Coming out of Intensive Care Crazy: Dreams of Affliction

Abstract

The impetus for this article was the author's experience of illness, necessitating 5 months of hospitalization, 7 weeks of which were spent in a coma in an intensive care unit (ICU). The origins and general characteristics of ICUs are noted. A pastiche of illness narrative is constructed to allow for the author's own comment on his experience. The intensive care syndrome (ICS), a permeable category, continuing the aftermath of surgery and the social, psychological, mechanical, and pharmaceutical effects of the unit itself, is discussed. Dreams of affliction, a component of the ICS, are explored; the prior sociological history of the neglect of dreams, an essential universal, is also pointed out. The author's dream forms and their shamanistic parallels are explored. In Foucauldian language, they are considered a product of the fragmentation of the cosmological spirit, whereas the author was a medical object and mechanical appendage. Nursing is in a strategic position to make patients' dream narratives their own as an aid for understanding illness.

“Being somewhere else”—delusion or relevant experience? A phenomenological investigation into the meaning of lived experience from being in intensive care.

“…Papathanassoglou and Patiraki (2003) also hypothesize that such experiences may be seen as heightened spirituality during the illness, thereby providing strength in the situation as well. This ''trace'' is supported by the sociologist Richman (2000) who suggests that he survived, having been in such a situation himself, only by having his soul elsewhere. Henry tells us convincingly that his mountain trip, and being comforted in the tent, gave him strength to go on.…”

A survey of Malaysian Critical Intensive Care unit nurses’ awareness of patients’ transition experiences (PE) and transitional care practice (TCP)

“…In particular alterations in physical function may result from traumatic injury or debilitating effects of an illness itself, manifesting as muscle weakness, recurring pain, sleep difficulties, polyneuropathies, poor appetite, voice and taste changes all of which can reduce overall functional capacity (Needham, 2008;Richman, 2000). These observations can be supported by Kelly and McKinley's (2010) study on patients' recovery after critical illness at early followup.…”

Surviving Critical Illness: A Case Study in Ambiguity

“…Many of the participants in this study described ''hibernating in a cocoon'' and then re-emerging into life with a new sense of purpose (p. 19). Papathanassoglou and Patiraki (2003), as well as Richman (2000), described these patients' experiences as dreams or illusions. Other authors writing in the medical literature have described these experiences as unreal experiences, hallucinations, dreams, illusions, or hypnagogiac states Maddox et al, 2001).…”

“…There are a limited number of qualitative studies describing patients' first person accounts of the actual ICU experience (Papathanassoglou & Patiraki, 2003;Richman, 2000). However, a literature search did not locate any qualitative studies of either the patient or the family member's psychological reactions to critical illness.…”

“…Two qualitative studies described patients' first person accounts of being critically ill in the ICU (Papathanassoglou & Patiraki, 2003;Richman, 2000). A central theme in these accounts is the hallucinations or dreams that ICU patients often experience during their hospitalization.…”