Near-Death Experiences and Spiritual Well-Being

People who have near-death experiences often report a subsequently increased sense of spirituality and a connection with their inner self and the world around them. In this study, we examined spiritual well-being, using Paloutzian and Ellison’s Spiritual Well-Being Scale, among 224 persons who had come close to death. Participants who reported having near-death experiences reported greater spiritual well-being than those who did not, and depth of spiritual well-being was positively correlated with depth of near-death experience. We discussed the implications of these findings in light of other reported aftereffects of near-death experiences and of spiritual well-being among other populations.     

Congruence Between Near-Death and Mystical Experience

Near-death experiences, altered states during a brush with death, may include mystical features like a sense of sacredness and divine union, timelessness/spacelessness, positive mood, noetic quality, and ineffability. We quantified mystical elements in near-death experience by comparing responses on the Mysticism Scale of 292 near-death experiencers and 34 persons who had come close to death without near-death experiences. Two thirds of near-death experiencers reported mystical experiences during their brush with death, compared to none of the comparison survivors. Near-death experiencers scored higher on the Mysticism Scale than did nonexperiencers; they endorsed noetic quality, positive affect, and unity most often and ego loss, timelessness/spacelessness, and ineffability least often. Depth of near-death experience was correlated highly with scores on the Mysticism Scale, but factor analysis of features during the brush with death yielded two distinct factors representing mystical and near-death elements, suggesting that near-death experiences have commonalities with, but can be differentiated from, mystical experience.     

Near-death experiences precipitated by suicide attempt: Lack of influence of psychopathology,religion, and expectations

Near-death experiences (NDEs), transcendental or mystical events experienced on the threshold of death, have been speculated to arise from psychopathology or from pre-existing expectations of the dying process, although such speculations have never been tested. Sixty-one consecutive suicide attempters were interviewed in this empirical study of persons who would be expected to have a high rate of both psychopathology and coming close to death; 16 (26%) reported near-death experiences (NDEs) as a result of the attempt. The group reporting NDEs and the group not reporting NDEs did not differ from each other in any parameters measuring psychopathology, religious background, or expectations of death and dying.At the time of this study, he was Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School.     

Near-death experiences and the temporal lobe

Abstract— Many studies in humans suggest that altered temporal lobe functioning, especially functioning in the right temporal lobe, is involved in mystical and religious experiences. We investigated temporal lobe functioning in individuals who reported having transcendental "near-death experiences" during life-threatening events. These individuals were found to have more temporal lobe epileptiform electroencephalographic activity than control subjects and also reported significantly more temporal lobe epileptic symptoms. Contrary to predictions, epileptiform activity was nearly completely lateralized to the left hemisphere. The near-death experience was not associated with dysfunctional stress reactions such as dissociation, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse, but rather was associated with positive coping styles. Additional analyses revealed that near-death experiencers had altered sleep patterns, specifically, a shorter duration of sleep and delayed REM sleep relative to the control group. These results suggest that altered temporal lobe functioning may be involved in the near-death experience and that individuals who have had such experiences are physiologically distinct from the general population.     

The omega project: An empirical study of the NDE-prone personality

Seventy-four near-death experiencers (NDErs) and 54 persons interested in near-death experiences (NDEs) participated in a mail questionnaire survey to assess the role of psychological factors in influencing susceptibility to NDEs and to measure aftereffects stemming from such events. NDErs, while not more fantasy-prone than control subjects, reported greater sensitivity to nonordinary realities as children and a higher incidence of child abuse and trauma. NDErs also scored higher on a measure of psychological dissociation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the concept of an NDE-prone personality. In addition to substantial shifts in values and beliefs, NDErs described far more psychophysical changes, including symptoms of kundalini activation, following their NDEs than did controls. We then discuss the implications of these findings with respect to their possible significance for human transformation and the emergence of a more highly evolved human being, the Omega Prototype.At the time of this study, Mr. Rosing was a student at the University of Connecticut     

Characteristics of memories for near-death experiences

Near-death experiences are vivid, life-changing experiences occurring to people who come close to death. Because some of their features, such as enhanced cognition despite compromised brain function, challenge our understanding of the mind-brain relationship, the question arises whether near-death experiences are imagined rather than real events. We administered the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire to 122 survivors of a close brush with death who reported near-death experiences. Participants completed Memory Characteristics Questionnaires for three different memories: that of their near-death experience, that of a real event around the same time, and that of an event they had imagined around the same time. The Memory Characteristics Questionnaire score was higher for the memory of the near-death experience than for that of the real event, which in turn was higher than that of the imagined event. These data suggest that memories of near-death experiences are recalled as “realer” than real events or imagined events.     

The Near-Death Experience: Knowledge and Attitudes of College Students

There is a considerable literature documenting the effects of a near-death experience (NDE) on persons who actually undergo the experience, in terms of their attitudes and opinions about NDEs. However, investigations of how much nonexperiencers know about NDEs and their attitudes towards them are in short supply. This study examined the relationship in people who have not had an NDE between attitudes toward and knowledge of near-death experiences. Subjects were undergraduate students, with a mean age of 32 years. The Near-Death Phenomena Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire was employed to assess attitudes toward and knowledge of NDEs. Results indicated that both knowledge and attitudes were relatively normally distributed, and that level of knowledge significantly predicted attitudes towards NDEs, accounting for 34 percent of the common variance.     

