Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

PsychWork:
Sleep Technologist
Circadian Rhythms: Life Cycles
Daydreams: Dreams without Sleep
Becoming an Informed Consumer 
of Psychology:
Sleeping Better
Hypnosis and Meditation
Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming Experience?
Meditation: Regulating Our Own 
State of Consciousness
Exploring Diversity:
Cross-Cultural Routes 
to Altered States of Consciousness
Drug Use: The Highs 
and Lows of Consciousness
Stimulants: Drug Highs
Depressants: Drug Lows
Narcotics: Relieving Pain and Anxiety
Becoming an Informed Consumer 
of Psychology:
Identifying Drug 
and Alcohol Problems
What is hypnosis, and are hypnotized people in a 
diff erent state of consciousness?
● 
What are the 
eff ects of meditation? 
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140
Prologue
 Out of Control
Annie Fuller knew she was in trouble a year ago, when in the 
space of a few hours she managed to drink a male co-worker 
more than twice her size under the table. Of course, she’d 
been practicing for a quarter of her life by then; at 47, she was 
pouring a pint of bourbon, a 12-pack of beer, and a couple of 
bottles of wine into her 115-pound body each day. She had 
come to prefer alcohol to food, sex, or the company of friends 
and loved ones. Her marriage had ended; she had virtually 
stopped leaving the house, except to work and to drink. Fuller 
had tried and failed enough times over the years to know that 
she would not be able to sober up on her own. (Interlandi, 
2008, p. 36)

Looking
Ahead

Annie Fuller was an alcoholic—a person who abuses alcohol to 
the point where it causes serious life problems. A common 
experience of alcoholics is that they develop a resistance to 
alcohol, having to consume ever greater quantities of it to 
achieve the same eff ects, as Annie Fuller experienced. What those 
eff ects are, why people fi nd them so pleasurable, and why some 
people become alcoholics are some of the questions we will 
address as we turn our attention to the study of consciousness.