The energy of despair: Do near-death experiences have an evolutionary value?
Renaud Évrard, Chloé Toutain, Jacob W. Glazier, Pascal Le Maléfan
Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice October 25, 2018 DOI: 10.1037/cns0000166 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Citations | 11 |
| Key points | Argues that NDEs may not be tied exclusively to clinical death and that historical accounts often linked them to achievements and rescue actions. Proposes a psychodynamic, evolutionary account in which a subset of NDEs involves an "energy of despair" triggered by fear of death, and contends that "fear-death" experiences, acute dying experiences, and "true" NDEs may reside on the same continuum, with differences possibly reflecting perceived opportunities for rescue. |
Abstract
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are usually associated with clinical death, although this association remains controversial. A look back to the early understanding of these experiences, since the end of the 19th century, reveals a different picture than presented in contemporary descriptions. Indeed, the more historical accounts linked NDEs with various forms of intellectual and physical achievements which, in some cases, helped to produce rescue actions for the individual when facing life-threatening situations. This “energy of despair” seems to occur in a subset of NDEs, in which the experiencer becomes suddenly afraid by the prospect of his or her own death. First, we have provided a selective literature review on this topic, ranging from Albert Heim’s (1892) personal testimony to contemporary research. We next developed a theoretical psychodynamic approach to understanding NDEs, by which we attempted to integrate their psychological and evolutionary functions. We discuss possible distinctions among “fear-death” experiences, acute dying experiences, and “true” NDEs, and conclude that these experiences may reside on the same continuum. We consider that some, but not all, of these experiences have a common trigger of subjective agony, which can sometimes coincide with a real danger. The phenomenological differences among these experiences may reside in opportunities for rescue actions as perceived by the experiencer. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times | 1987 | Historical analysis | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-death experiences between science and prejudice | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- The evolutionary origin of near-death experiences: a systematic investigation Brain Communications June 22, 2021
- Semiology and Mechanisms of Near-Death Experiences Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports July 27, 2019
- Sawing the branch of near‐death experience research: A critical analysis of Parnia et al.’s paper Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences June 21, 2022
- Enhancement of perceptual and cognitive functions in near-death experience: A perspective from embodiment theories. Explore 2024
- Compressed Life Review: Extreme Manifestation of Autobiographical Memory in Eye-Tracker. Behavioral Sciences February 26, 2020
and 1 more in the library
Cites 26
- 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
- Characteristics of Near-Death Experiences Memories as Compared to Real and Imagined Events Memories PLoS One March 27, 2013
- A Virtual Out-of-Body Experience Reduces Fear of Death PLoS One January 9, 2017
- Near-death experiences in non-life-threatening events and coma of different etiologies Frontiers in Human Neuroscience May 27, 2014
and 21 more in the library