Subtle images may be formless (as in pure light, pure sound). The person may pay attention to more and more subtle sounds. Or the images may have form (as in shamanic power animals).
At the casual stage, the person may be aware of consciousness itself, only consciousness, with no objects: pure consciousness, void, the Atman of Vedanta, abyss of gnosticism.
At the non-dual stage, objects arise again: everything is recognized as expressions of consciousness–e.g., Zen’s “one mind.” Consciousness now has awoken and sees itself in all things, unbounded by space and time and limits because consciousness is what creates space, time, and limits. This is Moksha, Enlightenment, etc.
This is not the final task, because the final task is bringing the awakening to the world (Plato’s re-entering the cave, to educate others; Zen oxherder entering the marketplace with help-bestowing hands; Christianity’s “fruitfulness of the soul”). For Joseph Campbell, this was the hero’s return. Toynbee observed that each great contributor had withdrawn and then returned to the world to offer what they had found.
[It is a process of] transforming a peak into plateau experience; an altered state into a trait; stabilized into enduring understanding, and then bringing it back into the world.
Is there evidence for enlightenment? There now is analogical and laboratory support for this. Analogical support is lucid dreaming. Until 20 years ago, Western psychology thought lucid dreaming was impossible, but now LaBerge at Stanford University has shown physiological evidence. We know from every night’s experience that we can create worlds and bodies on which our lives seem to depend. The claim of spiritual traditions is that there is a state of consciousness that bears a relationship to the ordinary [waking] state as lucid dreaming has to nonlucid dreaming. The Dalai Lama said they train yogis to be aware during dreams, not to lose awareness 24 hours a day; then to be aware of dreaming while in a waking period. A Tibetan dream yoga aim is the “great realization,” that everything in existence is like a dream.
Laboratory studies have been done on enlightened people The EEG data obtained while they are sleeping is consistent with lucidity during their dreams and between dreams. Rorschach tests have been done on advanced Buddhist meditators; at the penultimate of enlightenment, they show no evidence of conflicts around sexuality and aggression. The 2000 year old Buddhist texts say that at this stage these issues are resolved.
The implications for our usual state are that normality is not the peak of human development; normality is arrested development. The link between apes and civilization is us! We experience a consensus trance, a collective psychosis, society’s hypnosis. We live in the biggest cult of all: CULTURE. The answer is, “Wake up.”
A most important question is, if it is true that our conventional state of development is suboptimal, how do we develop other states? The classic answer is: take up a discipline, a practice (e.g., meditation, service, being in nature). One problem is that spiritual traditions are usually couched in archaic language, and have accumulated nonsense around them over the years. It is desirable to abstract out the essential elements. That is a recent thrust of transpersonal research.
There are six common elements: 1. Ethics: the moment you sit down to meditate, what emerges is all the unethical stuff you’ve done and what was done to you. Ethical behavior (not conventional morality) is a tool for mind training. 2. Attentional training: ordinarily we cannot sustain attention. (William James said the maximum is 3 seconds.) The aim is to be able to maintain attention on what one wants. It leads to the stabilization of mind, calming. 3. Emotional training: destroying negative emotions (well developed in Western psychology, maybe better than in the Eastern traditions, because we recognize the problem with repression); cultivating positive emotions (where contemplative practices do well, because they offer tools for unwavering, unconditional, and all-encompassing [positive regard]; what is known as agape in Christianity). 4. Redirection of motivation: changing what you want, etc. 5. Perceptual refinement: we mistake shadows for realities; according to St. Paul we “see through a glass darkly.” This enhances sensitivity, accuracy, and subtlety of perception. 6. Wisdom: actually the first element, playing a role all through the path. Initial motivation sees suffering of the world; provides motivation for realizing that there must be another way of living, culminates with deep insight into nature of the world, mind, consciousness, reality (prajna; Christian’s gnosis). When the mind is trained, stabilized, and clarified, the mind has a heightened capacity for understanding.
So for the first time we can recognize the common elements in religions; we can see that the contemplative core contain practices and road maps. This approach recognizes multi-state psychologies and philosophies.
APPLICATION. Many areas of research are developing in transpersonal psychology. These studies have implications for the state of the world. It is only 25 years since the founding of transpersonal psychology. The world’s population has developed to the extent that every four months we are losing as many people from malnutrition as from a Holocaust. Our problems are still solvable. The best population explosion control is to make education available to women in the Third World. The transpersonal vision gives a frame to recognize that we are all connected.
For a fuller account of transpersonal psychology, see R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds). (1993) _Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision._ New York: Tarcher/Putnam.
are sleeping is consistent with lucidity during their dreams and between dreams. Rorschach tests have been done on advanced Buddhist meditators; at the penultimate of enlightenment, they show no evidence of conflicts around sexuality and aggression. The 2000 year old Buddhist texts say that at this stage these issues are resolved.
The implications for our usual state are that normality is not the peak of human development; normality is arrested development. The link between apes and civilization is us! We experience a consensus trance, a collective psychosis, society’s hypnosis. We live in the biggest cult of all: CULTURE. The answer is, “Wake up.”
A most important question is, if it is true that our conventional state of development is suboptimal, how do we develop other states? The classic answer is: take up a discipline, a practice (e.g., meditation, service, being in nature). One problem is that spiritual traditions are usually couched in archaic language, and have accumulated nonsense around them over the years. It is desirable to abstract out the essential elements. That is a recent thrust of transpersonal research.
There are six common elements: 1. Ethics: the moment you sit down to meditate, what emerges is all the unethical stuff you’ve done and what was done to you. Ethical behavior (not conventional morality) is a tool for mind training. 2. Attentional training: ordinarily we cannot sustain attention. (William James said the maximum is 3 seconds.) The aim is to be able to maintain attention on what one wants. It leads to the stabilization of mind, calming. 3. Emotional training: destroying negative emotions (well developed in Western psychology, maybe better than in the Eastern traditions, because we recognize the problem with repression); cultivating positive emotions (where contemplative practices do well, because they offer tools for unwavering, unconditional, and all-encompassing [positive regard]; what is known as agape in Christianity). 4. Redirection of motivation: changing what you want, etc. 5. Perceptual refinement: we mistake shadows for realities; according to St. Paul we “see through a glass darkly.” This enhances sensitivity, accuracy, and subtlety of perception. 6. Wisdom: actually the first element, playing a role all through the path. Initial motivation sees suffering of the world; provides motivation for realizing that there must be another way of living, culminates with deep insight into nature of the world, mind, consciousness, reality (prajna; Christian’s gnosis). When the mind is trained, stabilized, and clarified, the mind has a heightened capacity for understanding.
