Introducing the New Clarity Meter
- Specialty Biofeedback
The Clarity Meter is a revolutionary new bio-monitor for
use in the various modern processes of personal transformation.
It is used for discovering and handling suppressed or repressed thoughts,
memories and impressions which impact upon one's behavior and feeling of
well-being. The utilization of the Clarity Meter can significantly enhance
the speed and effectiveness of many kinds of developmental therapies, regression
techniques and meditation procedures. Furthermore, its usefulness and versatility
in the experimental exploration of the human thought process is unparalleled.
The amount of time saved and increase in effectiveness
through the use of the Clarity Meter is hard to believe if you have never
seen it in use. This is because the efficiency of your procedures
are not only enhanced by the speed with which significant issues are found
and brought to light but also by the substantial time saved by detecting
when the emotional charge on a personal issue has been released! In other
words, the Clarity Meter provides a useful indication that a personal issue
which is being dealt with has indeed been handled, and that the client is
now ready to deal with other issues.
What distinguishes the Clarity Meter from less sophisticated
(and less expensive) GSR meters on the market is its highly responsive meter
movement and specialized, highly-amplified circuitry. The meter
movement on most GSR meters is used merely to determine the "baseline"
value (overall electrical resistance of the subject's body), and is an off-the-shelf
industrial movement with sufficient sensitivity for ordinary electronic
and research applications. The movement on the Clarity Meter is an expensive
component, specially manufactured for us to be highly responsive to the
slightest mental impulses. It easily shows important patterns of movement
which are missed on other meters. The electronic circuitry of the Clarity
Meter is built with cutting-edge, ultra-modern technology to provide
distinct, precise reads even at high baseline settings where ordinary GSR
meters become weak or inaccurate. Furthermore, a special innovative AutoSens
circuit automatically adjusts the sensitivity (or gain) to the different
baseline positions, so that uniform mental impulses from the subject produce
uniform reads throughout the range of body resistances. Whether used on
another or on oneself, this feature is invaluable for conserving the operator's
valuable attention and energy for dealing with the subject or client.
The Clarity Meter costs $790.95 US.
This includes: the meter, a hard case, regular sensors,
sensor leads, auxiliary power supply, instructional videotape and a Book
of Experimental Procedures.
The
Clarity Meter far surpasses other meters used for psychotherapy and personal
enhancement. It is the culmination of over fifty years of technical development
in bio-monitoring. It was designed to give the best performance, reliability
and versatility available. The Clarity Meter is recommended for use by students
of the Meta-Programming course, an advanced course of spiritual development
delivered by Tools for Transformation.
Features:
- Extremely Sensitive - In Manual Mode, ultra-high amplification
can be set to read on the most subtle mental impulses at any baseline
level.
- AutoSens - In Auto Mode, special advanced innovative circuitry
automatically show reads of same intensity at the same size throughout
the baseline range.
- Ultra-Modern Electronics - Unaffected by temperature change.
No pre-session trimming or after-session trim check required.
- Electronic Baseline/Range Accumulation Counter - Shows, on LCD
readout, accumulated drops in range position, an important indication
of session progress.
- Powered by normal Alkaline Batteries - Eight AA cells run for
months of normal use, are easily and cheaply replaced. No ni-cad battery
servicing.
- Low Battery Indicator - Gives advance notice when it's time to
change the batteries.
- Auxiliary Power Supply - Allows the Clarity Meter to run from
house current, by-passing the batteries. If desired, the meter can be
run totally without the batteries installed, using the Auxiliary
Power Supply unit.
- Rugged Steel Enclosure - Shields sensitive electronics from outside
electro-magnetic interference. The unit is small and compact, measuring
only 6" x 8 3/4"x 1 3/4".
- Use It Right- or Left-Handed - Upright position with centered
Range Pointer-Knob allows the same instrument to be used right- or left-handed.
Perfect for those who work right-handed with clients and left-handed
on themselves.
- Attractive, Unique, Professional Appearance - The Clarity Meter
does not look like equipment that is identified with any organization
or practice. Metallic teal or powder blue color looks wonderful
in any professional setting.
