Can An Altered State Tell Us Anything About ‘Unaltered’ Consciousness?

Despite continued research into the issue, the precise manner in which a large cluster of neurons delivers a sense of consciousness remains a mystery. Hypnosis has been described as an altered state of consciousness. If we could determine in what ways it is altered, then that may give us a lead into explaining the unchanged original. One of the biggest changes is to the sense of volition; people feel that things ‘just happen’, without their input. That could be a good starting point – except that therapists say, “Don’t worry. You can’t be made to do anything against your will!” Oh dear, it’s not going to be easy!

Peter is retired now, but continues to take an interest in research; he was in at the start of a newly-established group in Oxford, focussed on the consciousness issue. It was at Oxford that he gained his doctorate, and then embarked upon a varied career, based around research, both in academia and for the Ministry of Defence. He was a keen science communicator, for several years running the Psychology Section of the British Science Association. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and is a past-president of their section for Hypnosis and Psychosomatic Medicine.