1 - On States of Being

Thesis: we have multiple states of being, which together amount to consciousness. We switch between them, and failure to switch smoothly creates difficulties.

History of views on personality states:

(1) A patient’s hypnoid states

People with dissociative disorder shift between states sometimes without remembering the personalities they leave behind--manic and depressed states

Appears to be caused by trauma

(2) James, a Harvard prof of psychologist and psychologist, toyed with NO2

He felt the human mind experienced multiple realities, influenced by his experiments with NO2

He detailed the properties of states of consciousness

(3) Scientists experienced with drug-altered states to get into certain states

This is a biology backed movement in psych

Certain brain states may relate to unique behaviors, emotions, etc., linking the brain and mind together, and providing an explanation of mental illness

Infants have basic states and switch (switches are probabilistic transitional pathways) between them, and external environments shape new states and their abilities to transition into them

We can test and observe with physio and math

Even without dissociative memory disorder (DID), we struggle to remember things learned in other states/fight internally--and help can be required

These states explain hypocrisy

Switches can be induced by drugs, and in many people, they create a sexual identify around that transcendental experience

Meditation is knowing to increase control over physio brain activities, allowing control over switches

2 - Our First States

Chapter thesis: states can be identified and modelled, and these states are widely applicable. States are influenced, in infants, from interaction with mothers Also,

Infants only cry in response to hearing crying in alert personality states post-6 weeks

There is a biological attunement between mother and child, both being increasingly aware of the other’s personality states

There are about 5-10 infant states, measured by physio states, and they switch between them

Switching from A to B is different from B to A

Understanding switches is key to understanding mental disorders, as we have leverage in switching when in control

You can map state space in 3D for babies, and see which states predictably switch into the others through environmental disruption or time passing

Attunement: mother-child interaction

The most critical process in child development is attachment in the first year of life with the mother

Allows child to regulate emotional states better

Depressed mothers do not have high attunement with their child

3 - Brain States

Kid had recurring dream of being a tiger and would attack things at night, couldn’t be woken up

He was a premature baby and had learning disabilities

We have sleep stages we cycle through at night, and in REM, stage 5, people sometimes sleep talk, walk, etc.

Sleep stages are impacted by stress, drugs, trauma, etc.

People who skips cycles (e.g., 2 to 5) have sleep disorders that trigger walking, etc.

We have excellent tech now that can look at the electric impulses deep in the brain

We match brain activity to states of consciousness

Depression

Treated with either meds or therapy, which, respectively, target old and new parts of the brain

Pain

Felt differently by people in different brain states

Vegetative states

Neural imaging can be used to tell if someone is aware

Microstates are defined as whole brain activity represented as a topographic map of the brain that is “segmented” into zones based on a measure of the strength of electrical activity districted across the individual’s brain

The idling brain has a characteristic pattern of activity

Characterized by four microstates

It makes people unhappy

We have mind-reading abilities from this brain imaging software

Nonlinear dynamical systems are the mathematical representation of state switching--chaotic behavior

There tend to be groupings indicating states Isomorph: the idea that there was something that remains essentially the same across the many levels of understanding of our brain-mind

Microstates to brain states to moods to personality

Descartes argued dualism: mind the seat of consciousness and brain, intelligence

The concept of “State” is an isomorph linking mind and body, as it spans empirical microstates to consciousness personality

4 - Changing States

Usually, we don’t even notice we changed states (e.g., drowsiness to sleep) until after, though with people going from manic to depressed (bipolar), it’s obvious

Most depression medications trigger a switch to mania in bipolar patients

Panic attacks can also be triggered

Some people switch into catatonic states

DID people have multiple personality states, usually with different races, genders, ages, speech patterns, etc.

Some people can switch on demand between them

Rapid switches between DID personality states are characterized by an abrupt disruption in heart rate, respiration, etc., with chaotic brain activity, until it settled into the new state

The subjects say they are totally separate people, but evidence doesn’t look like this is the case

5 - Memory & Identity

Sometimes people show up with DID, not knowing who they are

DID occurs across multiple cultures with similar symptoms, it’s not a hoax

We use memory to have a continuation of self

Memory and identity are inextricably linked

Loss of memory (hypothesis) triggers shifting identities

We have memory systems relatively independent of one another

We have different kinds of memory: short, long term, (explicit and implicit) etc.

Berne characterized behavior in the form of three basic ego states: child, parent, and adult

Most people have many mental and identity states, and a therapist must work with the most relevant ones

When a simmering state signal appears, the therapist should slow the patient down and find the cause

We all share a propensity to selectively remember learned information and life experience depending on the context/identity we are in at a given moment

The basic principle: information learned in one state is best remembered in the same state

6 - Secret Lives: Personality and Its Paradoxes

The entitle we call personality can simultaneously host discrepant versions of self

Although all of the conventional models account for important aspects of personality, none explain people with secret lives

The state model, which views personality as the aggregation of an individual’s state of beings, is helpful

Anthrax investigation focused on an esteemed researcher who had a deviant second personality he couldn’t control or remember, but it’s unclear if he sent the anthrax

Freud thought personality is the end result of developmental psychosexual life stages

If there’s a disruption in development, a fixation can be created at that stage, strongly expressed in the child’s adult personality

Oral: sucking/swallowing (alcohol, smoking)

Anal: obsession with cleanliness/messy

Phallic: obsession with other sex parent

Latency: repressed sexual desires playing with same-sex peers

Genital: repressed sexual desires

It’s key for children to create attachment to be secure from environmental stressors

Personality disorders are an enduring pattern of behavior contrary to general social expectations

People often force transitions out of their normal personality states (e.g., hard workout, masturbating, drinking)

Classical and operant conditioning produce long-lasting changes in behavior

We have a substantial amount of subconscious behavior

Teenagers compartmentalize identities they develop from groups they’re surrounded by

Especially girls, and especially girls subject to traditional gender roles at home

The prototypical metacognitive disorder (failure to be self-aware) is a disorder of memory

Borderline personality disorder (BPD)--many have a history of childhood sexual abuse