Near-Death Experiences in patients with locked-in syndrome: Not always a blissful journey.
Vanessa Charland-Verville, Zulay Lugo, Jean-Pierre Jourdan, Anne-Françoise Donneau, Steven Laureys
Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2015 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.03.011 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Retrospective comparative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 31 |
| Population | Patients with locked-in syndrome from acute brainstem lesions and NDE experiencers after coma with supratentorial lesions |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Keywords | Brainstem lesions Coma Emotions Locked-in syndrome Memory |
| Key points | Locked-in syndrome NDEs less frequently involved feelings of peacefulness or well-being compared to classical NDEs. |
Abstract
Memories of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) most often are recounted as emotionally positive events. At present, no satisfactory explanatory model exists to fully account for the rich phenomenology of NDEs following a severe acute brain injury. The particular population of patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) provides a unique opportunity to study NDEs following infratentorial brain lesions. We here retrospectively characterized the content of NDEs in 8 patients with LIS caused by an acute brainstem lesion (i.e., "LIS NDEs") and 23 NDE experiencers after coma with supratentorial lesions (i.e., "classical NDEs"). Compared to "classical NDEs", "LIS NDEs" less frequently experienced a feeling of peacefulness or well-being. It could be hypothesized that NDEs containing less positive emotions might have a specific neuroanatomical substrate related to impaired pontine/paralimbic connectivity or alternatively might be related to the emotional distress caused by the presence of conscious awareness in a paralyzed body.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands Cardiac patients successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest in ten Dutch hospitals | 2001 | Prospective cohort study | n = 344 |
| Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences in a cardiac care unit Cardiac inpatients at a tertiary care center | 2003 | Observational cohort | n = 1,595 |
| Features of "near-death experience" in relation to whether or not patients were near death Patients who believed they were near death during an illness or after an injury and... | 1990 | Observational cohort | n = 58 |
| The phenomenology of near-death experiences Subjects who reported near-death experiences | 1980 | Retrospective study | n = 78 |
| Near-Death Experiences and the Temporal Lobe Individuals who reported having had a near-death experience during a life-threatening... | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 10
- Characteristics of memories for near-death experiences Consciousness and Cognition March 19, 2017
- Semiology and Mechanisms of Near-Death Experiences Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports July 27, 2019
- Prevalence of near-death experiences in people with and without REM sleep intrusion. PeerJ 2019
- Western Scientific Approaches to Near-Death Experiences Humanities November 9, 2015
- Characterization of near death experiences using text mining analyses: A preliminary study PLoS One January 30, 2020
and 5 more in the library
Cites 21
- Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin Brain January 15, 2004
- Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands The Lancet December 1, 2001
- The Near-Death Experience Scale The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease June 1, 1983
- Distressing Near-Death Experiences Psychiatry February 1, 1992
- Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences in a cardiac care unit General Hospital Psychiatry July 1, 2003
and 16 more in the library