Our mind is a machine? Part 2

Continuing with the theme of the mind, in this chapter I am going to talk a little about the awareness.

The awareness is the knowledge we have of ourselves and the outside world, is the distinctive feature of mental life, which allows us to realize what is happening and remain alert to reality. It is the result of the simultaneous action of a wide series of psychic phenomena. It is based on a faculty of perception that directly extracts information from the outside world through memories stored in memory.

When the elements that make up the consciousness work properly, the individual has a clear perception and assessment of himself, others and the things that surround him: in other words, his conscience is lucid. Lucidity and clarity are synonyms that are used in psychiatry to define the normal situation of consciousness.

The awareness remains alert while the individual is awake. With the dream, it gradually relaxes until it is numb. During normal sleep, the psychic elements of the consciousness remain at rest or are modified; thus, when sleeping, the subconscious expresses itself through dreams.

In the conscious state, stimuli from the outside are integrated into the central nervous system. The anatomical structures that regulate this process are the cerebral cortex, the hypothalamus and the reticular system, which jointly determine the phenomena of awakening, the maintenance of the waking state and sleep.

The awareness can be affected and go deteriorating progressively, until you reach unconsciousness. A first state is drowsiness, a situation similar to the need to sleep with fatigability of psychic functions, especially in attention. When it is accentuated, appears the stupor, in which the subject only responds to intense stimuli. The coma is the maximum degree, in which there is no conscious response to any psychic stimulus.
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Alterations of awareness stem from biological and psychological problems. alcohol, certain drugs, toxic brain substances, acute brain diseases (encephalitis, hemorrhages ...) and tumors can alter consciousness to a greater or lesser degree. Psychological disorders and certain psychiatric illnesses, such as anxiety, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, certain neuroses and hysteria can also cause alterations of awareness.

Awareness and alcohol.

Alcohol is a disturbance of awareness of the first order. They reduce enough conscious awareness to transform a tense, anxious, and slightly depressed individual into a carefree cheerful. Alcohol blocks inhibitions and makes self-criticism disappear, a person may have even more fluency in conversation being quicker wit, more sociable.Source

In some cases with a little more consumption, brain function is reduced to drunkenness. Unclear speech appears, unsafe step, control over emotions and behavior is reduced. In this situation of diminished consciousness there are many fatal accidents, suicides and murders.

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