Video Transcript: Consciousness and Drugs

Hey, what's going on with you? What just happened? Do you see it? No, I think I do. Consciousness, consciousness. Am I aware of what's going on around me?  Do I see it going on here? Do I see it going on there? What's happening with my dog? Wait a minute. Hold on. Make it hit. Make sure he gets back on the on the  sidewalk. How's it going, honey, you doing well on the bike. Boy, this is just a  

long bike ride, sweating up a storm. I'm aware that I'm an activity. I am aware of  what is happening from my brain to my environment, my body, to myself.  Consciousness. Consciousness involves that full awareness, but also what  happens with the brain when it comes to being stimulated or depressed? Are we separated from our spirit and our body. We're going to address these things in  this overview on consciousness to begin with. As far as consciousness, we're  going to look at the definition. Definition is our subjective awareness of  ourselves and our environment, our objective, or subjective, rather, awareness  of ourselves and our environment. According to Freud, remember him, he tells  us the automatic was unconscious. For example, we respond automatically  when the ball is thrown at us. That basketball, if we don't catch it immediately  with our hands up, we'll get hit in the gut, but our hands do go up. It's an  unconscious it's an automatic response, because what we learned in the brain,  of course, learning is going to come later. We touched on that with Skinner  Pavlov, but here again, this where consciousness talks about awareness, the  controlled conscious is different, where then I am aware of what's going on. I'm  in control. Rather than being automatic, I see that I need to put things back on  the shelf, and so I'm aware that books are on the floor, and I can put those  books on the shelf. Consciousness. You are conscious right now that you are  watching this video. This is a controlled, conscious event where you push the  button and the video is on, and here we are talking about the subject Well,  consciousness, not only is about automatic control, but it's also about implicit  and explicit. Implicit unconscious having to do with a memory, implicit memory,  and also explicit memory, going back to our subjective awareness of ourselves  and our environment. So with implicit Remember, I talked about that, that  automatic response in our memory, we remember, okay, I need to put my hands  up to catch the ball, or I must not touch the oven when it's hot. Explicit memory  is where I'm exercising my consciousness, where I'm aware. And things are not  automatic. But then I put things over here, over there, but that I remember  where things are and then put things back to where they need to be explicit so  our consciousness involves be aware from what was Before and also what is in  the now. Rene Descartes, famous philosopher as well as scientist, researcher  philosopher, he said the idea about dualism, that the mind, a non material entity  is separate from, although connected to the physical body. Because what he  thought was is that when it comes to the conscious and the unconscious and the body, he adopted the Greek idea that when we. Look at what is the meaning of  being aware, meaning of being awake and conscious and aware that that is part

of the spirit, or the Spirit that God gave, but the body is separate from that spirit.  Hence the idea that when we die, then that spirit leaves the body separated  from the body and the body decomposes, however, biblically speaking, when we search the Scriptures from that end, we then notice that the whole idea of the  body and the spirit is not what Paul accepts here, he accepts the fact that we  have a full complete body to work with. And the Jewish thought was also of that  same persuasion. In addition, modern day psychologists have disagreed  Descartes in that they have shown through other research that the body and the spirit, the body and the and the consciousness, whether the unconscious or  conscious, as Freud defines, is all hanging together. It is connected well as it's  connected. As we look at this overview, we also look at the different parts of  consciousness, because, as Descartes talked about the separation, we talked  about the unity, and we look at how the unity of the mind and the body and the  conscious the unconscious also are stimulated by not only stimuli around us.  And of course, when we sleep, the patterns of sleep, what happens our  dreams? We're not going to get into that in this video. You may read about more  in your book, but it's also where we consider what happens to the brain and our  consciousness as it is stimulated by things we ingest. Hence, drugs,  psychoactive drugs, drugs that alter the mind in a good way or in a bad way,  positive and negative. Now the drugs in themselves are not bad. They are used  for different purposes and medicinal purposes, that is, however, they can be  abused, as we are fully aware psychoactive drugs. What are they? Let's take a  look. It has to first a chemical that changes our states of consciousness and  particularly our perceptions and moods. There are four primary classes of  psychoactive drugs, which are stimulants, depressants, opioids and  hallucinogens, as depicted in this image. With the Venn diagram, we have the  antipsychotics, the depressants, hallucinogens, the stimulants, different, yet they do interact and with the affect, the affect consciousness by influencing how  neurotransmitters that's what the drugs do they they affect consciousness by  influencing how neurotransmitters operate at the synapses of the central  nervous system. In other words, when I ingest a drug, for example, Tylenol, it  does affect the central nervous system, where it becomes a blocker. It also, as  far as when it comes to pain and relieving that pain. There's more science  involved with that, but that's the general idea. When we look at how a stimulant,  a drug, a psychoactive drug, such as Tylenol or caffeine, which we'll get more  into these examples here in a minute, do affect the brain and thus affect the  consciousness. Well, from the definition of psychoactive drugs and the four  primary classes, we now get into the dynamics of these drugs. You see when it  comes to drugs, we know that they are used to help in a medicinal manner,  more often than not. Unfortunately, they have been used in a non medicinal  manner. As I work in recovery, I work with people who have treated drugs in a  non medicinal manner, their bodies has have become dependent on them. They 

