Journal of Near-Death Studies
December 1, 1998
M. Liester
Inner communications following the near-death experience (NDE) have been reported by a number of authors. Although such communications are similar in some ways to the hallucinations heard by individuals with mental illness, they differ in that their effects are predominantly positive, whereas the hallucinations in mental illness exert predominantly negative effects. This article describes three...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
December 1, 1998
J. Wade
Veridical evidence of a physically transcendent source of consciousness comes from both extremes of the life span when central nervous system functioning is compromised, suggesting that some form of personhood can exist independently of known cellular processes associated with the body. In pre- and perinatal accounts, veridical memories have surfaced of events in the first two trimesters, long...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
June 1, 1998
James M. Sahlman, Max C. Norton
This is the second in a three-part study exploring the hypothesis that near-death experiences (NDErs) assign the meaning of the NDE by using causal (effect) and semantic (affect) attributions. To test this hypothesis, 32 spontaneous verbal accounts of NDEs were analyzed. Each statement comprising the account was coded and classified according to the six attributional types in the Norton-Sahlman...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
June 1, 1998
C. Tart
Because of confusion between science and scientism, many people react negatively to the idea of scientific investigation of near-death experiences (NDEs), but genuine science can contribute a great deal to understanding NDEs and helping experiencers integrate their experiences with everyday life. After noting how scientific investigation of certain parapsychological phenomena has established a...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1998
Judith L. Green
5 citations
Article discussing the overlap between shamanism and near-death experiences (NDEs) and suggesting that the study of shamanism would be helpful in more fully understanding this phenomena and beginning the development of an applied methodology. Although it may be difficult to verify subjective accounts of NDEs and shamanic journeys, from a clinical standpoint it may not be necessary to do so in...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
December 1, 1997
K. Ring, S. Cooper
This article reports the results of an investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences in 31 blind respondents. The study sought to address three main questions: (1) whether blind individuals have near-death experiences (NDEs) and, if so, whether they are the same as or different from those of sighted persons; (2) whether blind persons ever claim to see during NDEs and out-of-body...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
March 1, 1997
K. Jansen
Near-death experiences (NDEs) can be reproduced by ketamine via blockade of receptors in the brain for the neurotransmitter glutamate, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Conditions that precipitate NDEs, such as hypoxia, ischemia, hypoglycemia, and temporal lobe epilepsy, have been shown to release a flood of glutamate, overactivating NMDA receptors and resulting in neurotoxicity....
Journal of Near-Death Studies
March 1, 1997
P. Fenwick
Karl Jansen's interesting hypothesis that near-death experiences (NDEs) result from blockade of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor has several weaknesses. Some NDEs occur to individuals who are neither near death nor experiencing any event likely to upset cerebral physiology as Jansen proposed; thus his hypothesis applies only to a subset of NDEs that occur in catastrophic circumstances. For...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
March 1, 1997
R. Strassman
This commentary on Karl Jansen's ketamine model for the near-death experience expands upon and raises additional questions about several issues and hypotheses: self-experimentation as a source of data; ketamine's similarities to and differences from classical hallucinogens; the need for quantification of unusual subjective states; clinical research and toxicological implications of this model;...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1997
James E. Whinnery
60 citations
Although loss and recovery of consciousness are integral parts of the near-death experience (NDE), the role of altered states of conscious ness in the NDE has not been thoroughly investigated. Sixteen years of ob servations, including nearly 1000 acceleration (+Gz)-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) episodes, have revealed a pattern of psychophysiologic symptoms that collectively constitute...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1997
Cassandra Musgrave
36 citations
Fifty-one near-death experiencers (NDErs) were surveyed in person and through the mail to discover if and how their lives were changed as a result of their NDEs. Results showed major changes in participants' lives, especially in the areas of religious belief and practice, lifestyle, career, and relationships.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1997
Karl Jansen
3 citations
The commentators on my paper raised several interesting is sues. Set and setting do influence drug effects, but they also influence near death experiences (NDEs). Some NDEs are very anxiety-generating, just like some ketamine experiences, though frightening NDEs have been ignored by most researchers. High frequency, compulsive ketamine use is rare. While dimethyltryptamine (DMT) may induce...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1997
Mishka Jambor
2 citations
Article reviewing Christopher Bache's perinatal account of near-death experiences (NDEs) and suggesting that it does not go far enough. The author then presents a new model, bliss/abyss, derived from the study of mysticism; shows that pleasant and frightening NDEs can be accommodated within the model; and discusses the predictions that can be drawn from the new theoretical framework.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1997
Antonio Bianchi
1 citation
Although ketamine can induce a state similar to a near-death experience (NDE), there is a striking difference between experiences induced by ketamine used in a recreational context and in an operating room. Ketamine is a noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, as is ibogaine, the main alkaloid of a shrub used in Central Africa to induce NDEs in a religious context....
