Different Kinds of Near-Death Experience: A Report on a Survey of Near-Death Experiences in Germany
Journal of Near-Death Studies September 1, 2001 H. Knoblauch, Ina Schmied, Bernt Schnettler
A representative survey in Germany, the first of its kind in Europe, found that near-death experiences (NDEs) are more diverse than previously thought. Among more than 2,000 respondents, 4 percent reported having an NDE. The patterns of these experiences did not match earlier findings: they varied widely and were influenced by cultural factors, especially religious interpretations and differences between post-socialist East Germany and West Germany. This challenges the assumptions that NDEs follow a unified pattern, are universal across cultures, and are necessarily linked to clinical death.