become idols, if you will. They they have a great need. And maybe that's your  struggle today. Maybe that's something that you notice that you can't do without  that glass of beer during the day, and again, no judgment. It's just the fact that  our our bodies become dependent on particular drugs or substances. Maybe it's  caffeine, and caffeine, I'll admit, I like caffeine quite a bit when it comes to my  favorite mug of coffee. Well, again, drugs come in all forms and all situations,  and they're used for different purposes, and here's what happens when we do  interact with drugs. First of all, there's the dynamic of tolerance. Tolerance an  increase in the dose required to produce the same effect. So for example, if I am drinking a lot of coffee, I assume then I build a tolerance to the caffeine that I'm  ingesting. It doesn't have as much effect on me anymore, as well as the effect of staying alert, staying awake, staying energized, and then I find myself I want to  drink another cup of coffee. Yeah, maybe another cup of coffee. And ooh, I need to, oh, it's good coffee. It's stimulating my brain and my conversation and my  mind, and it keeps me moving. However, the body can become tolerant of the  caffeine. That's also in the example, when it comes to the cocaine, when it  comes to the the illicit drugs that we then read stories about or we hear about on the news that kill people because their bodies have become tolerant of that  particular drug that has left led to self destruction. And so we look at the  psychodynamics in that there's also dependency, a need to use a drug or other  substance regularly, and it can lead to detrimental effects. However, when we  look at the person who wants to say, I'm done with using cocaine, I'm done with  abusing alcohol, I admit it, I'm powerless over my addictions and compulsive  behaviors, and my life is unmanageable. I can't do this anymore. My I am sick. I  am ill in the in the brain. The brain has become dependent on this alcohol or this stimulant, and I need to get off of it. That's what we call withdrawal, or in other  word, detoxification, because the drug we've been ingesting has become toxic to our body and our system, withdrawal is, by definition, a negative experience, or  negative experiences, rather that accompany reducing or stopping drug use,  including physical pain and other symptoms. I visited detox units before and  they often will have then the bed and the garbage pail because they throw up,  and also other needed tools to facilitate and help the blankets for the chills the  body is detoxifying, purging Out of them the presence of the the drug of choice,  as well as slowly and eventually becoming less dependent for the moment on  the drug of choice so that person can move forward in the process of recovery.  And recovery, of course, is a spiritual matter, as well as a physical matter in a  biochemical manner, it all hangs together. It's all spiritual. So as you work in the  area of helping people through their drug addiction, which also is a chain  reaction when it comes to relationships, choices, self destructive tendencies and so on, the stimulant, the dependency, the tolerance, we all learn about this  through psychology that comes out of Scripture, but also we learn this through  again, observational exercises that when we notice and we observe and walk 