- Clear, Easy-to-Read Dials and Markings - The Range Dial and Pointer-Knob
clearly show current Range position, as well as allowing an instant recognition
of changes in the balance point and their relative size. These important
indications can be easily seen without having to constantly compute them
from digital readouts, as in some other meters.
- Large Meter Face - Though the unit is compact, the movement face
measures 5 5/8" wide x 4 1/2" high, giving excellent visibility
via peripheral view - important for those who want to keep their
primary attention on the client. It is clearly marked so that relative
sizes of reads are easily estimated, important in assessing "charge"
on multiple items.
- Made in USA - Rugged construction should give constant reliable
service; but the Clarity Meter can be easily serviced if necessary right
here in the USA.
- Attractive and Professional-Looking Electrodes - Specially-manufactured
sensors are a pleasure to hold in the hands. They attach to the wire leads
with special electrical plugs, giving a positive connection and
easy disconnection when desired - far better than alligator clips or permanent
connections. The electrodes are finished with a heavy, long-lasting
plating. Optional Solo Sensors are available for self-use, and connect
to the same wire leads as the Standard (double) Sensors.
- Rugged Hard Carrying Case - Unbreakable black synthetic case
with protective cushioning protects the Meter, stores Sensors and Power
Supply Unit.
The Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
Meter
by Peter Shepherd
Psycho-analytical procedures are greatly enhanced by the
use of a simple GSR Meter, a type of psycho-galvanometer. This serves
to point out to the practitioner those emotionally "charged"
topics which pass through the subject's mind, either consciously or pre-consciously.
Without this device the practitioner is relying solely on body language;
with the device, therapeutic procedures are so much more effective that
it is now possible to use powerful techniques much more efficiently and
successfully, and even to apply them upon oneself as the subject. The
Monitor operates by the Galvanic Skin Response of the body.
The Galvanic Skin Response
The simple psycho-galvanometer was one of the earliest tools of psychological
research. A psycho-galvanometer measures the resistance of the skin
to the passage of a very small electric current. It has been known for
decades that the magnitude of this electrical resistance is affected,
not only by the subject's general mood, butalso by immediate emotional
reactions. Although these facts have been known for over a hundred years
and the first paper to be presented on the subject of the psycho-galvanometer
was written by Tarchinoff in 1890, it has only been within the last
25 years that the underlying causes of this change in skin resistance
have been discovered.
The Tarchinoff Response is a change in DC potential across neurones
of the autonomic nervous system connected to the sensori-motor strip
of the cortex. This change was found to be related to the level of cortical
arousal. The emotional charge on a word, heard by a subject, would have
an immediate effect on the subject's level of arousal, and cause this
physiological response. Because the hands have a particularly large
representation of nerve endings on the sensori-motor strip of the cortex,
hand-held electrodes are ideal. As arousal increases, the "fight
or flight" stress response of the autonomic nervous system comes
into action, and adrenaline causes increased sweating amongst many other
phenomena, but the speed of sweating response is nowhere near as instantaneous
or accurate as the Tarchinoff response.
The most advanced layers of the cortex, unique to Man, link to the
thumb and forefinger especially, and there is a further complex physiological
response which occurs when the forebrain is aroused. Changes in Alpha
rhythms cause blood capillaries to enlarge, and this too affects resistance.
By virtue of the Galvanic Skin Response, autonomic nervous system activity
causes a change in the skin's conductivity. The overall degree of arousal
of the hemispheres, and indeed the whole brain, is shown by the readings
of the GSR psychometer, which does not differentiate between the hemispheres,
or between cortical and primitive brain responses. Higher arousal (such
as occurs with increased involvement) will almost instantaneously (0.2
- 0.5 sec) cause a fall in skin resistance; reduced arousal (such as
occurs with withdrawal) will cause a rise in skin resistance.
Thus a rise or fall relates directly to reactive arousal, due to re-stimulation
of repressed mental conflict. Initially this may cause a rise in resistance
as this emerging, previously repressed, material is fought against.
When the conflict is resolved, by the viewing of objective reality -
the truth of exact time, place, form and event - there is catharsis
and the emotional charge dissipates; the release of energy giving a
fall in resistance.
