Final answer:
The term derived from Greek indicating a deep unconscious state is 'coma'. It signifies a level of unconsciousness deeper than fainting or sleep, where awareness and responsiveness are nearly or completely absent.
Step-by-step explanation:
The word which is derived from the Greek meaning deep sleep, trance and means a state of deep unconsciousness is coma. A coma represents a profound level of unconsciousness where an individual is alive but unable to respond to their environment. The state of coma is different from other forms of unconsciousness like syncope, which is a temporary loss of consciousness often referred to as fainting. When one is in a coma, the brain activity is significantly reduced and they are not aware of their surroundings, similar to being in a very deep sleep. This contrasts with other states of consciousness experienced in life, such as being wide awake, in which individuals experience full awareness and alertness, or hypnosis, which is an altered state of focused attention.
Coma is a state of deep unconsciousness characterized by a complete lack of awareness and responsiveness to external stimuli.
Clinically, a coma can be defined as the consistent inability to follow a one-step command. It can also be defined as a score of ≤ 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) lasting ≥ 6 hours. For a patient to maintain consciousness, the components of wakefulness and awareness must be maintained. Wakefulness describes the quantitative degree of consciousness, whereas awareness relates to the qualitative aspects of the functions mediated by the cortex, including cognitive abilities such as attention, sensory perception, explicit memory, language, the execution of tasks, temporal and spatial orientation and reality judgment. From a neurological perspective, consciousness is maintained by the activation of the cerebral cortex—the gray matter that forms the outer layer of the brain—and by the reticular activating system (RAS), a structure located within the brainstem.