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Mental Unity, Altered States of Consciousness & Dissociation I

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Mental Unity, Altered States of Consciousness & Dissociation I LouisTinnin, M.D., is Associate Professorin the Department THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. ormal consciousness has its origin in the development of the "triune brain" (MacLean, 1973). This brain is a For reprints write to Louis Tinnin, M.D., WVU Department hierarchical organization of three different mentalities, a ofBehavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, ChestnutRidge Hos­ result of the evolutionary development of the human brain pital, 930 Chestnut Ridge Road, Morgantown, WV 26505. which preserved the ancestral brain components ofreptiles, early mammals, and late mammals. The oldest component, ABSTRACT the reptilian, contributes the brainstem and much of the reticularsystem. Thenextlevel, the paleomammalian, consists This model for understanding altered states of consciousness and of the limbic system and the midbrain and is largely re­ dissociation is based on the hypothesis that normal consciousness sponsible for emotion. The upper level ofthe triune brain is depends on an illusion ofmentalunitygenerated by certain dynamic the neomammalian, orthe neocortex,which MacLean (1973) brain processes. When these processes are altered and the illusion of believes to be the matrix for intellectual function, including mental unity is lost, the individual experiences an altered state of consciousness. consciousness inwhich normalconsciousness is latent or "dissociated. " Consciousness developed afterthe neomammalian brain Mental organizationsformed during an altered state will, in turn, expanded laterally into large dual cerebral hemispheres become dissociated when the altered state is terminated and mental connected by a bridge offibers, the corpus callosum, which unity returns. In some cases, recurrent altered states may lead to first emergedin the placentalmammals (Levy, 1985). Follow­ multipledissociated mentalsystems orstates. Therapeutic resolution ing this expansion, "cerebral laterality" developed, which is ofdissociation requires that the individualgain access to the memory, the specializing of the hemispheres for different functions. transcend the obligatory illusion ofunity, and consciously avow the The most dramatic specialization occurred when language ego stateformed during the traumatic altered state ofconsciousness. was acquired. Since then, spoken and written assertions have arisen from neural activity in certain anatomical regions of This article describes an admittedly speculative model the left hemisphere, save for exceptional cases ofanomalous for understanding altered states ofconsciousness and disso­ dominance. ciation in terms ofthe brain processes ofnormal conscious­ The right hemisphere of the modern human brain is ness and cerebral dominance. It is based upon the following silent and obedient to the vocal left even though the right line of reasoning: hemisphere is capable of holding opinions of its own that differ from those of the left. This phenomenon is demon­ 1. The subjective sense of mental unity is generated by a strated by the split-brain studies of Gazzaniga and others governing mental system in the language area of the (Gazzaniga & Volpe, 1981). However, Eccles and Popper dominant hemisphere and is maintained by the process (Eccles, 1965; Popper& Eccles, 1985) challenge the existence of cerebral dominance. of a latent cognitive system in the right hemisphere that might differ from the dominant left and explain, instead, 2. Under certain circumstances, the governing mental that a second cognition is simply an artificial consequence of system will relinquish dominance and convert to a la­ the surgical separation of the hemispheres. They assume tent, dissociated mental system, losing the sense of that the human mind is unitary and that it transcends the mental unity. This will result in an altered state of localized organization ofbrain function. consciousness. The model under consideration here contends that, first, the human mind is not un-itary, and that consciousness 3. A new mental system or mental state may be organized is biologically generated by a specific language area of the during the altered state and that mental organization dominant hemisphere; second, that the sense of mental will become dissociated when the altered state is termi­ unity is a universal and obligatory human illusion (Tinnin, nated. 1989); and, third, that the illusion ofmental unity obscures the fact that, in addition to consciousness, a vast nonverbal 4 This process may result in the formation of multiple mindwith differentproperties and differentmental process­ latent or dissociated mental organizations. es occupies the bulk of the triune brain. 154 ~------------~-'----------------_......