Consciousness has always been a particularly elusive concept and one vigorously argued in the scientific community. This new volume takes on the task of defining normal and altered consciousness in their most relevant clinical terms. In States of Consciousness, Andrzej Kokoszka expands on the pioneering work of J.H. Jackson, offering contemporary models for studying consciousness as it applies to both pathology and normal altered states like relaxation, sleep, meditation, and hypnosis. He makes clear distinctions between the neuroscientific and psychiatric components of consciousness; at the same time, his theories are rooted firmly in the biopsychosocial approach.

Dr. Kokoszka is currently the head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland and author of more than ten books in Polish. He is a psychiatris, psychologist, psychotherapist, and group analyst trained at the Institute of Group Analysis in Heidelberg, Germany; cognitive-behavioral therapists with the certificate of Italian Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy and has been a visiting fellow at University of Oxford, University of California at Irvine, Cleveland State University, and Wayne State University in Detroit.