So for the first time we can recognize the common elements in religions; we can see that the contemplative core contain practices and road maps. This approach recognizes multi-state psychologies and philosophies.
APPLICATION. Many areas of research are developing in transpersonal psychology. These studies have implications for the state of the world. It is only 25 years since the founding of transpersonal psychology. The world’s population has developed to the extent that every four months we are losing as many people from malnutrition as from a Holocaust. Our problems are still solvable. The best population explosion control is to make education available to women in the Third World. The transpersonal vision gives a frame to recognize that we are all connected.
For a fuller account of transpersonal psychology, see R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds). (1993) _Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision._ New York: Tarcher/Putnam.
Laselle, K. M.; Russell, T. T. (1993). To what extent are school counselors using meditation and relaxation techniques?. School Counselor, 40, 178-183.
Zika, William (1991, January). Hidden observer in psychotherapy. [Lecture] Seminar in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.
Author has explored use of a “hidden observer” metaphor in psychotherapy. He distinguishes between two types of dissociation–that resulting from involvement in fantasy and imagery (separation from the Generalized Reality Orientation described by R. Shor) and that between the “I” and the Observer. He calls the latter nonattachment instead of dissociation, aligning it with meditation concepts. The observer, in the hypnotized patient, is objective and even more in touch with reality than the patient in the waking state. He likens the Observer to Erickson’s Inner Self, noting that just as patients learn to allow the therapist to care for them, they can come to allow the Observer to care for them. During inductions he speaks of the Hidden Observer (H.O.) that always knows what is going on, giving a suggestion that the H.O. can be helpful. (This concept seemingly relates also to the observer in Multiple Personality Disorder, and to John Kihlstrom’s discussion of William James and the self, as well as to amnesia/duality in age regression or duality (HO) in pain control.)
1990
Hughes, Dureen J.; Melville, Norbert T. (1990). Changes in brainwave activity during trance channeling: A pilot study. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 22, 175-189
Authors studied 10 people known trance channels–all had been channeling for more than one year. Used an anthropological field method. Electrode was placed only on left occipital (O1) area, referenced to left ear. Calculated difference between each S’s pre- trance and trance EEG beta percentages, for alpha and theta percentages also.
Basically, the pre-trance versus trance sums of differences scores were greater than the post-trance versus trance sums of different scores for each of the three frequency bands–indicating a residual of the trance state. There were large, statistically significant increases in amount and percentage of beta, alpha and theta brainwave activity, and some suggestion of a pattern. The large amount of beta differentiates these Ss from what has been observed with meditators (increases in alpha and theta). Among the Subjects, large amounts of beta activity were recorded continuously throughout the trance period and were coupled with large amounts of high amplitude alpha and theta (relative to the pre- and post-trance states).
The authors compare these results to older hypnosis literature. They conclude that the trance channeling state may be a distinctive state characterized by a particular EEG profile that differs from that found in certain meditative states, hypnotic states, various pathological states, or the waking states of the trance channel Subjects who participated in the study. Authors also liken the differences seen between trance and non-trance states of these Subjects to the differences seen for different alter personalities among people diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder.
DISCUSSION. The foregoing research suggests that the trance channeling state, as measured in the current study, is characterized by large, statistically significant increases in amount and percentage of beta, alpha and theta brainwave activity. There appear to be definite neurophysiological correlates to the trance channeling state, and furthermore there is some evidence that these correlates may be patterned. This pattern might be provisionally compared to those associated with other altered states of consciousness.
both groups, but the deleterious effect of stress on acceptance was more marked for the beginners. These findings validate in a naturalistic setting some of the effects described in traditional Buddhist texts on mindfulness.
“Meditation can be defined as the deliberate deployment of mental attention to obtain a particular patterning of consciousness. The aim of such control may be the stabilization of the stream of thought, greater relaxation, the attainment of an altered state, or the development of insights into the nature of mind [12]. Mindfulness meditation has sometimes been contrasted with concentration meditation as one of two main forms of meditation practice [13, 14]. The usual distinction is that mindfulness involves opening awareness to all contents and processes of mind, whereas concentrative forms of meditation involve shutting out all stimuli extraneous to a single object of attention” (p. 70). Long-term meditators averaged 103 months and 85 days of retreat training. They did not differ from short-term meditators on measures of absorption, neuroticism, trait anxiety, or cognitive style; however they evidenced greater self-awareness and acceptance. The short-term meditators actually had more than a year of meditation experience so that differences between groups are not likely to be due to self-selection. The authors conclude that “meditation brings about sustainable changes in people’s lives, above and beyond relaxation. … [and] that greater conscious awareness through mindfulness techniques such as Vipassana meditation, increases acceptance, positive mood, and the ability to dispassionately observe one’s mental states. These results have implications for clinical issues such as pain management and psychotherapy, in which acceptance and awarenss are necessary ingredients for therapeutic change” (p. 78). JH
1997
Jana, Hrishikesh (1997). The development of hypnosis in India. [Unpublished manuscript]
Yoga (specially Meditative Yoga or Savasana) and Transcendental Meditation are integral parts of the cultural heritage of Indians. These and the state of hypnosis possess some of the characteristics in common and all these have been grouped under the heading ‘Altered States of Consciousness’ by the modern psycho-physiological and biological researchers. Hindu saints used to clothe sparsely even in the midst of extreme environmental conditions and the lying down of some yogis on the nail-bed are examples of their super-human tolerance to cold, pain, etc.” (p. 2). Author cites the pioneering work of Dr. James Esdaile using hypnosis for surgical anaesthesia at Hooghly Hospital (1845-1850). Despite India’s culture and the record of Dr. Esdaile, hypnosis often was regarded with suspicion in India. In the early and mid-20th century, physicians (e.g. Dr. N.V. Mody, an obstetrician) had difficulty having their work accepted, but since the early 1970s Dr. Jana and others have contributed to a renaissance in the use of medical, dental, and psychological hypnosis. This paper chronicles the history of hypnosis in the late 20th century in India.