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1997
Bruce Greyson
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.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
Juan G mez-Jeria, Carlos Madrid-Aliste
11 citations
Article discussing the phylogenetic basis of states of consciousness, and presenting the central theses of monism and dualism, in which near-death experiences (NDEs) enjoy very different ontological statuses.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
Keith Floyd
10 citations
Article reporting an experience in the course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) that was indistinguishable from a near-death experience (NDE). Aspects of the experience that had been terrifying for the individual were counterbalanced by her immediate and complete recovery from a suicidal depression. Beyond the transpersonal aspects of her NDE-like experience, the ECT triggered a precognitive...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
William J. Serdahely
9 citations
I pose four questions for the "dying brain hypothesis" as propounded by Susan Blackmore in her book Dying to Live (1993). The first calls into question Blackmore's reductionist explanation of the "bird's-eye view" for a near-death experience (NDE) and asks why out-of-body perception from a supine position is not reported, given her theory. The second inquires as to how the materialist view...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
Aureliano Pacciolla
9 citations
An Italian translation of Greyson's (1983a) NDE Scale was administered to 125 individuals who had been resuscitated at a hospital in Italy. By NDE Scale criteria 37.5 percent of those who returned the questionnaire had authentic NDEs. These data suggest some limitations to Grayson's NDE Scale and recommendations for future research.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
8 citations
Study suggesting that in order to explain the phenomenology of perinatal experience, as described in the work of Stanislav Grof, we must hypothesize that the patient in these instances has expanded beyond the individual subject.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
P. M. H. Atwater
5 citations
"Children who brush death, nearly die, or who are pronounced clinically dead but later revive have a much higher incidence of near-death experiences (NDEs) than do adults. Although excellent research now exists on children's cases, there have been discrepancies. I suggest that we need to broaden the range of observations on children's NDEs and reconsider what is known about children and the...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
P. M. H. Atwater
4 citations
"Children who brush death, nearly die, or who are pronounced clinically dead but later revive have a much higher incidence of near-death experiences (NDEs) than do adults. Although excellent research now exists on children's cases, there have been discrepancies. I suggest that we need to broaden the range of observations on children's NDEs and reconsider what is known about children and the...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
Stephen L. Thaler
3 citations
This paper proposes that "based upon very repeatable computer simulations of dying neural networks, the phenomena of both near-death experiences (NDEs) and a virtual afterlife are plausible and can be expected to occur in traumatized neurobiological systems" (abstract). The author then speculates three societal implications based on this conclusion.
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
Janice Holden
3 citations
The prototypical near-death experience (NDE), characterized by positive affect, and its psychologically and spiritually beneficial aftereffects are well documented.However, the aftermath of even a pleasant NDE has sometimes involved psychological difficulties that range from relatively mild adjustment disorders to profoundly distressing and disorienting spiritual emergencies.Consequently, the...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
1996
Arvin S. Gibson
2 citations
Kenneth Ring and Nancy Evans Bush both wrote papers concerning frightening near-death experiences (NDEs) in the Fall 1994 issue of this Journal. The results of my own research are more supportive of Bush's position than they are of Ring's. This paper gives some of the reasons why and illustrates other data accumulated by me concerning frightening NDEs.