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) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractMemories of near-death experiences (NDEs) are usually emotionally positive, but this study compared NDEs in 8 patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) from acute brainstem lesions to 23 classical NDE experiencers after coma with supratentorial lesions. LIS NDEs less frequently included feelings of peacefulness or well-being. The findings suggest that NDEs with less positive emotions may stem from impaired pontine/paralimbic connectivity or from the emotional distress of being conscious while paralyzed.
Study at a glance
| 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 finding | 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.