Synopses & Reviews
Consciousness has always been a particularly elusive concept and one vigorously argued in the scientific community. This new volume takes on the task of defining normal and altered consciousness in their most relevant clinical terms.
In States of Consciousness, Andrzej Kokoszka expands on the pioneering work of J.H. Jackson, offering contemporary models for studying consciousness as it applies to both pathology and normal altered states, e.g., relaxation, sleep, meditation, and hypnosis. He makes clear distinctions between the neuroscientific and psychiatric components of consciousness; at the same time, his theories are rooted firmly in the biopsychosocial approach.
Highlights of the coverage:
Historical overview of studies of consciousness and its altered states;
Evolutionary/dynamic model of consciousness and information processing, based on the structure and principles of cell behavior; Comparison of altered states of consciousness in healthy persons and patients with schizophrenia; New perspectives on the role of consciousness in pathology; Case illustration of altered states in a patient with PTSD, integrating neurobiological, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic data; Applications of the model in clinical practice.
States of Consciousness lends itself to theoretical and practical, research and classroom use. It is relevant to a range of scientists and practitioners in cognition, clinical psychology, social psychology, and neuropsychology The books scope and the authors attention to detail make it a work of great versatility, much like consciousness itself.
Consciousness has always been a particularly elusive concept and one vigorously argued in thescientific community. This new volume takes on the task of defining normal and altered consciousness in their most relevant clinical terms.
In States of Consciousness, Andrzej Kokoszka expands on the pioneering work of J.H. Jackson, offering contemporary models for studying consciousness as it applies to both pathology and normal altered states, e.g., relaxation, sleep, meditation, and hypnosis. He makes clear distinctions between the neuroscientific and psychiatric components of consciousness; at the same time, his theories are rooted firmly in the biopsychosocial approach.
Highlights of the coverage:
-Historical overview of studies of consciousness and its altered states
-Evolutionary/dynamic model of consciousness and information processing, based on the structure and principles of cell behavior
-Comparison of altered states of consciousness in healthy persons and patients with schizophrenia
-New perspectives on the role of consciousness in pathology
-Case illustration of altered states in a patient with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, integrating neurobiological, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic data
-Applications of the model in clinical practice
States of Consciousness lends itself to theoretical and practical, research and classroom use. It is relevant to a range of scientists and practitioners in cognition, clinical psychology, social psychology, and neuropsychology The books scope and the authors attention to detail make it a work of great versatility, much like consciousness itself.
Review
"Kokoszka has written a unique book on consciousness and its altered states that goes beyond current approaches. In this coherent and broadly valid account of the evolved function of consciousness, he provides different viewpoints that contribute to an overall understanding of this phenomenon. Thus the book covers a historical overview of studies on consciousness and its altered states, an evolutionary/dynamic model of consciousness and information processing, but also new perspectives on the role of consciousness in psychopathology. Case illustrations serve as excellent examples of how the model can be used in clinical practice. Andrzej Kokoszka is one of those who substantially understand consciousness, and this volume can be added to the list of other illuminating works on the subject such as Francis Crick's The Astonishing Hypothesis (1994), Wallace' and Fisher's Consciousness and behavior (2003)." -Dr F. Pouwer, Department of Medical Psychology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands "This important book is a 'must have' for serious readers of the study of consciousness and its altered states. It is current with respect to research and theory, and it will hopefully invigorate a field of study that has remained dormant for many years." - Benjamin Wallace, Ph.D., Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA "Few books in clinical psychology or clinical psychiatry have the breadth and depth of scholarship brought to this volume. Kokoszka's conceptualizations regarding consciousness and the broad manifestations of the human experience are essential reading for both students and experienced practitioners. He integrates his expertise in medicine, neurophysiology, clinical psychology, philosophy, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. Not a volume to be read lightly . . . This is a volume that must be studied carefully as the nidus for careful thought, discussion, and collegial debate." - Arthur Freeman, Ph.D., Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, USA
Synopsis
Consciousness has always been a particularly elusive concept and one vigorously argued in the scientific community. This new volume takes on the task of defining normal and altered consciousness in their most relevant clinical terms. In States of Consciousness, Andrzej Kokoszka expands on the pioneering work of J.H. Jackson, offering contemporary models for studying consciousness as it applies to both pathology and normal altered states, e.g., relaxation, sleep, meditation, and hypnosis. He makes clear distinctions between the neuroscientific and psychiatric components of consciousness; at the same time, his theories are rooted firmly in the biopsychosocial approach. Highlights of the coverage: -Historical overview of studies of consciousness and its altered states -Evolutionary/dynamic model of consciousness and information processing, based on the structure and principles of cell behavior -Comparison of altered states of consciousness in healthy persons and patients with schizophrenia -New perspectives on the role of consciousness in pathology -Case illustration of altered states in a patient with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, integrating neurobiological, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic data -Applications of the model in clinical practice States of Consciousness lends itself to theoretical and practical, research and classroom use. It is relevant to a range of scientists and practitioners in cognition, clinical psychology, social psychology, and neuropsychology The book's scope and the author's attention to detail make it a work of great versatility, much like consciousness itself.
