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States of Consciousness EMOTIONS, PERSONALITY, AND PSYCHOTHERAPY Series Editors: Carroll E. Izard, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware and Jerome L. Singer, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Current volumes in the series FINDING MEANING IN DREAMS: A Quantitative Approach Written by G. William Domhoff FROM MEMORIES TO MENTAL ILLNESS: A Conceptual Journey Written by William M. Hall LANGUAGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: Strategies of Discovery Edited by Robert L. Russell SAMPLING INNER EXPERIENCE IN DISTURBED AFFECT Written by Russell T. Hurlburt SHYNESS: Perspectives on Research and Treatment Edited by Warren H. Jones, Jonathan M. Cheek and Stephen R. Briggs THE COGNITIVE FOUNDATIONS OF PERSONALITY TRAITS Written by Shulamith Kreitler and Hans Kreitler THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN: Physiology, Neuroanatomy, Psychology and Emotion Written by P.V. Simonov THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS Written by Jack George Thompson THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS Written by Carroll E. Izard THE ROLE OF EMOTIONS IN SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT: History, Theory and Research Written by Carol Magai and Susan H. McFadden THE TRANSFORMED SELF: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS CONVERSION Written by Chana Ullman WHAT DEVELOPS IN EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT? Edited by Michael F. Mascolo and Sharon Griffin STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS: Models for Psychology and Psychotherapy Written by Andrzej Kokoszka AContinuation Order Plan is available for this series. Acontinuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher. States of Consciousness: Models for Psychology and Psychotherapy By Andrzej Kokoszka Medical University of Warsaw Warszawa, Poland With chapter by Andrzej Bielecki Institute of Computer Science Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland ABC Andrzej Kokoszka II Department of Psychiatry Medical University of Warsaw Ul. Kondratowicza 8 03-242 Warszawa Poland [email protected] Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926440 ISBN-10: 0-387-32757-6 e-ISBN-10: 0-387-32758-4 ISBN-13: 978-0-387-32757-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-0-387-32758-7 Printed on acid-free paper. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. 987654321 springer.com For my wife, Bogna Preface The state of consciousness is our common experience in everyday life. It is a natural and obvious phenomenon. We do not trouble ourselves with subtle or transient changes of states of consciousness. However, the pathological states, i.e, dysfunc- tional and painful ones, cause us to seek therapy. Psychiatric and psychotherapeutic diagnoses begin from the assessment of the patient’s state of consciousness. The main goal of this book is to present a general model of states of consciousness that will describe the variety of modalities of experiencing, as well as to propose a comprehensive model for the assessment of the main psychological structures and functions of information processing, i.e., of information metabolism. The assessment of the qualities of states of consciousness is a common part of psychological, psychotherapeutic and psychiatric diagnosis, but only when there are apparent abnormalities, e.g., persistent insomnia. Therapists do not pay attention to the subtle fluctuations in the form of natural states of consciousness. However, there is data supporting Kleitman’s (1963) hypothesis of a biological rhythm of a 90-minute cycle i.e. “basic rest-activity cycle” (BRAC) of changes in the brain activity. It is manifested by well documented REM-NonREM cycles during sleep. It is more difficult to find the daily manifestations of the BRAC, due to other activities performed in waking. The suppression of this rhythm and its indirect manifestations are described by concepts of “ultradian stress syndrome and ultradian healing response” (Rossi, 1991) and of protective mechanisms of the BRAC (Kokoszka, 1990) named also “protective mechanisms of information” (Kokoszka, 1993b). They received meaningful confirmation in the research of Duchniewska and Kokoszka, (2003), that will be presented in detail in chapter V. Until now neither Rossi’s nor my ideas received clinicians’ attention. Fortunately, the similar idea of mindfulness, i.e. nonjudgmental present-moment experience (Miller, Fletcher, Kabat-Zinn, 1995), has been given the increasing attention of psychologists and cognitive therapists. According to the approach proposed in this book, mindfulness is understood as a specific attitude that not only facilitates occurrence of the natural state of consciousness characterized by a pas- sive attitude of mind (contemplation) and domination of reception of information coming from internal sources of stimulation (an individual brain and body), but also enhances its duration in a day, at the expense of the state of consciousness vii viii Preface characterized by a goal-oriented activity and domination of the reception of information from external sources of stimulation. Taking into account the contemporary cultural pressure for task-oriented activity, the routine of practicing mindfulness in everyday life may be understood as a means of protection against pressure for unlimited activity. Fortunately, the concept of mindfulness has more empirical confirmation than the ultradian healing response and the protective mechanism of the information metabolism (the BRAC). However, it will be argued that all those concepts are related to the same natural state of consciousness and ways of achieving it. It should be stressed that the models presented describe general qualities of states of consciousness and general structures of information processing that con- stitute a comprehensive meta-rationale for the existing psychotherapeutic models that are focused on those aspects of information processing that, according to those approaches, have the important roles in symptom formation and therapy. For ex- ample, the psychodynamic approach considers information processing in mental processes in terms of defense mechanisms and object relations; behavioral therapy in terms of learning process; the cognitive approach in terms of the meaning assignment; etc. The proposed model can be followed by some of those concepts in the description of the specific pathological conditions. The creation of consciousness models requires considering most of the aspects of psychical activity. Therefore, in the book, many psychological topics are discussed. Although the book is not a fully updated review of the literature; that is not the goal of this work. The book aims to present more general conclusions about the structure of the internal human world based on contemporary science. I would like to propose that readers consider this volume as a guidebook for the investigation of the structure of our internal world. For clarity, the ideas presented are illustrated in models, and the theoretical discussions are limited to the most necessary topics. The current state of knowledge on the construction of the internal world is concerned with accumulating detailed findings and organizing them into more or less comprehensive models, which are subsequently, testified and verified. The other important goal of the models is to facilitate the formulation of new important questions. The book is devoted to a variety of aspects of consciousness, which is a funda- mental psychical phenomenon. However, it still remains a challenge for science. We know it better from our direct personal experience then from results of research. Consciousness is an obvious aspect of our life and its existence is unquestionable, but it is in some ways ineffable. Eventually, any information that can change our intuitive, “direct” understanding of consciousness can cause many other changes in our outlook on life. Therefore, studies of consciousness may be fascinating, or threatening, for an investigator. However, until now there haven’t been any crucial, unequivocal discoveries. Instead, we are left with an enormous amount of publi- cations on different aspects of consciousness. There is also a growing number of books on this topic, but there are no good theoretical frameworks, nor is there a rationale for the integration of existing partial knowledge about consciousness. On one hand, neurobiological models are not very helpful in understanding common Preface ix everyday subjective experiences. On the other hand, current psychotherapeutic models are very simplified in comparison with the variety of descriptions of subtle differences in individual experiences. These reflections compelled me to study medicine, psychology and philosophy nearly 30 years ago and, later, to work on models of consciousness. I continue this interest in order to better understand the different and specific modes of experiencing not only of the patients whom I meet in psychotherapy, but also of

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