1994
Reader, August L. (1994). The internal mystery plays: The role and physiology of the visual system in contemplative practices. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and
Transformation, 17 (1).
Walsh, Roger (1994, August). Transpersonal psychology–the state of the art. [Paper] Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
Twenty-five years ago a group formed that was called transpersonal psychology, following after humanistic psychology (e.g. Maslow). Some of the humanistic psychologists came into transpersonal psychology. Maslow was interested in healthy people, and in peak experiences that were transpersonal in nature–experiences encompassing wider aspects of life, including mystical experiences.
Peak experiences were thought to be positive, but also overwhelming. When psychologists looked Eastward, they found that there were whole families of these types of experiences, and that they could be induced by will and could be stabilized into not only peak but plateau experiences. There was a reservoir of wisdom in the world’s religions that could be drawn upon. This wisdom is being integrated with Western science to create the discipline of transpersonal psychology.
There is a broad spectrum of altered states of consciousness. Traditionally, altered states of consciousness were thought to be few in number, and usually pathological. Our society has been resistant toward studying them. For example, Esdaile’s use of hypnosis in surgery was not welcomed, even though he was lowering morbidity and mortality because he controlled shock. His paper was turned down for publication. He amputated a leg in front of colleagues in Britain, who commented that he “must have hired a very hard rogue” to have his leg cut off under hypnosis.
Our culture is monophasic, deriving its world view almost exclusively from the waking state; other cultures are polyphasic and also draw their world view from dreams, meditative, or yogic contemplative states, etc. Recently we can apply more sophisticated analyses, to compare states of consciousness and map these out, phenomenologically. There are several key dimensions of experience for mapping the states: 1. Control 2. Awareness of Environment 3. Concentration 4. Mental Energy/Arousal 5. Emotion 6. Identity or Self Sense 7. Out-of-Body Experience 8. Content of Experience
Using these dimensions, we could compare shamanic, yogic, and Buddhist practices.
A Nepalese shaman drums himself into a trance state, demonstrating: 1. Ability to enter and leave an altered state of consciousness and partly control experience 2. Decreased awareness of his environment 3. Increased concentration, fluid attention 4. Increased mental energy/arousal 5. Either pleasurable or not [pleasurable] emotion 6. Separate self sense: may be experienced as a non-physical “spirit” or “soul” 7. Controlled ecstasy (Out of Body experience)
Buddhist meditation is training awareness to examine experience as minutely as possible, in effect a heightened awareness (Vipassana).
A yogic practitioner engages in concentration, focusing on a fixed stimulus and holding it unwaveringly, till it dissolves a sense of separation into a unity with the object, ultimately with the Self.
[Author showed a slide comparing the three.] All three approaches have increased control and concentration. (The Yogi’s is unshakable.) An awareness of the environment is increased for the Buddhist; the Yogi may lose awareness entirely. Others have ecstatic experience; the yogi has enstatic experience. Identity for the shaman is separate (a soul); for the Buddhist awareness is so precise that what was “I” is deconstructed into evanescent flux, into thoughts, images, emotions (like a movie with solitary frames); the yogi dissolves the self sense, but because of fixed concentration the separate self disappears and yogis feel like merging with larger Self.
So now for first time in history we can compare and map both similarities and differences. Now we have new possibilities for understanding and contrasting different practices. We can now differentiate the many states of consciousness that are available. But there are an awful lot of states. Can we find an over-arching framework? For the first time, we can say yes–due to the work of Ken Wilber. This is Developmental Structuralism (looking for common deep structures).
For example, you can identify millions of different faces, and they are surface structures; but they all have a common deep structure. Likewise, if we see that a Hindu creates images of [devas] and a Christian sees saints, they are seeing archetypal images. Likewise, Buddhists experience nirvana in which all phenomena disappear, and so does another group. This [sense of all phenomena disappearing] is common to both, but different from those who see archetypal images. We may be able to come up with a typology of altered states.
Wilber also says that these deep structures and corresponding states may develop in a developmental sequence, with common stages. Three transpersonal stages are subtle, causal, and non-dual. In meditation, first you learn how out of control the mind is, then gradually it quiets and you discover subtle experiences that you usually overlooked. Going further, all thoughts cease to arise, and there is only pure consciousness. Beyond that, images re-arise but are now recognized as projections of consciousness.
Subtle images may be formless (as in pure light, pure sound). The person may pay attention to more and more subtle sounds. Or the images may have form (as in shamanic power animals).
At the casual stage, the person may be aware of consciousness itself, only consciousness, with no objects: pure consciousness, void, the Atman of Vedanta, abyss of gnosticism.
At the non-dual stage, objects arise again: everything is recognized as expressions of consciousness–e.g., Zen’s “one mind.” Consciousness now has awoken and sees itself in all things, unbounded by space and time and limits because consciousness is what creates space, time, and limits. This is Moksha, Enlightenment, etc.
This is not the final task, because the final task is bringing the awakening to the world (Plato’s re-entering the cave, to educate others; Zen oxherder entering the marketplace with help-bestowing hands; Christianity’s “fruitfulness of the soul”). For Joseph Campbell, this was the hero’s return. Toynbee observed that each great contributor had withdrawn and then returned to the world to offer what they had found.
[It is a process of] transforming a peak into plateau experience; an altered state into a trait; stabilized into enduring understanding, and then bringing it back into the world.
