Persistent vegetative state in children: characteristic signs and assumed significance of mother-child interaction
Abstract
The most significant craniocerebral injuries are often a result of the development of so-called Persistent Vegetative State (PVS). This state can be simply characterized as the absence of cortical functions the patient has open eyes staring to emptiness, they are not fixed to the surrounding world; the patient has characteristic possession of extremities; there are no emotional reactions, etc.
The patient finds himself/herself in a seemingly paradoxical state in coma while simultaneously being wakeful. The existing studies dedicated to the influence of environment on patients in PVS have almost exclusively concentrated on the area of sensomotoric stimulation.
This study, with use of the method of microanalysis of a video record, pays attention to spontaneous interaction between mother and child in PVS. On the basis of the previous clinical experience, the hypothesis on the existence and significance of unconscious intuitive parental behavior (described earlier in mother infant interactions) in care for children in PVS was verified.
In all six mothers of children in PVS, which were included in the study, it was possible to identify specific signs of this intuitive parental behavior.