This highlights that critical illness does not render the
individual merely vulnerable on a physiological level. Perception
is altered and with it the meaning that is derived
from that perception and recall. It was apparent that part
of the experience on an emotional level could be described
as distressing, although this is not always the word used by
individual informants. This distress relates to the reaction
of the individual informants rather than anything about the
external environment and arises from a multitude of elements
of the critical illness experience ranging from aspects
of care and the environment to dreams, hallucinations and
pain