BOOKLET
Many are the applications in this field:
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encourage the re-building of self-consciousness if this has been compromised by any kind of ailment;
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encourage the re-building of attachment reaction in order to recover emotional stability and confidence in the environment and improve communication and relationships (for instance in case of depression);
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encourage the re-building of space and time orientation so that the patient can give meaning again to what is happening inside and outside himself, in time and space;
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experience different tonic states of the body, as relaxation or activity, even when the patient cannot move. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND MUSIC-‐THERAPY
IN THE TREATMENT OF POST-COMATOSE PATIENTS IN THE ACUTE REHABILITATIVE PHASE1 Author and Music Therapist: Dario Benatti - Milano – Italy e.mail dario.benap@alice.it
This work is based on the years of experience of a team dealing with the rehabilitaPon of post-‐ comatose paPents headed by Prof. Cecilia Morosini, one of the most experienced expert in the rehabilitaPon of comatose paPents in Europe. The objecPve of this équipe, made up of physiatrical personnel, intensive care personnel, physical therapists, neuropsychologists, music-‐therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, is to establish an intensive and global treatment for post-‐comatose paPents, usually outside the hospital environment. In order to have a becer global comprehension of this job, it is necessary to know the general situaPon of the post-‐comatose, the paPent who has overcome the acute intensive care phase and has entered what we can define as the acute rehabilitaPve phase (which can also last for long or very long periods of Pme). This phase is also called the first phase of awakening.
! DescripPon of a paPent in the acute rehabilitaPve phase
The vital signs have stabilized: the paPent breathes autonomously and the cardio circulatory funcPons are stable. The paPent's eyes are usually open, which usually means that he/she is coming out of the coma: it's a sign of the return of crude consciousness but there is sPll no 1
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