Critical illness as a biographical disruption

Abstract

This paper discusses critical illness as a biographical disruption in intensive care and beyond. When people talk about critical illness, they often associate it with intensive care units (ICU). However, critical illness disrupts one’s existential being both in the immediacy of ICU hospitalisation and during the long-term recovery phase. In ICU the patient experiences biographical disruption by being attached to technology and being unconscious. During the period of unconsciousness the patient undergoes severance from the world. This period is then followed by the discovery of oneself confined to the strange ICU environment and restricted by lifesaving technology upon regaining consciousness. These phases highlight the nature of critical illness as a biographical disruption. Chronic illness and illness in general as a biographical disruption have been discussed previously. However there is little literature about critical illness as a biographical disruption per se.