The Being or "Higher Self" is involved, because it is the
Being that knows the objective truth and therefore is in conflict with
distorted mental contents. The Being, however, is not part of the brain;
it is a quality not a quantity, and is essentially not anywhere, except
by consideration. The Being is a non-verbal knowingness that lies back
of mental awareness and activity, but which is capable of influencing
the composite human being, through will and creative choice, by postulate.
Jung and Mathison
One of the first references to the use of GSR instruments in psychoanalysis
is in the book by Carl Gustav Jung, entitled "Studies in Word Analysis",
published in 1906. Here the Swiss psychologist describes a technique
of connecting the subject, via hand-electrodes, to an instrument measuring
changes in the resistance of the skin. Words on a list were read out
to the subject one by one. If a word on this list was emotionally charged,
there was a change in body resistance causing a deflection of the needle
of the galvanometer. Any words which evoked a larger than usual response
on the meter were assumed to be indicators of possible areas of conflict
in the patient, and these areas were then explored in more detail with
the subject in session. Jung used observed deflections on the meter
as a monitoring device to aid his own judgement in determining which
particular lines of enquiry were most likely to be fruitful with each
subject.
Without amplification, this device was difficult to use, thus it remained
as little more than a laboratory curiosity until the development of
sophisticated valve amplifiers in the 1930s. Once a portable psycho-galvanometer
with amplification was available, the idea of using a psycho-galvanometer
was picked up with enthusiasm by criminologists. These meters became
known as "lie detectors", and have been used by various police
forces, in this manner, for more than 60 years. On the other hand, little
further work was done in psychotherapy with the psycho-galvanometer,
until Biofeedback Research in the 1970s using the psycho-galvanometer
in connection with meditation and relaxation became popular.
Biofeedback is the technique of self-regulation of awareness states
by the subject. The level of cortical arousal is central to a person's
level of awareness, so a machine that can measure this factor is of
the first importance in biofeedback. Many papers have been presented
on this subject over the last 25 years, and the most important findings
of this research are:
1) A low level of cortical arousal is desirable for relaxation,
hypnosis, and the subjective experience of psychic states and unconscious
manifestations.
2) A high level of cortical arousal gives increased powers
of reflection, focused concentration, increased reading speed, and
increased capacity for long-term recall.
3) Cortical arousal has a simple relationship to skin conductivity.
Arousal of the cortex increases the conductivity of the skin and conversely,
a drop in arousal causes a drop in skin conductivity. With a sensitive
meter the level of arousal can be brought under conscious control.
With a few hours' practice the level of arousal can be consciously
controlled over wide limits.
Volney Mathison was a pioneer in the discovery that all fears, feelings
and resentments - all thought and emotion - were electrical in their
nature. He found through experiments with lie-detectors during the
1940s that when a person was reminded of certain past events, or when
a change of mood was induced in him, the needle in the meter would
jump erratically; the degree of jump was in proportion to the strength
of unconscious reaction. In skilled hands the meter could be used
to locate a particular mental content, the nature of that content,
the location of that content in space and time, and the amount of
force contained within it.
His researches with lie-detectors in the 1940's made it possible
for Volney Mathison to go on and invent the modern type of portable
transistorised GSR meter - a type that has survived with very little
change, until the present day. The Hubbard E-meter was based on its
design; contrary to propaganda, these early types of meter worked
well. Mathison went on to develop a word-list to be used in conjunction
with the GSR meter. He would ask the subject under analysis, to take
hold of the meter-electrodes, then he would read this list of words
to him. Without fail, some of these words would trigger a response
on the meter, and in some cases violently. Whenever this was the case,
Mathison knew that these words were associated with violent and negative
fear or resentment that had its origin in unconscious (reactive) complexes
in the subject's mind. Most of the time, the subject was completely
unaware that he was reacting on the meter in this way.
Reversal Theory
It has long been known in biofeedback research, that meditation and
relaxation procedures cause a rise in skin resistance. It has therefore
been assumed that high and low skin resistance correlate directly
with relaxation and stress respectively, and that a high resistance
indicates a pleasant relaxed state of mind, whereas low resistance
indicates tension. However, the reverse is true in a psychotherapy
session. When repressed material is coming to the surface (e.g. material
associated with guilt or pain), the skin resistance rises and the
client experiences feelings of tension; thus in a therapy session,
high skin resistance indicates tension, and not relaxation as in meditation.
