When you hear of someone in a coma it always sounds very frightening and serious. (And in most cases it probably is).
I was just wondering however, is there any technical difference between being in a coma and being unconscious?
Is there any difference between an induced coma and a general anasthetic?
This website says that being in a coma is a ‘profound state of unconsciousness’, but this website tries to outline a difference. Its explanation is pretty much confusing:
Unfortunately (rather, fortunately) i’ve never been in one, but I hope that stuff helps 
I received a closed head injury in an automobile accident in June 1995. I am told that I was in a coma for 5 days. After the first four days life support was removed (my wife had decided that she would not allow me to live like a potted plant) She also ordered the morphine drip removed, reasoning that if I was in pain it would force me out of the coma faster. I regained consciousness six days after my accident but I was not aware of anything. My existance for the next month was some kind of delusional dreamworld. Again, I have been told the things I said and did and believed, I do not know (there are some really wild stories). All in all, in 1995 the month of June existed without my knowledge. I guess, I should make a point, in my life, I have been knocked unsconcious, I have been under anesthesia, and I have been in a coma. In all of these coditions it was as if I did not exist, the world continued without me and I do not know that I had any thoughts at all.
Per a reference text: A coma is an abnormal deep stupor occurring as a result of illness or injury. The patient cannot be aroused by external stimuli. More than 50% of cases are caused by trauma to the head or circulatory accidents due to… the list of causal agents follows.
Unconsciousness can be physiologically compared to sleep, with coma being the next step into darkness. I spent 3 weeks in a comatose state after a rather nasty accident several years ago and other than some vivid dreams possibly attributable to the oxycodone and halcyon being administered, could remember nada from that space of time.
IANAD-possibly Qagdop will visit this thread.
I believe there was a treatment for depression - perhaps among other things - in the 1940s/50s that involved putting a person to “sleep” for about a week. Spike Milligan mentions undergoing it in one of his autobiographies, and also complains that it messed him up right proper. Nonetheless I’m interested to know what the technique was, and whether or not it involved the “induced coma” mentioned above.
I’ve always wondered if its possible to have a lucid dream whilst in a coma.
Unspeakable atrocities were inflicted upon people during the 1940’s/50’s in the name of psychiatric medicine. Research the name ‘Frances Farmer’ to get an idea. What you saw in the screenplay of Keysey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was mild compared to what Franny went through.
The process to which you refer is the insulin-induced coma. The horrifically fascinating book, Great and Desperate Cures: The Rise and Decline of Psychosurgery and Other Radical Treatments for Mental Illness, by Elliot S. Valenstein, explores insulin comas, shock treatments, and ice-pick lobotomies, among others. Sadly the book is out of print, but there appear to be some used ones for sale on Amazon. Here is the link:
Hope this was useful.
Uh-huh. All interesting, but I was hoping some doctor might drop by and give us the definite word.
j_sum1.