with the person who is dealing with the dependence and also getting through the withdrawal and getting into or in tune with God, who becomes the All in all, and  not the drug. Well, now you see the connection, and the power of the  substances that, well, of course, God has created. But again, how do we deal  with them? How do we understand them? We're not here to demonize or to to  make drugs into evil things. They can be. When it comes to evil and also sinful  behavior, that's a human issue. We also, of course, at the brokenness and the  fallenness of our world. Well, that takes into the examples of these different  drugs and their affects and effects. We look at the stimulant, the stimulant, well,  it's a stimulant, I referred to this already, and most of you know what it is by  practice and of course, experience, but by definition, a stimulant is a  psychoactive drug that operates by blocking the reuptake of dopamine,  norepinephrine and serotonin in the synapses of this of the central nervous  system. What does that mean? It means it is it has to do with the fact that the  stimulant affects the pleasure centers of the brain. It affects also the the desire  to eat or the desire to engage in meaningful relationships to intimacy. It also  affects our need for other things in our lives that come with human needs that go neglected as that stimulant becomes more and more in charge and in control of  our brains. Well, let's look at caffeine nicotine, for example, caffeine not so much as what nicotine in terms of becoming a very addictive drug and also a very  physically destructive drug when it comes to health and contracting cancer of all  kinds. Caffeine simply is a bitter psychoactive drug found in the beans, leaves  and fruits of plants where it acts as a natural pesticide. You may find that to be  interesting of the term pesticide, but it's natural. It's not something that's  artificially made and not necessarily completely destructive to our brain,  although I would you could then bring it to the extreme and say, if I took several  kilos of nicotine, it would probably harm my body and probably kill me. But when it comes to drinking that mug of coffee, like I showed you earlier, or that cup of  tea, well then it can be done in moderation. There are different things about it. If  I, for example, try to withdraw from caffeine intake, I have headaches and and  I'm drowsy and those kinds of things. But to the extent of what nicotine presents, of course, you see the immature of cigarettes and a second, nicotine is a  psychoactive drug found in tobacco and other members of the nightshade family of plants, where it acts as the natural pesticide again. However, with nicotine, it  has been found to be more addictive than cocaine and other hard drugs, yet it's  the most seductive and the most subtle of drugs. A generation ago, smoking  cigarettes was accepted that two generations ago, it was accepted everywhere  everyone smoked. Then the research started to pick up from the 1960s and the  1970s especially into the 1980s on the 90s, where the research showed a direct  connection with nicotine and a contracting cancer, and how it's bad for the body  and bad for breathing, and also it can make it so that your lungs eventually  cannot breathe anymore because the crystallization of the lungs due to too 

much smoking. And so we've come to understand that about nicotine as that  very addictive drug, and how there have been many efforts, many campaigns of  saying, stop smoking, be rid of it. Try to tell a smoker that at times, it's very hard. However, I do recall with my father in law, as he did use a psychoactive tool  where he then it was called cigarettes at the time, and helped him to work  through things in terms of his thinking. And before my wife and I were married  on August 25 in 1990 31 years ago, almost he came to the wedding smoke free  because it took a year prior to work on the withdrawal and work on the  abstinence and worked on the replacement therapy, if you will, replacing  smoking behavior, for example, with other behaviors that were more life giving.  And he came as a non smoker to the wedding. But another item about nicotine  too, and about smoking and campaigns, I fly over the world due to with our  many mission interests in Asia and Africa. And I'll fly to Dubai, maybe flown  through, flown through Dubai, or Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, or  other parts of the world. And you see, you go through the airport in the duty free  shops are there, and you see the big cartons of cigarettes Marlboro, to be exact, as I as I it for me some years ago, when I walked through one of those duty free  shops, looked right at the selection of cigarettes, not as I was going to buy  anything but it was just interesting. So I always try to pick up on what's going on  sociologically and also culturally, and what's going on there in the airports. I like  to watch people and activity. And so I I looked up and I saw this in large fonts,  smoking kills. Smoking kills. And I was completely surprised, because prior to  this, it was not as blatant, it was not as in your face about how smoking kills. But the Phillips company, parent company of Marlboro, apparently went through  some lawsuits and things of that nature, and they had to change their  messaging, given the proper message that if you buy these cigarettes, there is a high risk of you contracting disease, and therefore death, death. Well, caffeine,  nicotine, well, we get into other examples of stimulants. And with other  stimulants, we then look at these, cocaine and also amphetamines cocaine, an  addictive drug obtained from the leaves of the Coca plant. They used to have  cocaine, by the way, in the drink Coca Cola, until they found out about its  detrimental effects and then took it out. Amphetamines are a stimulant that  produces increased wakefulness and focus, along with decreased fatigue and  appetite and the stimulants, the stimulant to the brain is powerful with these  drugs, cocaine, that can lead to also another form of cocaine called crack, C-R A-C-K, crack and or crank as Another form of it too, where those who are using  cocaine in that form often will and then, as they smoke it with a cocaine a crack  pipe, will often find themselves isolating themselves from rest of the world.  They'll find themselves not eating for days and not involved in sexual activity or  wanting any of their of the other regular desires and to fulfill any of the needs  that the human needs because of what the cocaine is doing to the body.  Amphetamines, that produces increased wakefulness, is used too much where 

