Abstract Near-death experiences (NDEs), profound mystical or transcendental experiences occurring on the threshold of death, have been reported to reduce fear of death and death anxiety. This study compared responses to the Threat Index, a widely used measure of the threat implied by one's personal death, of (a) 135 near-death experiences, (b) 43 individuals who had come close to death but not...
Most reported near-death experiences include profound feelings of peace, joy, and cosmic unity. Less familiar are the reports following close brushes with death of experiences that are partially or entirely unpleasant, frightening, or frankly hellish. While little is known about the antecedents or aftereffects of these distressing experiences, there appear to be three distinct types, involving...
The percentage of hell-like near-death experiences (NDEs) is probably much larger than has been previously claimed. In this article, I discuss current research into what are now termed "distressing" or "unpleas ant" NDEs, and my own findings from interviews of over a hundred such cases. I compare this information with earlier reports from Maurice Rawlings (1978, 1980), mythological traditions...
Article studying near-death experiences in persons who would be expected to have a high rate of both psychopathology and coming close to death, by interviewing sixty-one consecutive suicide attempters.
In a retrospective study contrasting the near-death encounters of 183 persons who reported near-death experiences and 63 persons who reported no near-death experience, the two groups did not differ in age, gender, or time elapsed since the near-death encounter. Near-death experiencers reported all 16 items of the NDE Scale significantly more often than did nonexperiencers.
Article discussing empirical questions about near-death experiences (NDEs) that can be explored by the scientific method. Scientific study poses risks both to NDErs and to our understanding of the NDE itself. However, because the NDE allows unique access to information about consciousness and death, those risks are outweighed by the benefits to NDErs and to humanity derived from a scientific...
This paper discusses near-death experiencers and "general guidelines and specific interventions, developed at an interdisciplinary conference, to assist NDErs in coping with psychological difficulties following their experiences" (abstract).
Near-death experiences (NDEs), profound subjective experiences occurring during a close brush with death and containing transcendental or mystical elements, have been reported to reduce suicidal ideation, despite their "romanticization" of death. Among 61 consecutive hospital admissions for attempted suicide, 16 patients (26.2%) reported NDEs precipitated by the attempt. NDEs were not...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) have been described consistently since antiquity and more rigorously in recent years. Investigation into their mechanisms and effects has been impeded by the lack of quantitative measures of the NDE and its components. From an initial pool of 80 manifestations characteristic of NDEs, a 33-item scaled-response preliminary questionnaire was developed, which was...
Near-death experiences (NDEs), profound transcendental events experienced on the threshold of death, may be interpreted on several levels from the neurophysiological to the eschatological. Independent of other levels of interpretation, a psychological analysis of NDEs produces meaningful and researchable psychodynamic precipitants and sequelae. A number of psychological mechanisms are...
Attempted suicide is correlated with an increase subsequent risk of committed suicide. However, preliminary data and psychodynamic hypotheses suggest that serious suicide attempts followed by transcendental near-death experiences (NDEs) may decrease rather than increase subsequent overt suicide risk, despite the NDEs' apparent "romanticization" of death. Studies of NDEs and of their influence...
From introduction: "Michael Grosso, in his elegant review of various hypotheses intended to explain near-death experiences as reductionistic and unable to account adequately for the NDE. The present paper is a restatement of the case for psychological interpretations of the NDE; it is intended to forestall the premature rejection of psychodynamic approaches to the study of NDEs."
In Reply.— Two reasons justify the publication of our article in a medical journal. First, the experiences to which we drew attention occur frequently (although not exclusively) during grave physical illnesses and injuries. The actual role of physiological changes in these experiences is still poorly understood. Some persons have them when they think they are going to die, even though they are...
The belief that one can read others' minds has long been considered a symptom of psychosis, despite reports in the parapsychological literature of veridical telepathy. All patients admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit were screened for paranormal beliefs, and those claiming telepathic abilities were tested in a free-response ESP task. Eighteen per cent of the inpatient population claimed...