Here is a comment from my neurosurgeon friend from Germany: thank you so much for your reference to “Inside Coma”, a book which for me will be a further milestone to rethinking coma and vegetative state. I am very pleased to hear from you!
Since 1992 or 1993, when you had invited me to Zurich, the process-oriented approach has become for me a new perspective considering medicine and psychology newly, because it is both body-centered and interactional-communicative. It leads to an understanding of the inner world of the coma patient, i.e. the subjective experienced perspective (first person), in contrast to the third person´s view of traditional medicine and psychology (the traditional nature scientifical and empirical view, the third person perspective). But, introducing the “body-centered” sensualized view in coma therapy (including the close relatives) – an approach, which I somewhat have learnt from the coma patients´ relatives – there emerges a third perspective, the “Ich-Du”- (dialogoues) perspective as a kind of partipicative understanding (in contrast to the traditional participative observation) as an inter-personal perspective (second person perspective), i.e., as I called it, a “relational medicine” perspective, a kind of inner position (“Haltung”, “unconsciousness”, “unawareness”) within the circus of the phenomenology of the coma patient and his family.
Because these epistemiological “multiperspective” or “holistic” view for me seem to be crucial for the on-going changes in medical and psychological science, neuroscientifical philosophy and practice (the mind-body or mind-brain problem is a pseudo problem!), now we could start connecting the outer and inner world view without any “abdominal pain”. New imaging research results from the inner emotional and cognitive capacities of coma and vegetative state-patients seem to reconfirm this view.
The lack of the only third person perspective and the lack of the only first person perspective can be overcome by the second person perspective, i.e. the on-going process-orientated interaction/communication and understanding of interpersonal relationship.
The multiperspective view is a mature process of the early rehabilitation team, the single team member, and the close relatives/the family.
More about this topic (in general) you will find in the new (german) book (see appendix) and on my homepage: www.a-zieger.de