Is there evidence for enlightenment? There now is analogical and laboratory support for this. Analogical support is lucid dreaming. Until 20 years ago, Western psychology thought lucid dreaming was impossible, but now LaBerge at Stanford University has shown physiological evidence. We know from every night’s experience that we can create worlds and bodies on which our lives seem to depend. The claim of spiritual traditions is that there is a state of consciousness that bears a relationship to the ordinary [waking] state as lucid dreaming has to nonlucid dreaming. The Dalai Lama said they train yogis to be aware during dreams, not to lose awareness 24 hours a day; then to be aware of dreaming while in a waking period. A Tibetan dream yoga aim is the “great realization,” that everything in existence is like a dream.
Laboratory studies have been done on enlightened people The EEG data obtained while they are sleeping is consistent with lucidity during their dreams and between dreams. Rorschach tests have been done on advanced Buddhist meditators; at the penultimate of enlightenment, they show no evidence of conflicts around sexuality and aggression. The 2000 year old Buddhist texts say that at this stage these issues are resolved.
The implications for our usual state are that normality is not the peak of human development; normality is arrested development. The link between apes and civilization is us! We experience a consensus trance, a collective psychosis, society’s hypnosis. We live in the biggest cult of all: CULTURE. The answer is, “Wake up.”
A most important question is, if it is true that our conventional state of development is suboptimal, how do we develop other states? The classic answer is: take up a discipline, a practice (e.g., meditation, service, being in nature). One problem is that spiritual traditions are usually couched in archaic language, and have accumulated nonsense around them over the years. It is desirable to abstract out the essential elements. That is a recent thrust of transpersonal research.
There are six common elements: 1. Ethics: the moment you sit down to meditate, what emerges is all the unethical stuff you’ve done and what was done to you. Ethical behavior (not conventional morality) is a tool for mind training. 2. Attentional training: ordinarily we cannot sustain attention. (William James said the maximum is 3 seconds.) The aim is to be able to maintain attention on what one wants. It leads to the stabilization of mind, calming. 3. Emotional training: destroying negative emotions (well developed in Western psychology, maybe better than in the Eastern traditions, because we recognize the problem with repression); cultivating positive emotions (where contemplative practices do well, because they offer tools for unwavering, unconditional, and all-encompassing [positive regard]; what is known as agape in Christianity). 4. Redirection of motivation: changing what you want, etc. 5. Perceptual refinement: we mistake shadows for realities; according to St. Paul we “see through a glass darkly.” This enhances sensitivity, accuracy, and subtlety of perception. 6. Wisdom: actually the first element, playing a role all through the path. Initial motivation sees suffering of the world; provides motivation for realizing that there must be another way of living, culminates with deep insight into nature of the world, mind, consciousness, reality (prajna; Christian’s gnosis). When the mind is trained, stabilized, and clarified, the mind has a heightened capacity for understanding.
So for the first time we can recognize the common elements in religions; we can see that the contemplative core contain practices and road maps. This approach recognizes multi-state psychologies and philosophies.
APPLICATION. Many areas of research are developing in transpersonal psychology. These studies have implications for the state of the world. It is only 25 years since the founding of transpersonal psychology. The world’s population has developed to the extent that every four months we are losing as many people from malnutrition as from a Holocaust. Our problems are still solvable. The best population explosion control is to make education available to women in the Third World. The transpersonal vision gives a frame to recognize that we are all connected.
For a fuller account of transpersonal psychology, see R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds). (1993) _Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision._ New York: Tarcher/Putnam.
percentage of beta, alpha and theta brainwave activity. There appear to be definite neurophysiological correlates to the trance channeling state, and furthermore there is some evidence that these correlates may be patterned. This pattern might be provisionally compared to those associated with other altered states of consciousness.
1989
Eppley, Kenneth R.; Abrams, Allan I.; Shear, Jonathan (1989). Differential effects of relaxation techniques on trait anxiety: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 957-974.
Conducted a meta-analysis of studies on the effects of relaxation techniques on trait anxiety. Effect sizes for the different treatments (e.g., progressive relaxation, biofeedback, meditation) were calculated. Most treatments produced similar effect sizes, although transcendental meditation (TM) produced a significantly larger effect size than other forms of meditation and relaxation. A comparison of the content of the treatments and their differential effects suggests that this may be due to the lesser amount of effort involved in TM. Meditation that involved concentration had a significantly smaller effect than progressive relaxation.
Soskis, D. A.; Orne, E. C.; Orne, M. T.; Dinges, D. F. (1989). Self-hypnosis and meditation for stress management: A brief communication. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 37, 285-289.
In a 6-month follow-up study, telephone interviews were conducted with 31 male executives who were taught either a self-hypnosis or meditation exercise as part of a stress-management program. Use of and problems with the 2 exercises were similar, with the percentage of Ss using the techniques falling over 6 months from 90% to 42%. The exercises were used primarily for physical relaxation, refreshing mental interludes, aiding sleep onset, and stress-reduction. Problems with the exercises chiefly involved difficulty in scheduling even brief uninterrupted practice times and discomfort with the techniques. The incorporation of these issues into the clinical teaching of self-hypnosis may be useful.
1985
Delmonte, Michael M. (1985). Meditation and anxiety reduction: A literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 5 (2), 91-102.
Reviews the literature concerning the effects of meditation on self-reported anxiety levels, with emphasis on forms of meditation (e.g., transcendental and Zen meditation) in which a person’s attention is focused. It is noted that meditation is increasingly being practiced as a therapeutic technique and that the effects of practice on psychometrically assessed anxiety levels have been extensively researched. Prospective meditators tend to report above average levels of anxiety. Methodological issues involving the measurement of anxiety levels are examined, and it is noted that reductions in self-reported anxiety are not always accompanied by decrements in behavioral or physiological measures of anxiety. In general, high anxiety levels predict a subsequent low frequency of practice. However, the evidence suggests that those who practice regularly tend to show significant decreases in anxiety. Meditation does not appear to be more effective than comparative interventions in reducing anxiety, but there is evidence to suggest that hypnotizability and expectancy may both play a role in reported anxiety decrements. It is concluded that individuals with a capacity to engage in autonomous, self-absorbed relaxation may benefit most from meditation
Kabat-Zinn, Jon; Lipworth, Leslie; Burney, Robert (1985). The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 8 (2), 163-190.
