The Coconut Day: A Poetic Interpretation of Seizure Experiences

Abstract

This article presents a fraction of an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of people's seizure (ictal) experiences. In addition to undertaking individual analyses and across case analyses, a poetic interpretation (SZTO, FURMAN & LANGER, 2005) of participant's words was undertaken which focussed on bodily experiences and consciousness. The interpretations indicate participants' awareness of biological events unfolding; their abilities (or not) to interact with others; personal resignation to having the condition; and the effect epilepsy has on their lives. Although people are not always able to respond appropriately to events external to them during a seizure, having some conscious awareness allowed one man to act to save his life.

Findings from the study shed light onto subjective seizure experiences of consciousness. Collecting similar accounts could begin a corpus of data to inform research on ictal consciousness. The poetic interpretations below provide a porthole to a large vista of subjective seizure experiences, and could be considered both as research and clinical texts, being valuable to lay/professional carers and to the differential diagnosis of seizures.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1302185