Synopsis
States of Consciousness expands on the pioneering work of J.H. Jackson, offering contemporary models for studying consciousness in both pathology and normal altered states, including relaxation, sleep, meditation, and hypnosis. The author clarifies distinctions between the neuroscientific and psychiatric components of consciousness; at the same time, his theories are rooted firmly in the biopsychosocial approach. The book's scope and the author's attention to detail make it a work of great versatility.
About the Author
Dr. Kokoszka is currently the head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland and author of more than ten books in Polish. He is a psychiatris, psychologist, psychotherapist, and group analyst trained at the Institute of Group Analysis in Heidelberg, Germany; cognitive-behavioral therapists with the certificate of Italian Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy and has been a visiting fellow at University of Oxford, University of California at Irvine, Cleveland State University, and Wayne State University in Detroit.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PRESUMPTIONS AND CONCEPTS REFERRING TO CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS ALTERED STATES
Preface
- The Philosophical Presumptions
- Consciousness, Self-consciousness and Awareness
- The Notion of Altered States of Consciousness and Other Terms of Similar Meaning
- Superficially and Profoundly Altered States of Consciousness
CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL INSPIRATIONS
Preface
- Neojacksonian Psychophysiological Psychiatry of Jan Mazurkiewicz
- Introduction
- History of Misperception of Jacksonian Theory by Psychiatry
- The Main Principles of Neo-Jacksonian Theory of Mazurkiewicz
1.3.1. Double Function of CNS
1.3.2.Instinctual Sources of Psychic Activity
1.3.3. Dynamic Function of Emotions
1.3.4. The Psychophysiology Theory
1.3.5. The Psychopathology Theory
1.3.6. Schema of Human Psychical Activity
1.4 Conclusion
- Comprehensive Descriptive Psychiatry by Antoni Kepinski: Metabolism of Information and Psychopathology of Values Experiencing
- Introduction
- Metabolism of Information
2.2.1. Basic Concepts
2.2.2. Basic Functions and Structures
2.2.3. A Model of Information Metabolism
2.3. The Axiological Approach to Psychiatry According to Antoni Kepinski
2.4. To Understand in Order to "Raise in Spirit"
2.5. Conclusions
CHAPTER 3. THE VARIETY OF SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES
Preface
- Altered States of Consciousness are Common
- Phenomenology of Altered States of Consciousness
- The Contents of Experiences is Not Specific for Mental Disorders: Altered States of Consciousness Among Schizophrenics and Healthy
CHAPTER 4. THE MAIN RESULTS RESEARCH ON ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUNESS AND ITS GENERAL THEORIES
Preface
- A review of Scientific Findings
- Historical Background of Altered States of Consciousness Investigations
- Conclusions from Researches in Search of Altered States of Consciousness Mechanisms
- General Psychological Theories and Models of Altered States of Consciousness
- Classical Theories of Consciousness
- William James
- Karl Jaspers
- Sigmund Freud
- Carl Gustaw Jung
- Contemporary Theories and Models of Consciousness
- Introduction
- Gruehn
- Fisher's Cartography of States of Consciousness
- Weil's Drive to Altered States of Consciousness
- Tart's System Approach
- Jaynes's Concept of Bicameral Mind
- Transpersonal Approach
- Psychodynamic Approach
- Cognitive Approach
- Other Theories
- Conclusions
CHAPTER 5. MODELS OF STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND INFORMATION METABOLISM
Preface
- Terminological Solutions
1.1. Introduction
- Theoretical Presumptions
2.1. Conclusions from The Review of Existing Data and Theories of States of Consciousness and its Altered States
2.2. The Current Version of The Model of The Information Metabolism
- The Main Presumptions
- Justification of The Information Metabolism Model
- Model of the Main Everyday States of Consciousness
