Editing Consciousness (section)

===Disorders===
Medical conditions that inhibit consciousness are considered [[disorders of consciousness]].<ref name="chronic"/> This category generally includes [[minimally conscious state]] and [[persistent vegetative state]], but sometimes also includes the less severe [[locked-in syndrome]] and more severe [[coma|chronic coma]].<ref name="chronic">{{cite journal|author=Bernat JL|date=8 Apr 2006|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68508-5|issue=9517|journal=Lancet|pages=1181–1192|pmid=16616561|title=Chronic disorders of consciousness|volume=367|s2cid=13550675}}
</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Bernat JL|date=20 Jul 2010|doi=10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181e8e960|issue=3|journal=Neurology|pages=206–207|pmid=20554939|title=The natural history of chronic disorders of consciousness|volume=75|s2cid=30959964}}</ref> [[Differential diagnosis]] of these disorders is an active area of [[biomedical research]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Coleman MR, Davis MH, Rodd JM, Robson T, Ali A, Owen AM, Pickard JD|date=September 2009|doi=10.1093/brain/awp183|issue=9|journal=Brain|pages=2541–2552|pmid=19710182|title=Towards the routine use of brain imaging to aid the clinical diagnosis of disorders of consciousness|volume=132|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Monti MM, Vanhaudenhuyse A, Coleman MR, Boly M, Pickard JD, Tshibanda L, Owen AM, Laureys S|s2cid=13358991|date=18 Feb 2010|doi=10.1056/NEJMoa0905370|issue=7|journal=N Engl J Med|pages=579–589|pmid=20130250|title=Willful modulation of brain activity in disorders of consciousness|volume=362|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/560f/d2dd08c0532dcf5c61668690dd88d19d7114.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224091809/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/560f/d2dd08c0532dcf5c61668690dd88d19d7114.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Seel RT, Sherer M, Whyte J, Katz DI, Giacino JT, Rosenbaum AM, Hammond FM, Kalmar K, Pape TL|date=December 2010|doi=10.1016/j.apmr.2010.07.218|issue=12|journal=Arch Phys Med Rehabil|pages=1795–1813|pmid=21112421|title=Assessment scales for disorders of consciousness: evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice and research|volume=91|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Finally, [[brain death]] results in possible irreversible disruption of consciousness.<ref name="chronic"/> While other conditions may cause a moderate deterioration (e.g., [[dementia]] and [[delirium]]) or transient interruption (e.g., [[tonic–clonic seizure|grand mal]] and [[absence seizure|petit mal seizures]]) of consciousness, they are not included in this category.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|-
! Disorder !! Description
|-
| Locked-in syndrome|| The patient has awareness, sleep-wake cycles, and meaningful behavior (viz., eye-movement), but is isolated due to [[quadriplegia]] and [[pseudobulbar palsy]].
|-
| Minimally conscious state|| The patient has intermittent periods of awareness and wakefulness and displays some meaningful behavior.
|-
| Persistent vegetative state|| The patient has sleep-wake cycles, but lacks awareness and only displays reflexive and non-purposeful behavior.
|-
| Chronic coma|| The patient lacks awareness and sleep-wake cycles and only displays reflexive behavior.
|-
| Brain death|| The patient lacks awareness, sleep-wake cycles, and brain-mediated reflexive behavior.
|}

Medical experts increasingly view [[anosognosia]] as a disorder of consciousness.<ref name="prigatano-2009">{{cite journal|last1=Prigatano|first1=George P.|title=Anosognosia: clinical and ethical considerations|journal=Current Opinion in Neurology|date=2009|volume=22|issue=6|pages=606–611|doi=10.1097/WCO.0b013e328332a1e7|pmid=19809315|s2cid=40751848}}</ref> ''Anosognosia'' is a Greek-derived term meaning "unawareness of disease". This is a condition in which patients are disabled in some way, most commonly as a result of a [[stroke]], but either misunderstand the nature of the problem or deny that there is anything wrong with them.<ref>{{cite book|editor=George Prigatano|editor2=[[Daniel Schacter]]|title=Awareness of Deficit After Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1991|chapter=Introduction|author=George P. Prigatano|author2=Daniel Schacter|pages=3–16|isbn=978-0-19-505941-0|author2-link=Daniel Schacter}}</ref> The most frequently occurring form is seen in people who have experienced a stroke damaging the [[parietal lobe]] in the right hemisphere of the brain, giving rise to a syndrome known as [[hemispatial neglect]], characterized by an inability to direct action or attention toward objects located to the left with respect to their bodies. Patients with hemispatial neglect are often paralyzed on the left side of the body, but sometimes deny being unable to move. When questioned about the obvious problem, the patient may avoid giving a direct answer, or may give an explanation that does not make sense. Patients with hemispatial neglect may also fail to recognize paralyzed parts of their bodies: one frequently mentioned case is of a man who repeatedly tried to throw his own paralyzed right leg out of the bed he was lying in, and when asked what he was doing, complained that somebody had put a dead leg into the bed with him. An even more striking type of anosognosia is [[Anton–Babinski syndrome]], a rarely occurring condition in which patients become blind but claim to be able to see normally, and persist in this claim in spite of all evidence to the contrary.<ref>{{cite book|editor=George Prigatano|editor2=[[Daniel Schacter]]|title=Awareness of Deficit After Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1991|chapter=Anosognosia: possible neuropsychological mechanisms|author=Kenneth M. Heilman|pages=53–62|isbn=978-0-19-505941-0}}</ref>