1. STRESS MANAGEMENT and CONSCIOUSNESS
A Health Enhancement Seminar
HCC Counseling Department
Prepared by:
Dr. Alvarez, LPC, LMFT

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. WHAT ARE THE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS?
Ordinary consensual consciousness (reality)
Altered states of consciousness (altered reality).
Dream consciousness (dream reality).

5. BRAIN WAVE PATTERNS AS CORRELATES OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
BETA : alert wakefulness
ALPHA: relaxed wakefulness
THETA: slower than alpha
(sleep begins)
DELTA: sleep (slow-wave)

6. ORDINARY CONSENSUAL REALITY
Beta brain wave activity.
Alert wakefulness.
Purpose is censorship.
Screen/assess self and others.
Defenses are fully activated.
Physical reality.

7. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Alpha brain wave activity.
Relaxed wakefulness.
Super alertness.
Creative realm.
Eureka experience.
Spiritual realm.
Euphoria.
Ecstasy.
Sublime.
Epiphany.
Nirvana.

8. ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Relaxation.
Self-hypnosis / hypnosis.
Meditation.
Prayer.
Dance and active physical exercise.
Artist in creative work.
Under the influence of mood-altering substances.
Addictions (drug, sex, food, gambling, etc.).
Psychosis.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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).

13. 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).

14. 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.

15. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF STRESS
Physical effects.
Psychological & emotional effects.
Relational effects.
Career & vocational effects.
Spiritual effects.
Effects on creativity.
Financial effects.
Absenteeism.
Effects on productivity & morale in the workforce.
Drugs and Alcohol Abuse / dependence.
Increased crime rate.

16. 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.

17. WHAT ARE STRESS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES?
Nutrition and sleep.
Exercise & breathing.
Develop new activities or hobbies.
Cultivate spirituality or creativity.
Time management.
Relational Mgt.
Avoid mood-altering substances.
Live within your means (Budget).
Work honestly.
Watch you words.
Counseling & psychotherapy.

18. 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.

19. RELAXATION TECHNIQUES: Altered states of consciousness
VISUALIZATION
IMAGERY
AUTOGENIC TRAINING
HYPNOSIS
ENERGY WORK
YOGA (TM, KUDALINI, etc.)
PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION (pmr)
ACTIVE PHYSICAL EXERCISE

20. Relaxation Techniques (You Tube)
BREATHING EXERCISE
PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION

21. REFERENCES
Seaward. B. L. (2018). Managing Stress. Principles and strategies for health and
wellbeing (9th Ed.). Jones and Bartlett
Learning, Burlington, MA.