Coma: A Healing Journey [Paperback]

Amy Mindell (Author), Arnold Mindell PhD (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1887078053 | ISBN-13: 978-1887078054 | Publication Date: January 1, 1999 | Edition: 1

Introduced in this groundbreaking work are new ethics, and new skills and metaskills in working with and supporting people in comas. Step-by-step exercises teach how to get in contact with comatose people in a non-intrusive way, and how to establish a way of yes-no communication. An in-depth training in coma work for health care professionals is provided, and methods and support for family members wishing to be close to and communicate with their loved ones thought lost to coma is discussed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In this immensely hopeful, helpful and readable book Mindell gives the reader factual information and reframes the term coma as an "altered state of consciousness" that can be worked with and learned from. -- ForeWord Magazine Steven Holl February 1999

Mindell's revolutionary guide paves the way for an exciting journey through the depths of human experience. It renders a diagnosis of coma anything but a dead-end road. -- Linda J. Thorlakson Independent Publisher January 1999

From the Publisher

Thanks to advances in medical technology, more people with serious illness or injuries such as heart attacks, strokes or automobile accidents are kept living. Some patients who survive these situations remain in comatose states. This leaves family and loved ones making choices for the person in coma that are both emotionally and ethically challenging. In addition, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act has stirred international controversy and raised public consciousness about dying and end of life issues. This has created more pressure on families and professionals to develop a means of communicating with and considering the wishes of those in coma.

Instead of seeing coma as a hopeless state, Dr. Amy Mindell's groundbreaking work views coma as healing, whether the person recovers, dies or stays in a vegetative state. This approach will forever change our attitude toward people in coma and how we make choices for them. It will change the way we relate to them. It will help us fulfill the wishes of those patients and families who, polled in a nationally reported study, said they wished to be treated like a person instead of a dying patient. She helps families and caretakers give quality contact and loving communication-important both in the healing and the dying process.

In COMA, A HEALING JOURNEY: A Guide for Family, Friends and Helpers, Dr. Mindell uses detailed illustrations and easy-to-follow exercises to introduce the reader to the "coma work" she developed with her husband and partner, Dr. Arnold Mindell. Challenging the traditional view that the patient is lifeless and lost in coma, the Mindells have discovered that coma is a deeply altered, meaningful state of consciousness. Coma work shows how, with acceptance and loving attention, we can communicate with patients in these states. Dr. Mindell explains, "By shifting modes of communication...you adapt to the comatose person's 'language'....[this] brings us to the brink of the most elemental questions about life, death and the meaning of human existence."

In COMA, A HEALING JOURNEY, Dr. Mindell first explains the medical aspects of coma in lay terms, and then goes on to present basic techniques and skills for interacting with people in comatose states. She follows this with an in-depth training guide for professional caregivers and concludes with case studies from actual practice.

The book's easy-to-read format provides immediate access to valuable information for families and friends with a loved one already in coma. With its extensive glossary, bibliography, and index it is a valuable resource, regardless of the reader's level of knowledge.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Lao Tse Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887078053
• ISBN-13: 978-1887078054
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 9.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #859,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coma On Wake Up!, February 1, 2005

By 

G. Gardner "belovedgoddess" (austin, texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coma: A Healing Journey (Paperback)

I read this book 2 years before a friend of mine suffered a lack of oxygen to the brain. He had been in a coma for a week and the doctor said he would be a vegetable if he woke up. I used the methods Mindell indicated in his book that enable a person to communicate with a coma victim. My friend woke up that night, and steadily made progress. This book gave me the tools to psychically and physically reach him. My gratitude to Mr. Mindell is enormous. Amy Mindell has also published a book on coma which is perhaps more easy to read than this one. The only critique I have of Arnold Miindell's book is that it dwells far more on end=of=life comas than beginning-again-of life comas.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal and professional skills for communicating with coma patients, May 19, 2009

By 

J. Ralph "no escapism" (Scotland, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coma: A Healing Journey (Paperback)

I read this book many years ago and it is not one to forget. When you are faced with a person you love and feel helpless to reach them, this book gets going to show that there is much that can be achieved.

Don't wait till you need it to read it!