People who have had near-death experiences report lasting changes in their attitudes toward life and death. A study of 63 participants, average age 46 at the start, found that these attitude changes, measured by the Life Changes Inventory, remained stable over two decades. The depth of the near-death experience, assessed with the NDE Scale, was typical of such experiences. Scores on the Life Changes Inventory showed significant shifts in attitudes at both the beginning of the study and twenty years later, with no significant change between the two time points. The persistence of these attitude changes appears to be unusual compared to other transformative experiences.
A novel binaural beat meditation technology was tested for anxiety in 20 psychiatric outpatients with anxiety disorder and 8 nonpatients in healing professions. Participants used the technology for 2 weeks to 2 months. The group combining psychiatry treatment with meditation showed a 13.5-point (26.5%) decrease in State-Anxiety, a 14.1-point (24.7%) decrease in Trait-Anxiety, and a 27.6-point (25.6%) decrease in Total Anxiety. The psychiatry-only group had smaller decreases, and the meditation-only group showed a 3.5-point (9.8%) decrease in Trait-Anxiety. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, medications, and treatment variables, only the psychiatry-plus-meditation group showed statistically significant improvement in Total Anxiety. The technology may have a positive effect on anxiety in a psychiatric practice context, but larger randomized controlled trials are needed.