90 chronic pain patients were trained in mindfulness meditation in a 10-wk stress reduction and relaxation program. Self-report indices, including the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the Profile of Mood States, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, were administered to the Ss to assess multiple aspects of pain and certain pain-related behaviors. Results show statistically significant reductions in measures of present-moment pain, negative body image, inhibition of activity by pain, symptoms, mood disturbance, and psychological symptomatology, including anxiety and depression. Pain-related drug utilization decreased, and activity levels and feelings of self-esteem increased. Improvement appeared to be independent of gender, source of referral, and type of pain. A comparison group of 21 pain patients did not show significant improvement on these measures after traditional treatment protocols. At follow-up, the improvements observed during the meditation training were maintained up to 15 months postmeditation training for all measures except present-moment pain. The majority of Ss reported continued high compliance with the meditation practice as part of their daily lives.
Norton, G. R.; Rhodes, L.; Hauch, J. (1985). Characteristics of subjects experiencing relaxation and relaxation-induced anxiety. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Psychiatry, 16, 211-216.
1984
Holmes, David S. (1984). Meditation and somatic arousal evidence. American Psychologist, 39 (1), 1-10.
The conceptual and methodological issues associated with research on the effects of meditation are reviewed. A summary of the research in which the somatic arousal of meditating subjects was compared to the somatic arousal of resting subjects did not reveal any consistent differences between meditating and resting subjects on measures of heart rate, electrodermal activity, respiration rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, skin temperature, oxygen consumption, EMG activity, blood flow, or various biochemical factors. Similarly, a review of the research on the effects of meditation in controlling arousal in threatening situations did not reveal any consistent differences between meditating and nonmeditating (no-treatment, antimeditation, or relaxation) subjects. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.
Meares, Ainsley (1984). Eine Form intensiver, mit dem Rueckgang von Krebs verbundener Meditation. Hypnose und Kognition, EH, 27-35.
1983
Heide, F. J.; Borkovec, T. D. (1983). Relaxation-induced anxiety: Paradoxical anxiety enhancement due to relaxation training. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 171-182.
The present study was designed to document the occurrence of relaxation- induced anxiety. Fourteen subjects (7 male, 7 female) suffering from general tension and significant levels of anxiety were given one session of training in each of two relaxation methods, progressive relaxation and mantra meditation; order of presentation was counterbalanced. Four of the subjects plus one other who terminated prematurely displayed clinical evidence of an anxiety reaction during a preliminary practice period, while 30.8% of the total group under progressive relaxation and 53.8% under focused relaxation reported increased tension due to the relaxation session. Progressive relaxation produced greater reductions in subjective and physiological outcome measures and less evidence of relaxation-induced anxiety, and the phenomenon was not clearly evident from physiological measures and from subjective ratings even in this clinical population.
plus one other who terminated prematurely displayed clinical evidence of an anxiety reaction during a preliminary practice period, while 30.8% of the total group under progressive relaxation and 53.8% under focused relaxation reported increased tension due to the relaxation session. Progressive relaxation produced greater reductions in subjective and physiological outcome measures and less evidence of relaxation-induced anxiety, and the phenomenon was not clearly evident from physiological measures and from subjective ratings even in this clinical population.
Lehrer, Paul M. et al. (1983). Progressive relaxation and meditation: A study of psychophysiological and therapeutic differences between two techniques. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21 (6), 651-662.
Collected physiological and self-report data on 50 anxious Ss (as determined by the IPAT Anxiety Scale) who participated in a study comparing progressive relaxation, meditation, and a waiting-list control. Data provide some support for the hypothesis of G. E. Schwartz et al that there are specific effects for different relaxation procedures, superimposed upon a generalized relaxation response. The similarities between techniques, however, were greater than the differences, both on physiological and self-report measures. Both techniques generated positive expectancies and produced decreases in a variety of self-reported symptoms and on EMG, but no skin conductance or frontal EEG effects were observed. Progressive relaxation produced bigger decreases in forearm EMG responsiveness to stressful simulation and a generally more powerful therapeutic effect than meditation. Meditation produced greater cardiac orienting responses to stressful stimuli, greater absorption in the task, and better motivation to practice than progfressive relaxation; however, it also produced mroe reports of increased transient anxiety. No significant differences between conditions in the therapeutic expectancies they generated were found.
1982
Brown, Daniel P.; Forte, Michael; Rich, Philip; Epstein, Gerald (1982-83). Phenomenological differences among self hypnosis, mindfulness meditation, and imaging. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 2 (4), 291-309.
A survey of 122 subjects was conducted to investigate the differences in the phenomenological quality of the experiences engendered by three types of awareness discipline: self-hypnosis (21 Ss), waking dreaming (49 Ss) and mindfulness meditation (25 Ss from a 2-week retreat, and another group of 27 Ss from a 2-day weekend retreat). A questionnaire, the profile of Trance, Imaging, and Meditation Experience (TIME) was used in the survey. Discriminant analyses were used to construct models of the differences in the phenomenological quality of the experiences among the three groups. A number of phenomenological dimensions, in the major areas of attention, thinking, memory, imagery, body sensations, emotions, time sense, reality sense, and sense of self, were found which could accurately distinguish among the experiences of practitioners of the three types of awareness training. Results show that while self hypnosis involves self-referential thinking, memory changes, and intense emotions, waking dreaming emphasizes the immediate impact of emerging images, which unfold in a thematic manner and have a sense of their own reality. Mindfulness meditators have difficulty managing distractions, but with experience learn greater awareness of bodily processes, and experience changes in the perception of time and self; mental processes seem to slow down, and awareness assumes an impersonal quality. No attributions as to the causes or sources of these phenomenological differences are made, as the survey was not large enough to provide comparison groups, subject matching, or other statistical controls necessary for causal analyses.
the immediate impact of emerging images, which unfold in a thematic manner and have a sense of their own reality. Mindfulness meditators have difficulty managing distractions, but with experience learn greater awareness of bodily processes, and experience changes in the perception of time and self; mental processes seem to slow down, and awareness assumes an impersonal quality. No attributions as to the causes or sources of these phenomenological differences are made, as the survey was not large enough to provide comparison groups, subject matching, or other statistical controls necessary for causal analyses
Credidio, Steven G. (1982). Comparative effectiveness of patterned biofeedback vs meditation training on EMG and skin temperature changes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 20, 233-241.
