The out-of-body experience and body image: differences between experiments and nonexperiments.
Craig D. Murray, Jezz Fox
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2005 DOI: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000149223.77469.da (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 64 |
| Population | People with and without a previous out-of-body experience |
| Key findings | People who have had an OBE score higher on body dissatisfaction, social physique anxiety, and somatoform dissociation, and lower on physical self-presentation and body awareness during virtual reality use. |
Abstract
The present study sought to examine various aspects of body image for persons reporting a previous out-of-body experience (OBE). A total of 64 people took part in the study, 34 of whom had had an OBE. Participants reporting a previous OBE were found to score significantly higher on measures of body dissatisfaction, social physique anxiety, and somatoform dissociation, and lower on a measure of physical self-presentation. OBE experiments also reported lower levels of body awareness during use of an immersive virtual reality system than nonexperiments.
Citations in the library
Cited by 14
- The incidence and determinants of visual phenomenology during out-of-body experiences Cortex June 6, 2008
- A putative implication for fronto-parietal connectivity in out-of-body experiences Cortex October 31, 2008
- The Near-Death Experience: A Reality Check? Humanities March 28, 2016
- What out-of-body experiences may tell us about the mind beyond the brain. International Review of Psychiatry 2025
- From laboratory targets to experiential authenticity: reframing the study of veridicality in OBEs Frontiers in Psychology June 2, 2026
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