researchers or doctors or nurses, they start taking these things because they're  trying to work 24/7, and they can't keep up. So they'll use these uppers, as they  call them, to keep awake well, from cocaine and amphetamines. We then look at 

depressants, depressants. So we go from going up to now going down, and  depressants had to do with a psychoactive drug that reduces the activity of the  central nervous system. Have you ever had it where you want to relax and there is nothing that is helping to relax at all. There is too much chaos, and you just  need to just relax. And that glass of alcohol, whatever it is, wine or beer or  whatever, is there to relax. Of course, the messaging again in the media saying,  Oh, if you deserve it, you should have it relax with that Bud Light or that next  glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, that alcohol. Now, again, there's nothing wrong  with wine. There's nothing wrong with beer. We read about wine and also beer.  And the Bible simply says, don't get drunk on it. Genesis 1, God saw everything  he created and it was good complete. It's what we choose to do, of course. Now  being in the fallen state of this world, what we do with the alcohol, of the wine of  the beer, if it is in if it's ingested in moderation, occasional special events where  you're not dependent on it, then there's nothing wrong. However, if you're finding yourself that you need it every day, every moment, and even for breakfast, then  we need to become concerned that you're replacing alcohol, or replacing your  dependence on God rather, with a dependence on alcohol, because as you  bring a person into recovery, that is where we then look at the dependence on  God over the substance. Let's get back to it as far as depressants, depressants,  depressants, of course, with alcohol and barbiturates, alcohol is actually a  colorless liquid. There's color is added to things like wine. And also, or actually  with the natural processes of how grapes are processed and therefore  fermented there then alcohol then forms. But technically speaking, it's a  colorless liquid produced by the fermentation of sugar or starch that is in the  intoxicating agent of fermented drinks like wine, as I mentioned, or beer.  Barbiturates, on the other hand, are depressants that are commonly prescribed  as sleeping pills and painkillers. There's benzodiazepines, which is a family of  depressants used to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures and muscle spasms.  Again, medicinal. However, if taken inappropriately and abused could be  detrimental to the body, as opposed to healing to the body, and it can be turned  into that depressant, that depressant another family. Depressants are the  opioids, and opioids has become an epidemic in terms of the abuse of them  here in the United States and of course, in other parts of the world. Opioids are  chemicals that increase activity in opioid receptor neurons in the brain and in the digestive system, producing euphoria, analgesia, slower breathing and  constipation and from opioids, we then have opium, which is the dry juice of the  of the unripe seed capsule of the opium poppy, as you see there in one of the  pictures. Here you see the opium poppy there pictured. And then you have the  morphine and heroin expression of the opioid, which is our stronger, more 

addictive drugs derived from opium. And you see the morphine there in name,  with the bottle and the syringe, and of course, the heroin and the powder form  and the syringe as well where it is ingested or taken into the arm. Opioids have  been very detrimental to those who have abused them, and we see that left and  right, unfortunately and yet, with small doses of this, this can be, again, a part of  healing, but it hasn't been. It's been more of a problem. The point really is to  look at what these drugs are. What drugs are, in general, as psychodynamic, as  substances that affect and effect things going on in the central nervous system  and in the brain, which then causes different behaviors to occur, as we well  know, someone who becomes drunk is not in their right mind, someone who is  strung out on cocaine, heroin, they begin to see something different. And this is  also too when it was we understand the brain and understand the psychology,  what happens when what we do to the brain, different behaviors that are  exhibited, different consequences are experienced. And there's a need for Jesus Christ to come in and bring healing to the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy  Spirit, of course, brings the things in the medicine world back into a healthy  balance. That's our hope. More importantly, as you again are in the practice of  ministry, we want you to be aware of what these drugs do to the brain and why,  and there are more details as you read about these stimulants and depressants  in your textbook, more examples, stories and terms that we need to have  understanding of as we go forward in the practice of helping people in the name  of Jesus. Well, we go from here into learning and other behavior as we explore  and continue to journey through the discipline of psychology.