- The Basic Rest - Activity Cycle (BRAC)
- Conception of Protective Mechanisms of BRAC and Metabolism of Information
- An Integrated Model of The Main Everyday States of Consciousness
- An Evolutionary Model of The Main States of Consciousness
- The Main Levels of Psychical Organization
- Proposals of Terminological Order
- Kinds of Accessibility of Consciousness
- Toward an Integration of Contemporary Knowledge on Consciousness
- Conception of Permanent Evolution and Dissolution According to Metabolism of Information
- A Neo-jacksonian Evolutionary-Psychodynamic Model of The Main States of Consciousness
- The Main Ideas of The Psychodynamic Approach
- Structural Relations of Mental Personality in Freud's Model of Psychical Apparatus
- An Evolutionary-Psychodynamic Model
- An Evolutionary-Psychodynamic Model of Information Metabolism
- The Model of Consciousness in The Main Psychopathological Conditions
- Contemporary Approaches in Clinical Psychopathology
- Personality: Its Features and Disorders
- Personality
- Personality Disorders
- Neurotic Personality
- Acute Mental Disorders
- Acute Symptoms
- Neurotic Symptoms
- Psychotic Symptoms
- Symptoms of Affective Disorders
CHAPTER 6. APPLICATIONS AND EXTENSIONS OF THE MODELS
Preface
1. A Rationale for a General Theory of Relaxation
1.1.Introduction
1.2. Relaxation as a Cultural Protective Mechanisms of The BRAC and Information Metabolism
1.3. Classification of The Relaxation Phenomena
1.3.1. Relaxation Techniques
1.3.2. Relaxation States
1.4. Practical Conclusions
1.5. A Rationale for a Multileveled Model of Relaxation States
1.6. Application of The Evolutionary Model in Relaxation
1.6.1. Meditation
1.6.2. Hypnosis
1.7. Conclusions
2. A Rationale for an Evolutionary Model of Value Experience
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Philosophical Description of Value Experience
2.2.1. Axiological Experience
2.2.2. Tichner's Description of The Axiological Experience
2.2.3. The Meaning of Philosophical Analysis of Value Experience for Psychology
2.3 Psychological Description of Value Experience
2.4. The Character of The Experience of Values According to Levels of Psychophysiological Organization
2.5. Evolutionary Character of Value Experience and The Main Forms of Interpersonal Relations
2.6. Threatening Simplifications
2.6.1 Morality and Development
2.6.2. The Tendency to Concentrate on The Highest Evolutionary Level
2.7. The Meaning of The Neojacksonian Model in The Psychology of Value Experience
2.8. Concept of Corrective Experience of Values in Psychotherapy and Results of Preliminary Research
2.8.1 The Corrective Axiological Experience
2.8.2. The Corrective Axiological Experience and The Corrective Emotional Experience
2.8.3. The Concept of Corrective Axiological Experience
2.8.4. The Recent Development of The Concept of Corrective Experience of Value
3. Information Metabolism in Interpersonal Contacts
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Psychodynamic-Cognitive Model of Information Metabolism
3.3. The Strategy of Understanding of The Experiences of Other Person According to Model of Information Metabolism
4. Metabolism of Information as a Model for Multiaxial Psychotherapeutic Diagnosis
CHAPTER 7. THE CURRENT STUDIES ON INFORMATION METABOLISM
- Modeling Information Metabolism in the Framework of Exact Sciences (by Andrzej Bielecki)
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Mathematical, computer science and cybernetic model
1.3. Modeling Higher Psychical Functions - a "Top-Down" Approach
1.3.1. Physical and Topological Aspects of the Information Metabolism Theory
1.3.2. Dynamics of Psyche in the Light of Dynamic Systems Theory
1.4. Summary
2. Metabolism of Information as a Model for Multiaxial Psychotherapeutic Diagnosis
2. 1.Introduction: Lack of Widely Useful Model for Psychotherapy
2.2. Self-Organizing and Dynamically Changing Structure of Mental Processes
2.3. Schema for Multiaxial Diagnosis for Psychotherapy According to Information Metabolism
2.4. Conclusions