reality, is what we are dealing with.

Once we accept this premise as our primary metaphor for altered states of consciousness, we can hypothesize that our brainwave frequencies are measurement indicators of our psychological states and correspond to the various ways in which we produce. In other words, these frequencies are the building blocks of our quantum reality. This is how we create, outside of the Heisenberg Principle, which states that our fields are a unified experience. Cade et al. (1979) performed EEG tests on 70 subjects and measured the ESR (electrical resistance of the skin), and using the results, and they were able to construct the table below, which represents the objective and subjective correlates of these states.

Table 2 States of consciousness and frequency measurements

Consciousness	Measured Frequency	Types of Waves
Just he is beginning to relax with difficulty quieting the mind.	25-20	alpha and beta
Not very clear conscience or sense of anesthesia	20-16	Guests beta alpha continuous
Calm and relaxed with memories	16-13	Alpha continues without beta theta intermittent
State definite feeling of floating with increased imagination and more concentration sustained	13-10	Alfa falling Continuous theta
Living consciousness, the body modification between awareness internal and external	10-8	alpha continuous theta falling Frequency
Awareness with satisfaction and deep intense alertness and calmness and detachment	8-5	Theta continuous alpha close to theta
New way of feeling by intuitive vision synthesis of opposites in a higher unity	below 4	Delta occasionally

ASC and Transpersonal Psychology

Through his observations, Abraham Maslow (1969), a well-known psychologist in transpersonal psychology, concluded that the climax experience involves an individual merger of facts and values in conflict resolution, loss of anxiety, the discovery of the true self, a sense of unit, detachment, generosity, happiness, and love. Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, is a Czech-born psychiatrist who spent the majority of his career in the United States. He was a psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins, and he spent many years at the Esalen Institute, a center for transpersonal psychology. Grof has conducted extensive and in-depth research on the effects of LSD. In the 1960s, he oversaw approximately three thousand drug sessions and had access to approximately two thousand case histories of other cases about which he had not personally spoken. Then, as the United States imposed a prohibition on the use of LSD, he began practicing holotropic therapy, which can also be used to induce a similar altered state of consciousness.

Grof (1994) and his wife Cristina used holotropic therapy to achieve an altered state of consciousness without the use of drugs. This is accomplished through hyperventilation, which requires an individual to take several deep and rapid breaths for several minutes. Grof used this technique to induce pulmonary hyperventilation, which is accompanied by music and some verbal guidance from the session's leader. To facilitate the alteration of consciousness, the subject remains lying down with his or her eyes closed. This technique causes a decrease in carbon dioxide levels in the blood, which must be neither too high nor too low. This sharp drop in carbon dioxide levels, in turn, causes a neurological crisis and acts similarly to a drug in the brain. This causes a crisis, which results in an altered state of consciousness, allowing the psychologist to study the individual's consciousness from that new state. Stanislav Grof (1994) makes use of this new state of consciousness's experiential healing power.

Ludwig (1966) defines a “altered state of consciousness” as any mental state(s) for various physiological, psychological, or pharmacological agents that can be recognized subjectively by the same (or an objective observer of the individual person induced) as representing a sufficient deviation in the subjective experience or psychological functioning of certain general rules for th This deviation can be adequately represented by a greater concern than usual with internal sensations or mental processes, changes in the formal characteristics of thought, and varying degrees of deterioration of the reality test.

The cognitive approach to altered states of consciousness has revealed that many altered states of consciousness share similar characteristics, such as alterations in thinking, a sense of disturbed weather, loss of control, a change in emotional expression, a change in body image, perceptual distortions, a change in meaning or importance, a sense of the ineffable, and feelings of rejuvenation (Ludwig, 1972).

The current organization of cognitive subsystems is destabilized until a new force pattern (such as mental set, setting, expectations, drug effects) is applied to shape the subsystems in a whole new system, the product, by applying the disruptive force requirement for the basic state of consciousness (either through some physiological action, such as drugs or deployment of attention and meditation).

The cognitive awareness approach has aided transpersonal psychologists in differentiating grades of waking state of consciousness. For example, awareness is not a unified concept but rather varies and shifts like the colors of the rainbow. It is possible to stratify and states in order to raise alertness and relaxed concentration, as well as spread cosmic consciousness. Drug-induced states, hypnosis, biofeedback, daydreaming, nightdreaming, sensory deprivation, and paranormal experiences are examples of altered states of consciousness. I...