Coma and near-Death Experience: The Beautiful, Disturbing, and Dangerous World of the Unconscious

Explores the extraordinary states of expanded consciousness that arise during comas, both positive and negative• Examines the experiences of those who have survived comas• Demonstrates how a key element of the brain is switched off by coma-inducing sedatives, allowing the mind to break free from the body• Shares proven alternatives to medically-induced coma that are safer for treating critically ill patients and kinder for the patients and their familiesEvery day around the world, thousands of people are placed in medically-induced comas. For some coma survivors, the experience is an utter blank. Others lay paralyzed, aware of everything around them but unable to move, speak, or even blink. Many experience alternate lives spanning decades, lives they grieve once awakened. Some encounter ultra-vivid nightmares, while others undergo a deep, spiritual oneness with the universe or say they have glimpsed the afterlife.Examining the beautiful and disturbing experiences of those who have survived comas, Alan and Beverley Pearce explore the mysterious levels of consciousness this near-death experience unlocks. They demonstrate how a key element of the brain is switched off by coma-inducing sedatives, allowing the mind to break free from the body and experience a greater expansion of consciousness. Revealing the dangers of deep sedation and other intensive care procedures, the authors show how comas are unnecessary more often than not and that many coma survivors go on to suffer lasting cognitive and physical harm. Exploring proven alternatives to medically-induced coma, they share tried and tested protocols that are safer for critically ill patients and kinder for the patients and their families.Showing how we can avoid the suffering caused by comas, this book reveals the wide variety of conscious states that can arise during comas, both positive and negative, and how accepting the reality of these experiences is crucial not only to the recovery of coma survivors but also t