The phenomenology of near-death experiences

Abstract

The authors studied retrospectively 78 reports of "near-death experiences using subjects narratives and questionnaires, interviews, and medical records. Prior experiences suggestive of transcendence of death were more common among these subjects than among control populations, but prior experiences suggestive of extrasensory phenomena were less common. Subsequent changes in attitudes were more common than among subjects in other studies who had had psychic experiences. The influence of cultural and psychological factors, sensory deprivation, and reflex adaptive responses to stress explain some but not all of the features of near-death experiences. Their potential value to our conceptualization of dying and to suicide prevention and the care of the terminally ill justifies further investigation.

In the evidence

This study is part of the evidence base for 2 syntheses in the library. Here is how each one recorded it.

• State of the evidence: Near-death experience ↕Mixed

  Prior experiences suggestive of transcendence of death were more common than in control populations, prior extrasensory-type experiences were less common, and subsequent attitude changes were more common than among people with other psychic experiences.

  Synthesized October 19, 2026

• State of the evidence: Philosophy of mind ↕Mixed

  Found prior experiences suggestive of transcendence of death more common among near-death experiencers than controls, prior extrasensory-type experiences less common, and subsequent attitude changes more common than in people with other psychic experiences.

  Synthesized November 1, 2026

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on near-death experience, most cited first.