Coma and Near-Death Experience

Foreword

A Wake-Up Call by E. Wesley Ely, MD Contributor’s

Preface
Coma and Consciousness: The Yawning Abyss by Jeffrey J. Kripal

Introduction
A Whole Other Life

PART 1
A World More Vivid than Life Itself
1 You’re Not Just Sleeping Your Time Away
From Confusion and Bliss to the Gates of Hell
2 Fantasies, Dreams, and Lucky Guesses
Or Something That We Have Known All Along?
3 Blinded by Science
And an Awakening to Other Possibilities

PART 2
Shining a Light on the Dimensions of Consciousness
4 The Chattering Monkey And the Strange Things That Happen When Parts of the Brain Switch Off
5 Delirium, Hallucinations, and Something Else
Other Realities and How to Obtain Them
6 Apaches and Poets A Reality Greater than a Mind Could Possibly Bear
7 Dark Brings Light Touching the Void

PART 3
The Reality of Life after Coma
8 The ICU Death Trap How Did We Ever Get It So Wrong?
9 The Awake and Walking ICU
And How Some People Never Learned Their ABCs
10 So, Who’s Going to Pay for All This? (Every One of Us, Unless We Bring about Change) Afterword A Call to Arms by Kali Dayton, DNP, AGACNP-BC

Acknowledgments

Useful Links

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Alan Pearce, is a journalist, broadcaster, former BBC correspondent, and author of several books. He has contributed to numerous publications, from Time Magazine to The Sunday Times of London. Beverley Pearce is a former private investigator who now works as an aromatherapist and a practitioner in yoga-based bodywork. The authors live in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France.

“These amazing insights into ICU delirium, coma, and sleep are critically important to the human condition.” Peter J. Murphy, M.D., professor and chief of medicine at California Northstate University College of Medicine

“This wonderful, well-researched, groundbreaking book explores the mysterious inner world of patients in coma. It points the way to more humane and effective treatment for those patients who are the most vulnerable and unable to speak for themselves. In addition, the authors include a fascinating investigation of other dimensions of consciousness, such as those experienced in NDEs, OBEs, dream states, and induced visions. Significantly, they point out that these experiences may be the overlooked bridge uniting science and spirituality.” Roberta Moore, M.A., M.B.A., filmmaker and former professor at Florida Southwestern State College

"So good! So needed!" Jeffrey J. Kripal, associate dean of faculty and graduate studies, Rice University

“A must-read for anyone who is touched by critical illness, whether they are a patient, family member, or a clinician.” E. Wesley Ely, M.D., professor of medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

“I want all my students to read this book!” Jill Larkin Storer, BSN, RN, CCRN, clinical educator in critical care

CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES

“These amazing insights into ICU delirium, coma, and sleep are critically important to the human condition.”
—PETER J. MURPHY, M.D., professor and chief of medicine at California Northstate University College of Medicine

“This wonderful, well-researched, groundbreaking book explores the mysterious inner world of patients in coma. . . . The authors include a fascinating investigation of other dimensions of consciousness, such as those experienced in NDEs, OBEs, dream states, and induced visions.”
—ROBERTA MOORE, M.A., M.B.A., filmmaker and former professor at Florida Southwestern State College

Every 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 to the field of consciousness and near-death experience (NDE) studies.

ALAN PEARCE, is a journalist, broadcaster, former BBC correspondent, and author of several books. He has contributed to numerous publications, from Time Magazine to The Sunday Times of London. BEVERLEY PEARCE is a former private investigator who now works as an aromatherapist and a practitioner in yoga-based bodywork. The authors live in Nouvelle Aquitaine, France.