What is consciousness? Comatose are aware

Sam Jones, Washington Post, 11/2023; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Trapped in a body that's out of its mind.

Some brain injury patients may appear to be in a coma, but they are not. They are processing at least some of what is happening around them but cannot physically respond.

Without a physical response, a physician might assume that a patient hasn’t understood, said Dr. Sudhin Shah, a neuroscientist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Referring to the patient, she said, “Unfortunately, it could be that you were processing, you were understanding, you were wanting to talk to me. You just can’t.” More: Some coma patients may be conscious. and new research could identify them.

• Am I conscious? I feel unconscious because I can’t picture things in my mind. I didn’t realize that was unusual. Others can or are they just imagining it?
• Signs one is a 'highly sensitive person' — the missing personality type, according to some researchers

(Guns N' Roses) Axl Rose reflects on life inside a coma in "Coma"