Examined whether a low arousal, relaxation pattern of frontalis EMG decreases and peripheral skin temperature increases could be attained more effectively through biofeedback or meditation training. 30 21-59 yr old females were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: patterned biofeedback, clinically standardized meditation, or control. Prior to training, Ss were administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Each S was seen weekly for 7 sessions. Subjective experiences and time spent practicing at home were also recorded. Results indicate that the meditation group showed significantly lower EMG levels at the end of treatment than did the control group. The biofeedback group had difficulty in patterning the 2 feedback signals simultaneously. Extraverts in the control group had the highest EMG levels. The most positive subjective reports came from Ss in the meditation group. It is suggested that meditation offers a viable alternative as a relaxation procedure, requiring little time to learn and devoid of any performance criteria levels.
Larbig, W.; Elbert, T.; Lutzenberger W.; Rockstroh, B.; Schnerr, G.; Birbaumer, N. (1982). EEG and slow brain potentials during anticipation and control of painful stimulation. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 53, 298-309.
Cerebral responses in anticipation of painful stimulation and while coping with it were investigated in a ‘fakir’ and 12 male volunteers. Experiment 1 consisted of 3 periods of 40 trials each. During period 1, subjects heard one of two acoustic warning stimuli of 6 sec duration signaling that either an aversive noise or a neutral tone would be presented at S1 offset. During period 2, subjects were asked to use any technique for coping with pain that they had ever found to be successful. During period 3, the neutral S2 was presented simultaneously with a weak electric shock and the aversive noise was presented simultaneously with a strong, painful shock, again under pain coping instructions. EEG activity within the theta band increased in anticipation of aversive events. Theta peak was most prominent in the fakir’s EEG. A negative slow potential shift during the S1-S2 interval was generally more pronounced in anticipation of the aversive events than the neutral ones, even though no overt motor response was required. Negativity tended to increase across the three periods, opposite to the usually observed diminution. In Experiment 2, all subjects self-administered 21 strong shock-noise presentations. The fakir again showed more theta power and more pronounced EEG negativity after stimulus delivery compared with control subjects. Contrary to the controls, self-administration of shocks evoked a larger skin conductance response in the fakir than warned external application.
A published case study by Pelletier (1977) reported EEG theta enhancement during pain control states, which were maintained by EEG feedback of alpha and theta bands. That author concluded that EEG theta was necessary for the control of pain psychologically.
The authors of this article measured slow brain potentials (SBPs) and vertical eye movements (VEMs). Principal components analysis of the EEG wave forms found three components: theta (4-5.6 c/sec), alpha band (9-10 c/sec) and high frequencies (above 14.4 c/sec) plus harmonics loading in frequencies of 3.2-4.5 c/sec, 7.5-9, and above 15 c/sec.
Alpha “decreased over periods in the parietal record and was virtually absent in the fakir’s EEG during period 3” (p. 301). The fakir had a lot of non-sinusoidal, especially square wave, activity.
“Very pronounced negativity was recorded preceding the aversive S2, greater than under neutral stimulus conditions …. This difference was most pronounced at the vertex … The late negativity increased over periods in control subjects … especially in anticipation of the aversive S2 … . This contrasts with the usually observed decrease of SBP components over trials. As is shown in Figure 2, the PCA [principal components analysis] yielded two components for the 2.0 sec S2 interval, a positive deflection, which can be assigned to the P300 complex (here not reported), and a negative deflection, labeled post- imperative negative variation. … This negative component increased over periods, being more pronounced in response to the aversive stimulation … with increasing differentiation over period …” (p. 302-303).
The fakir undertook an elaborate self hypnosis or trance induction to achieve analgesia that he had previously demonstrated in the laboratory (thrusting 4 unsterilized metal spikes into his abdomen, tongue, and neck without bleeding). This included “long- continued fixation on a point above the eye-brows. Blank facial expression, staring eyes, and a very low rate of eye-blinks indicated a trance-like state (periods without eye-blinks more than 30 min)” (p. 299). During the experiment itself, the fakir showed few ocular movements during the second and third periods. He also demonstrated large skin conductance responses, recorded from the second phalanges of the index and middle fingers of the left hand, to the aversive S1.
Experiment 2 was designed to emulate the self-administered aversive stimulation that the fakir routinely undertook, by having the volunteer Ss hold a switch that they pressed twice/minute, giving themselves a mild shock and an aversive noise. (These were the same aversive stimuli as were used in Experiment 1.) There were 21 self-paced button presses.
Three additional measures were taken: 1. Bereitschaftspotential (BP) – the mean negative shift during the 0.3 sec interval prior to the motor response of pressing the switch 2. Postimperative component (PINV) – the mean negative shift 0.9 to 1.9 sec after stimulus onset, i.e. elicited by closing the microswitch 3. Skin conductance response (SCR) – maximum change in skin conductance level during five second interval after the motor response of pressing the switch.
The fakir, but not the control Ss, showed a pronounced precentral PINV on each single trial of Experiment 2. He also showed pronounced SCRs (indicating autonomic arousal), which was even greater than the SCRs of control Ss. His subjective pain rating was 1 in Experiment 1 (compared with 6.4 for controls) but 8 during Experiment 2 (compared with 5.7 for controls), on a scale of 1 to 10 maximum. Thus the fakir’s pain increased from Experiment 1 to 2, while for many volunteer Ss it decreased 2 or 3 points. When interviewed, he said that “intention and motor commands prevented the fakir from getting into ‘trance’ satisfactorily. Consequently, he reported to have experienced the aversive stimuli as more painful than in experiment 1. Thus it might be that the observed PINV indicates the noncontingency between the demand for coping and the failure to cope or the discrepancy between expected control and presently experienced control” (p. 307).
