Persons reporting near-death experiences (NDEs) sometimes describe a sense of having been out of their bodies and observing their surroundings from a visual perspective outside of and above their bodies. We attempted to study such phenomena during the surgical implantation of automatic implantable cardioverters/defibrillators (ICDs), electrical devices that monitor the patient's heartbeat and...
BACKGROUND: Survival after surgical embolectomy for massive postcesarean pulmonary embolism causing sustained cardiac arrest is rare. CASE: One day after an uneventful cesarean delivery, a woman developed cardiac asystole and apnea due to pulmonary embolism. Femoral-femoral cardiopulmonary bypass performed during continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation allowed a successful embolectomy. Upon...
Some persons who claim to have had near-death experiences (NDEs) fail research criteria for having had NDEs ("false positives"); others who deny having had NDEs do meet research criteria for having had NDEs ("false negatives"). The author evaluated false positive claims and false negative denials in an organization that promotes near-death research and in psychiatric outpatients. The frequency...
Near-death experiences (NDEs), profound events reported by people who have been close to death, often include feelings of peace, a sense of being outside the physical body, a life review, and meeting apparent nonphysical beings and environments; and they often precipitate profound changes in attitudes and values. Research on NDEs has focused on their epidemiology, psychophysiological...
Among persons who reported having had near-death experiences, 80% also reported subsequent auditory hallucinations. Experiencers’ attitudes toward these hallucinations were over-whelmingly positive, as contrasted with the overwhelmingly negative attitudes of patients with schizophrenia toward their auditory hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations not related to disease processes are common and...
For those with true near-death experiences (NDEs), Greyson's (1983, 1990) NDE Scale satisfactorily fits the Rasch rating scale model, thus yielding a unidimensional measure with interval-level scaling properties. With increasing intensity, NDEs reflect peace, joy and harmony, followed by insight and mystical or religious experiences, while the most intense NDEs involve an awareness of things...
Article presenting the Life Changes Inventory-Revised, a standardized version of the scale that embodies the accumulated knowledge culled from previous drafts of the LCI administered to disparate samples and from qualitative research into attitudinal changes reported by near-death experiencers.
Near-death experiences, or mystical experiences during encounters with death, are reported to have beneficial effects despite their phenomenologic similarity to pathological states. This study explored the prevalence of near-death experiences and associated psychological distress by using a cross-sectional survey of 832 psychiatric outpatients. Standardized measures of near-death experiences...
Near-death experiences, unusual experiences during a close brush with death, may precipitate pervasive attitudinal and behavior changes. The incidence and psychological correlates of such experiences, and their association with proximity to death, are unclear. We conducted a 30-month survey to identify near-death experiences in a tertiary care center cardiac inpatient service. In a consecutive...
Persons who report "near-death experiences" (NDEs) acknowledge more intrusive symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than those who came close to death without NDEs, but not more avoidance symptoms, suggesting a nonspecific stress response. Although dissociation generally increases vulnerability to PTSD, the positive affect that distinguishes NDEs from other dissociative experiences...
Most people who have a near-death experience (NDE) say that the experience convinced them that they will survive death. People who have not had such an experience, however, may not share this conviction. Although all features of NDEs, when looked at alone, might be explained in ways other than survival, there are three features in particular that we believe suggest the possibility of survival,...
BackgroundSome people who come close to death report having experiences in which they transcend the boundaries of the ego and the confines of time and space. Such near-death experiences (NDEs) share some features with the phenomenon of dissociation, in which a person's self identity becomes detached from bodily sensation. This study explored the frequency of dissociative symptoms in people who...
Researchers have failed to distinguish definitions of near-death experiences (NDEs), criteria for identifying them and tests of those criteria. Few researchers specify criteria or apply standard tests; those who do often use those tests inappropriately. Tests of NDEs may either describe their common features, measure their depth, or 'diagnose' their occurrence; all three have been used to...
BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES BRUCE GREYSON* Near-death experiences (NDEs) are profound psychological events with transcendental or mystical elements typically occurring to individuals close to death or in situations of intense physical or emotional danger. Such experiences, once regarded as meaningless hallucinations, have become the subject of serious study by medical and other...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) often produce profound changes in attitudes and behavior that can lead to psychosocial and psychospiritual problems. The diagnostic label of religious or spiritual problem, included in DSM-IV under the category of other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention, was originally proposed to encompass NDEs and their aftereffects. Four cases are discussed in...
Review of the book "After the Light: What I Discovered on the Other Side of Life That Can Change Your World" by former Northwest Regional Coordinator of the International Association for Near-Death Studies Kimberly Clark Sharp discussing her own near-death experience and its effect on her life.
Interna tional Poetry Associations of UNESCO, he has written 27 poetry vol umes and 22 prose nonfiction works, six of them in Japanese.Their content ranges from the effect of the 1956 Hungarian uprising on Asian nations to critical biographies of Plato, Ch'u Yuan, and Bela Bart6k.In Near-Death Experiences in Antiquity, this prolific and mul tifaceted author provides his own English translations...
To the Editor:I appreciate Karlis Osis' interest in NDErs' satisfaction with life, and his insights into possible sampling bias in my work.Osis, a pioneer in the research of out-of-body experiences and deathbed visions, questioned whether the similar ratings of my three study groups-NDErs, individuals who had some close to death without NDEs, and individuals who had never come close to...
I have read with amusement the banter between Kenneth Ring and various corresponents concerning his supposed retirement from research.Ring's impact on the field of near-death studies precludes and transcends any retirement on his part.His work continues to inspire and challenge virtually everyone in the fled, from Buddhist parapsychologist Susan Blackmore to mainstream medical scientists such...
Article discussing the relationship between near-death experiences (NDEs) and positive changes in attitudes, beliefs, and values that might be expected to enhance the experiencers' satisfaction with life.
Near-death experiences are profound subjective events frequently reported by individuals who have come close to death. They are of importance to mental health professionals, not only because they often happen to patients under our care, but because they have been reported to produce widespread and long-lasting changes in values, beliefs, and behavior that dramatically affect the experiencers'...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) have been reported to decrease fear of death and foster a “romanticized” view of death, yet also promote antisuicidal attitudes. This study was an empirical investigation of psychodynamic hypotheses suggested to explain that paradoxical effect, using a thirty-six-item questionnaire constructed for this purpose. One hundred-fifty near-death experiencers (NDErs) and...
Near-death experiences (NDEs), transcendental experiences on the threshold of death with profound implications for both patient care and religious belief, have been hypothesized to be related to the awakening of a biological process known in Eastern traditions as kundalini. In a test of this proposed association between kundalini and NDEs, a sample of near-death experiencers acknowledged...
A considerable amount of information on the aftereffects of near-death experiences (NDEs) has been gathered by researchers and used by practitioners to help NDErs, but the lessons from this information have not been presented for use by the rest of humanity. This essay summarizes nine lessons consistently gleaned from NDEs, which may help motivate humanity to live more in accordance with the...