- THE ILLUSION qF MENTAL UNITY a linearlyorderedmental representation oftheworld (Jaynes's "mind-space"). Consequently, what the individual compre­ The dominant language area of the left hemisphere hendsoftheworld is a creation ofthe mindwhich is censored orchestrates the mental activity of both hemispheres and according to the requirements of mental unity. Thus the asserts authorship of all volition and cognition (Tinnin, conscious psychic reality of the individual is the product of 1989). This assertion provides a false sense ofmental unity. this verbally organized "secondary process" thinking (Arieti, This is known to be an illusion, not only because of the 1976). everyday clinical evidence of unconscious cognition, but because cerebral laterality studies reveal a modular mind PREMATURE GOVERNING MENTAL SYSTEM containing multiple mental systems competing for output (GMS) FORMATION (Gazzaniga & Volpe, 1981) while the verbal module of the left hemisphere interprets the brain's mental activity and In normal development, the maturation of the corpus regulates its output (Gazzaniga, 1985). callosum at age three initiates the developmentofa GMS that The childhood development of the individual brain establishes the normal pattern of cerebral dominance. recapitulates the evolutionary course of a divided brain However, under unusual conditions GMS development may coming under the governance of a unitary mental agency. occur before the callosum matures, while the child still has Every child begins life with a dual brain until the corpus functionally unconnected hemispheres. Psychic trauma is callosum is sufficiently developed, usually at age three, to one such condition. In psychic trauma the stimulus barrier connect and begin transmitting information directly from is breached to the extent that the child may be launched into one hemisphere to another (Tinnin, 1989). premature psychic independenceand self-governance, which At birth the hemispheres begin to differ mentally with might stimulate the development ofa GMS prior to matura­ the left becoming increasingly specialized for language tion ofthe corpus callosum. Premature GMS formation may functions and the right becoming adept at nonverbal per­ also occur simply with precocious maturation of the hemi­ ception and thought. Sometime in the third year, when the spheres or, perhaps, with delayed maturation of the corpus corpus callosum connects the hemispheres, the left hemi­ callosum. Ifa GMS is formed prematurelyinonehemisphere, sphere becomes the speaking self, generating the child's then, because of the functional plasticity of both hemi­ verbal output. However, from birth to age three, in the spheres, one would likely be formed in the other. The result normal development ofcerebral laterality, the hemispheres would be two GMSs poised to assume cerebral dominance maintain a cooperative partnership. when the corpus callosum bridges the hemispheres. This partnership ofequals comes to an end at age three One of the two GMSs must yield when the callosum when the corpus callosum matures sufficiently to functional­ matures. Mental unity demands that only one mental agency ly connect the two hemispheres. This development heralds exercise volition and consciousness. Therefore, one be­ the onset of cerebral dominance and the "psychological comes dominant and the other becomes latent. If the right birth ofthe human infant" (Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975) GMS becomes dominant then the person will probably be­ when the child takes full possession of the self. At the come left-handed. physiological level, a governing mental system (GMS) acting The latent mental system (LMS) retains its integrity as a through the primary language area in the left temporal lobe system and its capacity for awareness but loses the executive emerges and assumes dominance over both hemispheres functions ofmaintaining mental unity, volition, verbal sym­ (Tinnin, 1989). Psychologically, this dominance establishes bolization, and mental representation over time. The LMS the life-long conviction ofmental unity and the ascendance takes its place outside ofconsciousness where it is, perhaps, ofconsciousness. only one of many such mental modules (Gazzaniga, 1985). THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS THE ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Consciousness is different from simple awareness. It is According to Bourguignon (1979), "Altered states of different from thinking, learning, judging, or generalizing, consciousness are conditions in which sensations, percep­ all of which primates can do. Consciousness is the mental tions, cognition, and emotions are altered. They are charac­ image, over time, ofthe unitary selfin the world; or, accord­ terized by changes in sensing, perceiving, thinking, and ing to Jaynes, consciousness is the metaphorical analog,
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