Near-death experiences and healing
Venkateswaran Krishnan
Journal of Near-Death Studies 1995 DOI: 10.17514/jnds-1995-13-4-p278-281. (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 4 |
| Population | Individuals who reported near-death experiences and had been suffering from a physical illness at the time; drawn from the author's personal collection of NDE accounts |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Four near-death experiencers in the author's collection spontaneously reported being cured of, or gaining relief from, the physical illness they had at the time of the experience. The author notes these claims could not be verified because the experiencers could not be traced, and argues that whether NDEs can cure physical illness is an overlooked question that merits serious study. |
Abstract
Recently I was going through my collection of near-death experiences (NDEs) for the sake of a fellow researcher when I noticed for the first time that four experiencers had voluntarily said that after the experience they felt cured of, or gained relief from, the physical illness from which they were suffering at the time.Because these cases were collected several years ago, I am unable to trace the experiencers and verify their claims.The claims, however, do raise the question whether an NDE can cure physical illness.This appears to be an aspect of the NDE that has so far not drawn the attention of researchers, one that I think merits serious study.If it is confirmed that the NDE, or certain elements of the experience, can bring about cure or relief, we might try to identify the underlying mechanism; this could have many practical applications.I will pre-