Near-Death Experiences in India
Satwant Pasricha, Ian Stevenson
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease March 1, 1986 DOI: 10.1097/00005053-198603000-00007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | Individuals in India who reported near-death experiences |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Citations | 94 |
| Key findings | Indian near-death experiences differ from American cases in culture-bound features, but these differences do not conclusively show the experiences derive only from cultural beliefs. |
Abstract
The authors report some features of 16 cases of near-death experiences that they investigated in India. After presenting brief accounts of four such experiences, the authors describe and discuss features in which the Indian cases differ from a larger sample of American cases. They note that some of these features seem to be culture-bound, but they caution against accepting this observation as adequate evidence that the case derive only from culture-bound beliefs. Some differences may derive from the effects of a person's beliefs on what actually does happen after death, and some different features may, on closer examination, be found to be basically similar in nature if not in detail.