Then, when the repressed material reaches the surface and the negative
emotion discharges, there is usually a sudden large drop in skin resistance
and the client experiences relief. This demonstrates a correlation
between low skin resistance and relaxation of tension, which is in
contradiction to the pattern of research findings in meditation.
This contradiction has been noted by Dr. Apter of Bristol University
in his book "Reversal Theory". He refers to this as Paradoxical
Arousal. His discoveries are that high arousal can be pleasant and
exciting when a person is in the (active) Paratelic state, whereas
high arousal is experienced as unpleasant in the (thinking) Telic
state.
Apter's findings are that a person with a heavy traumatic history
experiences high arousal as unpleasant, because the cortical arousal
is unequal due to restimulation. It can be demonstrated in many cases
that one hemisphere is aroused more than the other, as seen on the
Bilateral Meter (a special type of differential GSR meter using twin
double-electrodes). In contrast, when cortical arousal is uniform
this is experienced as a pleasant state of high energy (the Bilateral
meter reflects this).
This is similar to Freud's early findings, that high arousal in a
neurotic is experienced as internal excitement, which is unpleasant,
whereas a person who is substantially free from neurosis experiences
arousal as energy for incitement, i.e. energy for action. Our findings
substantiate Freud's early findings. Proportional to a client's erasure
or transcendence of traumatic material there is an increased capacity
to operate at high arousal, in a relaxed state without discomfort,
and at a high emotional tone.
In order to resolve the paradox, I suggest that it would be more
effective to correlate high and low skin resistance, not with "relaxation"
and "stress" but with "withdrawal and "involvement"
respectively; both these terms can refer either to a relaxed or to
a tense state. The state of withdrawal is relaxed when it means detachment
from worldly cares or abandoning responsibility (Telic); and withdrawal
is experienced as tense when it means an inability to confront repressed
material (Paratelic).
Involvement is experienced as tense when it means over-reach or anxiety
(Telic), and is experienced as relaxed when it means enhanced awareness,
or when there is a flash of insight and the sudden clearing away of
a mental blockage caused by repressed material (Paratelic). A client
who is involved in the session of analysis will be in the Paratelic
state; if he goes "out-of-session" this will be a reversal
to the Telic state:
It is for the above reasons that a fall of the meter
needle, i.e. an increase in arousal, is usually more useful than
a rise, i.e. a decrease in arousal, when a list is being assessed
to find a case entry point - the most appropriate item to handle.
Usually, unless the arousal is too high due to overwhelm or terror,
the fall of the needle indicates involvement, hence increased awareness
and the ability to access and confront charged material. However,
when the needle rises in response to a particular word or concept,
this indicates withdrawal; it indicates in most cases that the client
does not wish to take responsibility for this area of address.
Towards, Against & Away
Suppressed emotional conflict causes a build-up of
stuck energy in the mind, where conflicting flows (such as 'must
do' versus 'can't do') form a mass or 'ridge' of energy. When such
material is restimulated by events or by bringing up that topic
in a psychotherapeutic session, the Biofeedback Monitor may respond
in several ways. If the material is too hard to experience or confront,
it is repressed and there will not be an instantaneous response
on the meter, but as the energy builds up the client becomes dissociated
and falls in arousal as a defense, and there is an increase of basal
resistance. The ridge will remain in restimulation but out of consciousness,
until attention is directed to the item and it is confronted. This
is a flight away from the material.
If the client is able to view the material, some of
the suppressed emotional charge is released, causing a fall in resistance.
This happens instantly and means that the material is accessible
to the client. However the mental defenses may kick in and cause
a backing off or resistance to the material, because its content
may be hard to face with equanimity. This stops the release of charge
and the resistance may then rise. The material is still accessible
but the client is fighting against it.
A rise, then, relates to material which is being confronted
but is also fought against. If viewed directly, the contents may
overwhelm the client, and the client moves away from it in fear,
which causes a high emotional arousal and fall in resistance, followed
by a blocking off of the material and subsequent rise in resistance
and suppression of the experience. This is what might happen outside
the safety and guiding control of a therapist. But if the material
is discharged gradually and safely by appropriate therapeutic techniques,
the client becomes able to move toward the material, confronting
and experiencing it openly, and gradually letting go of his defences
against it. The release of charge - energy previously used in suppression
- increases arousal and there is a fall in resistance that is experienced
pleasurably. The client is able to integrate the experience and
so is not fighting it or fleeing from it but rather going towards
it.