In their Discussion, the authors speculate that control of pain such as can be achieved by the fakir may involve dissociation of higher (possibly thalamic and cortical) and lower (reticular formation) arousal structures. Their observation of slow brain potentials (theta) recorded in anticipation of painful or aversive stimuli is in agreement with earlier published studies. However their observation of increasing negativity in anticipation of aversive stimuli is in contrast to previous research findings, in which diminution of negativity is generally observed.
Both the fakir and subjects showed a post-stimulus negative shift in response to the S2; this has been “observed in normal subjects under conditions of change from controllable to uncontrollable aversive stimuli… and/or from obvious response- consequence contingencies to unpredictable control over the S2… PINVs were associated with an unexpected change in contingency or the inability to resolve ambiguity. Since a relationship was found between PINV amplitude and subjective ratings or experienced aversiveness of the painful stimulation, it may be speculated that obvious failure in coping with pain (i.e. more experienced pain) together with the requirement to cope (induced by instructions and experimental setting, giving rise to increased expectancy for control), produced a PINV (and probably feelings of uncontrollability together with a state of reactance and frustration) in the present experiments. In accordance with this point of view, it is of particular interest that only the fakir showed a more pronounced PINV in experiment 2, in which subjects delivered the painful stimuli to themselves. A postexperimental interview revealed that intention and motor commands prevented the fakir from getting into ‘trance’ satisfactorily” (p. 307).
Meares, Ainslie (1982-83). A form of intensive meditation associated with the regression of cancer. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 25 (2-3), 114-121.
Elsewhere I have reported a number of cases of regression of cancer following intensive meditation. This type of meditation is characterized by extreme simplicity and stillness of the mind, and so differs from other forms using a mantra, awareness of breathing or visualization of the healing process. Any logical verbal communication by the therapist stimulates intellectual activity in the patient. So communication is by unverbalized phonation, reassuring words and phrases, and most important, by touch. There follows a profound reduction in the patient’s level of anxiety which flows on into his daily life. The non-verbal nature of the meditative experience initiates a non-verbal philosophical understanding of other areas of life.
Shapiro, Deane H. (1982). Overview: Clinical and physiological comparison of meditation with other self-control strategies. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139 (3), 267-274.
In 1977, the American Psychiatric Association called for a critical examination of the clinical effectiveness of meditation. The present author reviews the pertinent literature and defines meditation as a family of techniques that attempt to focus attention in a nonanalytical way and attempt not to dwell on discursive, ruminating thought. Meditation is then compared with such self-regulation strategies as biofeedback, hypnosis, and progressive relaxation. Particular attention is given to the “uniqueness” of meditation as a clinical intervention strategy as well as the adverse effects of meditation. Future research should deal with the context of meditation, a component analysis, refinement of the dependent variable, S variables, and the phenomenology of meditation.
Stoyva, J. M.; Anderson, C. (1982). A coping-rest model of relaxation and stress management. In Goldberger, L.; Breznitz, S. (Ed.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 745-763). New York: The Free Press.
“Patients with psychosomatic or stress linked disorders are likely to show signs of high physiological arousal, and they are likely, under stress, to react strongly in the symptomatic system and to show evidence of being deficient in the ability to shift from the coping to the rest mode (e.g., slowness of habituation to, and recovery from, stressful stimulation). A corollary inference is that such patients … show activity in the symptomatic system for a higher percentage of the time that [sic] do normal subjects. We suggest that this defect in the capacity to shift to a rest condition is the principal reason that various relaxation procedures have so often proved successful in the alleviation of stress related symptoms” (p. 748).
The authors refer to a number of different stress management procedures. Among those associated with primary focus on the rest phase they include: Relaxation training (progressive relaxation, autogenic training, EMG feedback, meditation [Zen, TM]), Specific biofeedback (hand temperature, electrodermal response [EDR], EMG from particular muscle group), and Systematic desensitization. Among those associated with primary focus on coping phase are: Assertiveness training, Social skills retraining and motor skills retraining, Self-statements, Imagery (Guided waking imagery, autogenic abreaction, covert reinforcement and covert sensitization, behavior rehearsal). These various procedures may reflect three dimensions or aspects of the stress response, with some addressing physiology and others addressing cognition or behavior change.
“Rachman (1978) … found it useful to divide the phenomenon of fear into physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components. Similarly, Davidson and Schwartz (1976) conceptualized relaxation as consisting of somatic, cognitive, and attentional components. Phillips (1977) argued that pain, such as headache pain, can be viewed as consisting of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological aspects (and that, consequently, we should not expect high correlations between headache pain and a particular physiological measure such as forehead EMG level). …
“… In discussing contemporary studies of dreaming, they [Stoyva and Kamiya (1968)] proposed that there is no single, totally valid indicator of dreaming as a mental experience. Instead, there are several imperfect indicators of the dream experience–verbal report, rapid eye movements, and certain electroencephalographic (EEG) stages. … Discrepancies among the indicators can serve to generate hypotheses” (p. 749).
The authors discuss different ways of retraining the capacity to rest: relaxation training (including biofeedback, etc.), systematic desensitization; and of reshaping the coping response: assertiveness training, social skills and motor skills retraining, self- statements, imagery techniques; and discuss controllability. These notes cover only a very small part of their extensive review, the material most relevant to hypnosis and suggestion.
“Although imagery techniques are often employed by stress management therapists, one approaches this area with ambivalence. In part, this uneasiness springs from the unsettling awareness that imagery techniques have been embraced by a freewheeling assortment of lay psychologists such as Emil Coue, Dale Carnegie, and Norman Vincent Peale, not to mention a diverse throng of contemporary ‘mind controllers’ and self-styled healers. A more serious source of uneasiness is ignorance of the specific processes at work. What are the mechanisms by which imagery affects the stress response?” (p. 756).
