CONSCIOUSNESS  [ back to Glossary Index ]
Consciousness can be understood on many levels of meaning. At a minimum it requires a person be alert (awake and receptive to stimuli) and aware of his environment. People usually associate being conscious with having one's eyes open and able to make communicative "eye contact" with others. People suffering from "locked in syndrome" whose only voluntary physical action is blinking their eyes in response to questions are believed to be conscious. Neurologists view consciousness as a spectrum of arousal including full alertness, drowsiness, stupor and coma. These different grades of consciousness directly reflect different levels of brain function which may correlate with a variety of brain states, including sleep, stroke, TBI, or the effects of drugs or alcohol, which is why neurologists always want the "history" of onset of disturbed consciousness. Concussion is a traumatic alteration of consciousness. In evaluating a patient for concussion, neurologists look for such things as confusion, vacant staring, slurred speech, dimmed or double vision, delayed verbal or motor response and the like.

Philosophers like to define consciousness as grasping "meaning" in concert with perceiving one's environment (something common to all animals). They tend to define self-consciousness as the uniquely human attribute of being aware of oneself as a being existing separately in an environment, and being aware of one's own "functioning" in that environment. Being a unified self through time, space and changing experiences is central to the philosophical, religious and ethical concepts of consciousness. It is no wonder that persons who suffer a TBI develop depression, anxiety or both. By aware experiencing of the decline in one's own cognitive, emotional, social and vocational functioning, people become unhappy, discouraged, fearful, worried, and uncertain.