ideas and interests, psychophysiological perspective of boredom    consultation and services for boredom and sleep complaints    reviews of boredom book    center for the study of boredom and entertainment    contact Augustin de la Pena    boredom related links


Augustin de la Peña, Ph.D.
Consultant and Writer

Psychology and Psychophysiology of

Boredom/Interest • Entertainment • Excitement • Alertness • Sleepiness/Fatigue


BIO and CV

Augustin de la Pena, consultant, writer, interest-entertainment and sleep-arousal disorders specialist
In December of 1942, I was first-born to Hortencia Munoz and Augustin de la Pena, both natives of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.  I attended public schools in Brownsville, Texas, where I  played cornet in the band and developed a love of reading, thinking, writing, and listening to classical music.  I have three brothers:  Tony, Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas; David,  a music education/band instructor in Austin public schools (recently retired); and Dan, a high school math teacher in Kerrville, Texas.  

 
Education

  1960-1964 University of Texas, Austin; B.A., psychology major, mathematics minor; graduated cum laude, with special honors in psychology
  1964-1970 Stanford University, Stanford, California; Ph.D.; specialty: cognitive developmental psychology and developmental sleep-wake psychophysiology
  1971-1973 University of California, Los Angeles; postdoctoral research training in developmental sleep-wake psychophysiology
  Work Experience

  • 30 years of clinical/research experience in sleep/sleep disorders, and as director
    or associate director of sleep disorders centers in California and Texas
  • Provision of clinical diagnostic and treatment service for~3,000 individuals complaining of sleep problems
  • Spearheaded successful accreditation effort for three sleep disorders centers
  • 15 years of medical school teaching and faculty service


  1973-1974 Research Psychologist, UCLA Medical School, Department of Psychiatry
  1974-1989

Chief, Clinical Psychophysiology/Sleep Labs, Veterans Medical Center, and Assistant-Associate Professor, UT Medical School, Dept. of Psychiatry; University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

 

Present: Associate Director of the Sleep Program; sleep disorders center in Weslaco, TX

 
 

Consulting; Review, Writing, and Editing of Research Grant Applications on

Psychophysiologic study of individuals complaining of/manifesting insomnia, hypersomnia, Alzheimer’s, ADD; computer-assisted polysomnography

Clinical Certification

Board-Certified Sleep Specialist, American Board of Sleep Medicine (since 1989)

Publications

Approximately fifty publications (journal articles, book chapters, book, abstracts, book reviews), which include:

A research abstract providing the original description of the “reverse first night effect” in the differentiation of subtypes of chronic insomnia

A book chapter describing an originally-conceived conceptualization of the etiology and modulation of insomnia complaints, which also provided an original schema for the psychophysiological evaluation and treatment of insomnia complaints; this chapter appeared in the first book published in the United States on the diagnosis and treatment of the full-range of sleep disorders

Two book chapters and a book (The Psychobiology of Cancer: Automatization and Boredom in Health and Disease, Praeger, New York, 1983) on the psychophysiology of boredom/interest, outlining boredom’s possible modulation of various bodily-expressed disorders (some types of cancer, hypertension, pain syndromes, etc.), PTSD, and a variety of behavioral (hyperactivity, violence), eating, and sleep disorders


Magazine and Newspaper Interviews on Boredom, Sleep, Health

Self (women’s health magazine), Being (Japanese science magazine), Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Cincinnati Enquirer, Esotera (German science/philosophy magazine), Feeling Great (women’s heath magazine), New Age Journal, Men’s Health Newsletter, Muscle and Fitness, Chicago Tribune, Adult Continuing Education and Development Newsletter, London Daily Mail, Santa Barbara News Press, Rodale Press (publisher of books on various health topics), Prevention (women’s health magazine), Science and Spirit

Professional Affiliations

American Psychological Association
American Psychological Society
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness

Recently Completed Book Manuscript (Seeking Publisher)

Working title: Knowledge, Automatization, and Boredom: A Seminal Dynamic Modulating Behavior, Cultural Change, and Our Enormous, Always-Growing Need for Entertainment, Community, and Spiritual Experience

Contact Information

I reside in McAllen, Texas. Please e-mail me at adelapen@prodigy.net or click on the Contact bar of this webpage and keyboard your message in the designated space.

 

ideas and interests, psychophysiological perspective of boredom    consultation and services for boredom and sleep complaints    reviews of boredom book    center for the study of boredom and entertainment    contact Augustin de la Pena    boredom related links

Web page designed & maintained by Phil Tijerina