“There is intriguing recent evidence that simply the illusion of control may exert beneficial effects. Stern, Miller, Ewy, and Grant (1980) noted that subjects who were led to believe by means of bogus information feedback that they were successfully lowering their heart rates showed a reduction in stress type symptoms, especially those of a cardiovascular nature. It seems possible that the feeling of control may be an important part of what we have called ‘placebo responding.’ Stoyva (1979b) suggested that this phenomenon is probably not a unitary entity but, rather, a cluster of processes, of which the feeling of developing control over factors affecting one’s disorder is an important and potentially manipulable component of therapeutic interventions” (p. 758).
change.
“Rachman (1978) … found it useful to divide the phenomenon of fear into physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components. Similarly, Davidson and Schwartz (1976) conceptualized relaxation as consisting of somatic, cognitive, and attentional components. Phillips (1977) argued that pain, such as headache pain, can be viewed as consisting of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological aspects (and that, consequently, we should not expect high correlations between headache pain and a particular physiological measure such as forehead EMG level). …
“… In discussing contemporary studies of dreaming, they [Stoyva and Kamiya (1968)] proposed that there is no single, totally valid indicator of dreaming as a mental experience. Instead, there are several imperfect indicators of the dream experience–verbal report, rapid eye movements, and certain electroencephalographic (EEG) stages. … Discrepancies among the indicators can serve to generate hypotheses” (p. 749).
The authors discuss different ways of retraining the capacity to rest: relaxation training (including biofeedback, etc.), systematic desensitization; and of reshaping the coping response: assertiveness training, social skills and motor skills retraining, self- statements, imagery techniques; and discuss controllability. These notes cover only a very small part of their extensive review, the material most relevant to hypnosis and suggestion.
“Although imagery techniques are often employed by stress management therapists, one approaches this area with ambivalence. In part, this uneasiness springs from the unsettling awareness that imagery techniques have been embraced by a freewheeling assortment of lay psychologists such as Emil Coue, Dale Carnegie, and Norman Vincent Peale, not to mention a diverse throng of contemporary ‘mind controllers’ and self-styled healers. A more serious source of uneasiness is ignorance of the specific processes at work. What are the mechanisms by which imagery affects the stress response?” (p. 756).
“There is intriguing recent evidence that simply the illusion of control may exert beneficial effects. Stern, Miller, Ewy, and Grant (1980) noted that subjects who were led to believe by means of bogus information feedback that they were successfully lowering their heart rates showed a reduction in stress type symptoms, especially those of a cardiovascular nature. It seems possible that the feeling of control may be an important part of what we have called ‘placebo responding.’ Stoyva (1979b) suggested that this phenomenon is probably not a unitary entity but, rather, a cluster of processes, of which the feeling of developing control over factors affecting one’s disorder is an important and potentially manipulable component of therapeutic interventions” (p. 758).
Throll, D. A. (1982). Transcendental meditation and progressive relaxation: Their physiological effects. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38 (3), 522-530.
Measured oxygen consumption, tidal volume, respiration rate, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure before the Ss learned Transcendental Relaxation Meditation (Transcendental meditation: N = 21) or Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation (PR: N = 18). Ss were tested immediately after learning either technique and again 5, 10, and 15 weeks later. While there were no significant differences between groups for any of the physiological variables at pretest, the Transcendental meditation group displayed more significant decreases during meditation and during activity than did the Psychological Review group. Both groups displayed significantly lowered metabolic rates during Transcendental meditation or PR. The generally more significant and comprehensive results for meditators were explained primarily in terms of the greater amount of time the Transcendental meditation group spent on their technique, plus the differences in the two techniques themselves. Several avenues for future research are discussed.
amount of time the Transcendental meditation group spent on their technique, plus the differences in the two techniques themselves. Several avenues for future research are discussed.
Woolfolk, Robert L.; Lehrer, Paul M.; McCann, Barbara S.; Rooney, Anthony J. (1982). Effects of progressive relaxation and meditation on cognitive and somatic manifestations of daily stress. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 20 (5), 461-467.
Compared meditation and progressive relaxation with self-monitoring control as treatments for symptoms of stress. 34 Ss were assigned to either the progressive relaxation, the meditation, or the self-monitoring control group and were given 5 sessions of training. All Ss self-monitored stress symptoms throughout the study and had their behavior rated weekly by a spouse/roommate. Results show that the progressive relaxation and mediation treatments significantly reduced stress symptomatology over time.
1981
Fling, Sheila; Thomas, Anne; Gallaher, Michael (1981). Participant characteristics and the effects of two types of meditation vs. quiet sitting. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 37 (4), 784-790.
Randomly assigned 61 undergraduate volunteers to Clinically Standardized Meditation (CSM), quiet sitting (SIT), or wait list1 and 19 others to Open Focus (OF) or wait list2. Ss were tested before training and again 8 weeks later. All groups but wait list2 decreased significantly on Spielberger’s trait anxiety. All groups became nonsignificantly more internal on Rotter’s locus of control. On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, meditation volunteers were more introverted than extraverted, intuitive than sensing, feeling than thinking, and perceiving than judging. All groups became more intuitive, approaching significance for CSM only. OF became significantly more extraverted than both CSM and SIT, and CSM significantly more so than wait list1. Practice time correlated with anxiety reduction for the combined treatment groups. More evidence was found for correlations of practice time and outcome with growth motivation than with either new experience motivation or expectancy of benefit
Throll, D. A. (1981). Transcendental meditation and progressive relaxation: Their psychological effects. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 37 (4), 776-781.
Administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory, and two questionnaires on health and drug usage to 39 Ss before they learned Transcendental Meditation (TM) or Progressive Relaxation (PR). All Ss were tested immediately after they had learned either technique and then retested 5, 10, and 15 weeks later. There were no significant differences between groups for any of the psychological variables at pretest. However, at posttest the TM group displayed more significant and comprehensive results (decreases in Neuroticism/Stability, Extroversion/Introversion, and drug use) than did the PR group. Both groups demonstrated significant decreases in State and Trait Anxiety. The more pronounced results for meditators were explained primarily in terms of the greater amount of time that they spent on their technique, plus the differences between the two techniques themselves.
1980