Consciousness

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Consciousness is a concept with no one clear definition. It is often used to describe the presence of multiple simultaneous independent streams of thought within one body (as with polyconscious), or even the presence of multiple conscious/sentient agents within one body (as with multiplicity in general). It may also describe the level of awareness a headmate has of the outerworld, as is indicated by co-conscious.

Definitions
Putnam provides a brief historic overview and definitions of "states of consciousness": The concept of state, mental state or state of consciousness, originally derived from the Latin status, meaning condition of being, has a long and complex history beyond the scope of this paper. The concept of states of consciousness came into its present usage by the end of the eighteenth century, was central to the early descriptions of hypnotic phenomena, and remains a privotal idea in modem psychology. Today the term is widely used in the psychological and psychiatric literature and represents an unquestioned assumption in many clinical formulations and psychological theories. The supposition of a dichotomy between state and trait properties is, for example, central to much of the current research in biological psychiatry.

While there is no single definition of state that covers the range of clinical uses, the one proposed by Emde et al. (1976), drawing on earlier work by Prechtl and his colleagues (Prechtl et aI., 1968), is a good place to begin. They define state as: "A constellation of certain patterns of physiological variables and/ or patterns of behaviors which seem to repeat themselves and which appear to be relatively stable (p. 29)." Wolff (1987) also citing Prechtl's contributions, further adds that states are "ensembles of self-organizing variables" and notes that "state transitions [switches] are discontinuous relation-ships among ensembles of state variables rather than linear changes along a quantitative continuum of levels of arousal or excitation (p. 19)."

Ludwig gives a definition of consciousness between members as well: The appearance of these alter personalities may be on a "coconscious" basis (ie, simultaneously coexistent with the primary personality and aware of its thoughts and feelings) or separate consciousness basis (ie, alternating presence of the primary and alter personalities with little or no awareness or concern for the feelings and thoughts of each other), or both.

History
The term "double consciousness" was first used in the 19th century to describe phenomena that would later be classified as multiplicity. In this context, consciousness as a reference to a system member was in use since at least 1849.

The terms co-conscious and subconscious are used synonymously by Prince in the 20th century to refer to "split-off, dissociated ideas" as well as system members who remain aware while another member is active. He describes co-consciousness in a system member as "[having] perceptions, feelings, and trains of thought distinct from and synchronous with [another system member]".

Later, Kluft used the term "co-conscious" in context with, if not clearly defined as, "the sharing of contemporary awareness and memory" and refers to them "listening", implying some awareness of shared reality.