FAQ about Galvanic Skin Response
Q: What is your basis of assumptions that
values lower than 5K ohms indicate a high level of brain arousal
( tense level) and values higher than 25K ohms indicate low arousal
and withdrawal from the mind (calm level)?
A: The use and callibration of the GSR meter
is based on experience with many subjects undergoing psychotherapy.
When a topic is encountered that causes tension, such as the remembering
of a traumatic experience, the basal resistance falls, sometimes
quite dramatically. Similarly a 'fall' occurs if some information
that is withheld is nearly being found out, or if a serious upset
is being recollected (from current experience or the past). There
are many other such 'case' issues which cause this instantaneous
meter response.
At the point of overwhelm by such emotional arousal,
the resistance measures about 5K ohms; below that the person is
unable to look further at the topic or experience. What can happen
then is a complete shut-off where the resistance climbs up to 25K
ohms or beyond; the person is in a state of dissociation, unable
to confront the issue and in this 'safer' space, may feel subjectively
better, although still suffering from the repressed undercurrents
of the issue being addressed. This highly suggestible state is similar
to that achieved by deep hypnosis or certain meditatation practices
where consciousness is much reduced. (Note that Monroe techniques
that attain a 'mind awake-body asleep' state do not suffer from
this dissociation and accompanying high basal resistance, and neither
do truly enhancing meditation techniques).
A client may indeed begin in this low consciousness
state, with a high basal resistance, and as the right topic is found
and he is gradually directed to confront the issues or experience
involved, the resistance will lower. With guidance, though, he will
not become overwhelmed but be able to look fully at the experience
and become neither tense nor overly relaxed about it, as he realizes
how his subsequent thoughts had not been rational, resulting in
the bad feelings associated with it. So a mid-range resistance is
the healthiest state.
Normally, though, when an issue is first brought to
a client's attention, the subject itself will cause an increase
in arousal (instantaneous drop in resistance) that is 'reactive',
i.e. a stimulus-response reaction from the pre- or sub-conscious
- this suppressed emotion one can call 'charge'. Then he will back
off from it somewhat, causing a rise in resistance. Then, as it
is therapeutically addressed, the resistance moves back to a mid-range
position. With competent therapy, a client is not so badly overwhelmed
when addressing the issue that the resistance 'falls out the bottom'
as described above. So you can see that the GSR meter is a valuable
aid in the psychotherapeutic process, both in detecting the most
'highly charged' issue to address (usually the most accessible,
though with suppressed emotional undercurrents); and also to guide
the handling of the issue, leading to an equanimity in facing up
to it fully.
In the optimal balanced state it is also found that
left and right brain hemispheres are equally aroused and phase-synchronous
in their wavelengths - this can be monitored with the Bilateral
Meter. There are no suppressed 'fight or flight' emotions and at
the same time there is full involvement and alertness. States of
genuine 'high consciousness' that are not dissociative but are insightful
are indicated by balanced measurements on both the GSR and Bilateral
Meters, and a needle movement that gently 'floats' or oscillates
in an unforced manner.
There is more to states of 'high consciousness' than
left/right brain synchrony. Peak experiences, states of release
from previous suppression, OOB, lucid and transcendent experiences,
all involve 'unusual' brainwave patterns - the balance of delta,
theta, alpha and beta frequencies - that mirror the state of consciousness.
Monroe brainwave entrainment brings about hemispheric synchrony
but also affects the brainwave pattern. For example, OOB and lucid
dreaming experiences may be triggered by attaining the mind awake-body
asleep state: the mind is kept awake by beta stimuli even while
the body sleeps due to delta waves, and visualisation is stimulated
by alpha frequencies. Certain patterns may be measured (using real-time
EEG equipment) in successful meditators which show that they are
not dissociated or mentally switched-off (with corresponding high
basal resistance) but instead they retain full alertness and attentiveness
even though the body is deeply relaxed.
