Over easy: A cultural anthropologist's near-death experience
Patrick Gallagher
Journal of Near-Death Studies December 1, 1982 DOI: 10.17514/jnds-1982-2-2-p140-149 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | The author, recounting his own near-death experience |
| Duration | Unconscious and partially paralyzed for weeks |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key findings | The author reports that his near-death experience, including visions of "radiant knowledge and total love" while unconscious and partially paralyzed for weeks, altered his views of life and death and led him to abandon many typical cultural patterns. He proposes replacing those patterns with adherence to the present moment and appreciation of the worth and interest of everyone he encounters. |
Abstract
The author details a near-death experience which has caused him to find a new reality "replete with symbolic meanings that altered his view of life, death, and their intermediate cultural patterns." After his near-death experience (NDE), he faced NDE visions while unconscious and partially paralyzed for weeks, encountering "radiant knowledge and total love" and feeling no need to eat, drink or sleep. His visions have caused him to "abandon many typical cultural patterns." He replaces these patterns with "the recognition of the eternity granted by adherence to the present moment and of the remarkable worth and interest of everyone he encounters."
Comparable studies
Other case reports and case series on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near-Death Experiences in India Individuals in India who reported near-death experiences | 1986 | Case study | n = 16 |
| The Near-Death Experience as a Focus of Clinical Attention Patients presenting with near-death experience-related problems | 1997 | Case study | n = 4 |
| A prospectively studied near-death experience with corroborated out-of-body perceptions and unexplained healing. A person who had a near-death experience | 2006 | Case report | n = 1 |
| Verified account of near-death experience in a physician who survived cardiac arrest. A 32-year-old female physician experiencing childbirth | 2020 | Case study | n = 1 |
| This is your brain on death: a comparative analysis of a near-death experience and subsequent 5-Methoxy-DMT experience. An individual who had a near-death experience during a coma caused by bacterial... | 2023 | Case study | n = 1 |