Download consciousness and stress management

STRESS MANAGEMENT
and
CONSCIOUSNESS
A Health Enhancement Seminar
HCC Counseling Department
Prepared by:
Dr. Alvarez, LPC, LMFT, NCC, ACS, FAPA
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this seminar, participants will be able
to:
 Define consciousness and describe the various
levels of consciousness.
 Articulate the importance of sleep and
dreaming.
 Understand stress and its effects, and practice
stress management and relaxation techniques
to help improve their health and lifestyle.
WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?
 “private I” (personal reality).
 Your immediate awareness of thoughts,
sensations, memories, and the world around
you.
 Ongoing “river” or “stream” of mental activity.
 Always changing and perceived as unified and
unbroken.
 Introspection is required to understand one’s
consciousness.
WHAT ARE THE LEVELS
OF CONSCIOUSNESS?
 Ordinary consensual consciousness
(reality)
 Altered states of consciousness (altered
reality).
 Dream consciousness (dream reality).
BRAIN WAVE PATTERNS AS
CORRELATES OF VARIOUS
LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
 BETA :
 ALPHA:
 THETA:
 DELTA:
alert wakefulness
relaxed wakefulness
slower than alpha
(sleep begins)
sleep (slow-wave)
ORDINARY CONSENSUAL
REALITY
 Beta brain wave activity.
 Alert wakefulness.
 Purpose is censorship.
 Screen/assess self and others.
 Defenses are fully activated.
 Physical reality.
ALTERED STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
 Alpha brain wave
 Euphoria.
activity.
 Relaxed wakefulness.
 Super alertness.
 Creative realm.
 Eureka experience.
 Spiritual realm.
 Ecstasy.
 Sublime.
 Epiphany.
 Nirvana.
ALTERED STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
 Relaxation.
 Under the influence
 Self-hypnosis /
of mood-altering
substances.
 Addictions (drug,
sex, food, gambling,
etc.).
 Psychosis.
hypnosis.
 Meditation.
 Prayer.
 Dance and active
physical exercise.
 Artist in creative
work.
DREAM CONSCIOUSNESS
 Dream reality.
 REM sleep.
 Story-like episodes of unfolding mental
imagery during sleep.
 Amygdala & Hippocampus (limbic
system) structures are involved in
emotion & memory are highly active
during REM sleep.
CHARACTRISTICS OF DREAMS
(J. Allan Hobson, sleep researcher)
 Intense emotions.
 Usually illogical content & organization.
 Sometimes bizarre sensations.
 Uncritically accepted bizarre details.
 Difficult to remember dream images.
WHAT IS SLEEP AND WHY
IS IS IT IMPORTANT?
 Biological need.
 REM (Dreaming) sleep is important.
 Restore physiological processes &
promotes rejuvenation of body & mind.
 NonREM sleep is important for restoring
body.
 REM sleep restores mental & brain
functions.
WHAT IS STRESS?
 Imbalance, tension, disturbance.
 Alert us that something is wrong.
 Pain and distress.
 Stressor(s): could be anything & ubiquitous.
 Personality & culture determine how one
responds to a stressor.
 Eustress (positive stress).
 Distress (negative stress).
WHAT IS STRESS? (cont.)
 Chemical reaction (cortisol).
 Physiological reaction (homeostatic
mechanisms).
 Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
activation.
 Sympathetic NS (flight or flight response).
 Parasympathetic NS (relaxation &
cleansing).
Pathological Stress Disturbance
 Sustained Arousal of Sympathetic NS.
 Unconscious and automatic.
 Stress-related disorders (HPN, migraine,
tension headaches, etc.).
 65 –75% of visits to physicians’ clinic is
secondary to stress.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS
OF STRESS
 Physical effects.
 Financial effects.
 Psychological &
 Absenteeism.
emotional effects.
 Relational effects.
 Career & vocational
effects.
 Spiritual effects.
 Effects on creativity.
 Effects on
productivity &
morale in the
workforce.
 Drugs and Alcohol
Abuse / dependence.
 Increased crime rate.
WHAT IS STRESS
MANAGEMENT?
 Anything health-promoting that could
help alleviate tension, pain, or
disturbance, and that which could foster
adaptive coping skills; and therefore
promote homeostasis and/or healing.
 Adaptive coping skills vs. maladaptive
coping skills.
WHAT ARE STRESS
MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES?
 Nutrition and sleep.
 Avoid mood-altering
 Exercise &
substances.
 Live within your
means (Budget).
 Work honestly.
 Watch you words.
 Counseling &
psychotherapy.
breathing.
 Develop new
activities or hobbies.
 Cultivate spirituality
or creativity.
 Time management.
 Relational Mgt.
RELAXATION RESPONSE
 Antithesis of sustained arousal of the
sympathetic NS.
 Parasympathetic NS can be trained and
summoned by will via relaxation
response training using relaxation
techniques.
RELAXATION TECHNIQUES:
Altered states of consciousness
 VISUALIZATION
 YOGA (TM,
 IMAGERY
KUDALINI, etc.)
 PROGRESSIVE
MUSCLE
RELAXATION
(pmr)
 ACTIVE
PHYSICAL
EXERCISE
 AUTOGENIC
TRAINING
 HYPNOSIS
 ENERGY WORK
Relaxation Techniques
(You Tube)
 BREATHING EXERCISE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
j5Z4E2wkh4
 PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wLIa
Ce-gaM
REFERENCES
 Seaward. B. L. (2011). Managing Stress.
Principles and strategies for health and
wellbeing (7th Ed.). Jones and Bartlett
Publishers, Sudbury, MA.