Q: How and where you get these values?
(experiment,statistical analysis and etc.)?
A: The range 5K-25K is from practical observation
of many clients; below 5K and above 25K the client is less able
to address any issue objectively.
Q: Can you site the medical explanation
on how skin resistance is being measured?
A: The level of brain arousal affects emotional
state and fortuitously this affects skin resistance - a symptom
convenient to measure through two electrodes in contact with the
skin, across any two points on the body. For example, the two points
may be adjacent on one hand or across from one hand to the other.
If an EEG is used simultaneously, you will observe the increase
of brain arousal corresponding to the changes of measured skin resistance.
The best point at which to measure skin resistance is the thumb
and forefinger because this part of the body is most heavily represented
neurologically in the evolutionarily advanced thought centres of
the brain used to manipulate objects, and therefore closely in touch
with will, left brain focused action and right brain contextual
holding.
Q: Can you give other reasons for the occurence
of tensions?
A: The initial 'backing off' of reduced confront
(rising resistance) is the result of denial of responsibility in
the area addressed, a feeling of being at receipt of another's cause.
The aim of the case handling is to turn this around so that the
person takes responsibility for his own decisions, actions and feelings;
this increased confront results in a mid-range resistance. The kind
of things that can make a person feel at effect are painful experiences
and outcomes, suppression of needs and wants, withheld communication,
frustration through attempted manipulation of another, or another
refusing to listen, or a problem that seems insurmountable. When
emotional tension is suppressed, it doesn't go away, it festers
and affects rational thought. When the suppressed topic is touched
on again in therapy, it will be clearly visible as an instantaneous
fall in resistance, corresponding to arousal of the sympathetic
nervous system 'fight/flight' response, and visible on the meter
through the psychogalvanic response affecting skin resistance. Relaxation
of this tension occurs much more slowly through the parasympathetic
nervous system, as homeostasis is restored.
A useful illustration of how tension and relaxation
need to be balanced for optimal functioning is seen in the sexual
response. Sexual arousal is a parasympathetic function and so is
destroyed by tension, such as may be caused by anxiety or upset
and the associated suppression of feelings and communications. At
the same time there has to be enough tension - interest and involvement
- for sexual arousal to occur, so a dissociated withdrawn state
is equally unfunctional. When these issues are resolved sexual function
returns to normal.
Q: What biological component(s) of our body
carries the skin resistance?
A: The skin is just the surface contact with
electrodes; in fact it is the entire body resistance that is being
measured, and this is affected by nervous system reponses as a whole
- it isn't just a response of increased conductivity caused by increased
sweat emission. In addition the nervous system is an electrical
system affected by the more subtle energies of the body's chakra
system as well as thought energies and communication flows and blockages.
The mind and the spiritual consciousness (to a greater or lesser
extent) directing it is not merely contained in the physical brain;
rather the nervous system is a conduit between the etheric or metaphysical
and the glandular and muscular actions of the body. The body, too,
has its own dynamics, genetically based and centered on survival,
and this body-mind interacts with the etheric; indeed in many persons
it is dominant.
We hope the above information clarifies the reader's
understanding, as well as introducing some concepts that will probably
be new to most biofeedback exponents.
Testimonials
"The Clarity Meter sets a new standard for price,
quality and performance in clearing meters. It has a quality feel
to it, the way the range pointer-knob feels, the needle moves."
-Peter Reese
Holistic Clearing Practitioner
Mill Valley, California
"I have found the new Clarity Meter an invaluable
tool in my practice as a counselor of some 25 years. It is wonderful
to know exactly what is happening with my client, to have the certainty
to know we are addressing the correct item - and when that item
has been cleared. My clients love the meter and look forward to
the process of discovery that the meter provides us."
--Aerial Long
Personal Growth and Trauma Counselor
Beaverton, Oregon
"I've been using my new Clarity Meter, and I
must say that it is everything you said it was. It is delightfully
easy to use. The balance control moves much more smoothly, and at
maximum sensitivity the meter really shows up things enormously.
I had to cut back from maximum, as I didn't need that much sensitivity
to do what I was doing. In short, I am highly satisfied with it,
and am on new voyages of discovery."
--Bob Ross
Professional Clearing Practitioner
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