title: "Releasing a lot of poisons from my mind": patients' delusional memories of intensive care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe intensive care unit (ICU) patients' delusional memories and interpretations of those memories.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Delusional memories of the ICU are distressing for patients and may impact psychological recovery.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a secondary analysis from a study of mechanically ventilated patients' recall in relation to sedation. Subjects, recruited from one medical-surgical ICU, participated in structured interviews after extubation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects (n = 35) with a mean age of 66 (SD 12.9) and on the ventilator a median of 4.5 days provided detailed descriptions of delusional memories of being shackled, caged, strangled, or being in a foreign country. Delusions were very real and frightening in the moment. Subjects had difficulty connecting to reality to allow processing of the delusions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients' delusional memories of ICU share common distressing themes. Assisting patients' to connect to real ICU events and process delusional memories may help with psychological recovery after critical illness.
authors.affiliation: Marquette University College of Nursing, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53210, USA. Electronic address: jill.guttormson@marquette.edu.
authors.forename: Jill L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Guttormson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003422:Critical Care / Q000523:psychology*; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000523:psychology; D003702:Delusions / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D012121:Respiration, Artificial
keywords: Critical illness; Delusions; Hallucinations; Intensive care; Memory