In a study of more than 13,000 Europeans, 5.8% reported the out-of-body experience (OBE) form of autoscopy.1 Occurring in diverse clinical settings, OBE is also typical of near death experience (NDE). NDE are responses to life-threatening crisis characterized by a combination of dissociation from the physical body, euphoria, and transcendental or mystical elements. Persons with NDE may have an...
The neurophysiologic basis of near death experience (NDE) is unknown. Clinical observations suggest that REM state intrusion contributes to NDE. Support for the hypothesis follows five lines of evidence: REM intrusion during wakefulness is a frequent normal occurrence, REM intrusion underlies other clinical conditions, NDE elements can be explained by REM intrusion, cardiorespiratory afferents...