Assessment and Intervention with Patients with Severe Disorders of Consciousness

Much attention has been devoted to assessment and intervention with patients with disorders of consciousness (i.e., patients whose consciousness is affected by damage to the brain) (Bodien and Giacino 2016; Giacino et al. 2014; Gosseries et al. 2016; Laureys et al. 2006; Lopez-Rolon 2017; Stokes et al. 2016). Regarding assessment, the main viewpoint in recent literature underlines the importance of reliably determining the patients’ state of functioning (whether they are in a vegetative state or in a minimally conscious state) and suggests a variety of assessment tools that might be suitable for that purpose (Demertzi et al. 2015; Fingelkurts et al. 2016; Fins 2016; Lancioni et al. 2014a). An alternative viewpoint on the issue doubts the dichotomy between vegetative state (or Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome) and minimally conscious state and, in light of that, any specific needs to refine the assessment strategies and determine the dividing lines between those two states (Gosseries et al. 2014; Liberati et al. 2014).