Experience in delirium: is it distressing?

A total of 203 consecutive patients were assessed on a delirium experience questionnaire 24 hours after recovery from delirium. One third (35%) of the patients could recollect their experiences during the delirium, and the majority (86%) of them were distressed by these experiences. The level of distress was moderate in most of the subjects (52.5%). Fear and visual hallucination were the most common distressing themes recollected. When the patients who could recall their experience of delirium were compared with those who could not recall, the authors noted that recall of delirium experience was associated with a higher prevalence of perceptual disturbances and language disturbances and a higher severity of delirium.