Different Kinds of Near-Death Experience: A Report on a Survey of Near-Death Experiences in Germany

This article provides a short summary of a representative survey on near-death experiences (NDEs) in Germany, which is the first of its kind in Europe. We tested several assumptions derived from previous research on NDEs, including the assumptions of a unified pattern of experience, the universality of the pattern, and the necessary link between NDEs and clinical death. We received replies from more than 2,000 persons, 4 percent of whom reported NDEs. The patterns of the NDEs did not seem to correspond to earlier findings: aside from being much more diverse, they also differed with respect to cultural variables, particularly the difference between religious interpretations and the differences between post-socialist East Germany and West Germany.     

Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind: A Study of Apparent Eyeless Vision

This article reports the results of an investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences in 31 blind respondents. The study sought to address three main questions: (1) whether blind individuals have near-death experiences (NDEs) and, if so, whether they are the same as or different from those of sighted persons; (2) whether blind persons ever claim to see during NDEs and out-of-body experiences (OBEs); and (3) if such claims are made, whether they can ever be corroborated by reference to independent evidence. Our findings revealed that blind persons, including those blind from birth, do report classic NDEs of the kind common to sighted persons; that the great preponderance of blind persons claim to see during NDEs and OBEs; and that occasionally claims of visually-based knowledge that could not have been obtained by normal means can be independently corroborated. We present and evaluate various explanations of these findings before arriving at an interpretation based on the concept of transcendental awareness.     

Shared Near-Death and Related Illness Experiences: Steps on an Unscheduled Journey

This paper discusses the key social features in shared journeys into near-death experiences (NDEs) and related illness experiences of other people. Of special interest in this paper is the way that those persons who are not ill or near death account for their sharing of these experiences. These are often people who are caregivers or intimates of NDErs or dying people but who claim to share part of the NDE or dying experience. We provide case examples to illustrate the essential psychological and social experiences that these people undergo during their joint experiences with NDErs and other seriously ill people. From an analysis of the recurrent themes emergent in these joint experiences we identify and discuss the major conceptual steps in the creation of their personal explanations: (1) Exit the Familiar, (2) Extraordinary Experiences, (3) Extraordinary Experiences End, (4) What Happened to Me? (5) The World Responds, and (6) The Return of the Native. In the final analysis, the processes that these people undergo in the search for explanations is similar in most respects to those at the center of near-death and other related illness experiences.     

Near-death experiences in India: They have tunnels too

An advertisement in an Indian newspaper solicited accounts from people who had come close to death. Of 19 received, 7 reported no experiences, 4 reported dreamlike experiences, and 8 reported near-death experiences (NDEs). These DNEs were comparable to those reported by Ray-mond Moody, and included tunnels, dark spaces, and bright lights, contrary to previous reports of Indian cases. Many respondents reported positive life changes regardless of whether or not they had an NDE.     

Three near-death experiences with premonitions of what could have been

We analyze three near-death experiences involving a unique type of prophetic vision that has not previously been reported in the literature. These visions involve a brief glimpse of what circumstances would have been like for the near-death experiencers' family in the aftermath of the experiencers' deaths, had they actually died.     

Psychic phenomena following near-death experiences: An Australian study

This study examines the incidence of reports of psychic phenomena and associated beliefs both before and after the near-death experience (NDE). The near-death experiencers interviewed reported no more psychic phenomena before the NDE than the general population. There was a statistically significant increase following the NDE in the incidence of 14 of 15 items examined.     

Inner Communications Following the Near-Death Experience

Inner communications following the near-death experience (NDE) have been reported by a number of authors. Although such communications are similar in some ways to the hallucinations heard by individuals with mental illness, they differ in that their effects are predominantly positive, whereas the hallucinations in mental illness exert predominantly negative effects. This article describes three individuals who reported experiencing inner communications subsequent to their NDEs. I suggest that these inner messages may be a form of intuition, and encourage further research into this phenomenon.     

Depth of near-death experiences and confounding factors

In a sample of 51 near-death experiences, the depth of the reported experience was not related to the years since the experience.     

The Near-Death Experience as a Shamanic Initiation: A Case Study

The field of near-death studies shares a number of interesting, often compelling, similarities with the ancient spiritual tradition known as shamanism. Not least among these similarities is the fact that a near-death experience (NDE) is a time-honored form of shamanic initiation. I present a case example illustrating how a deep NDE can propel a person who had no prior knowledge or interest in shamanism into spontaneous, often classic, shamanic experiences, while living an apparently normal life in the midst of modern Western society.     

Knowledge and Attitudes of Hospital Nurses in Italy Related to Near-Death Experiences

I distributed Nina Thornburg's Near-Death Phenomena Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire to 750 nurses in three Verona hospitals, and received 476 completed questionnaires. Questionnaire respondents had a modest knowledge of near-death experiences (NDEs). Nevertheless, respondents expressed a positive attitude towards NDEs in general, and towards patients who had had NDEs. Thirty-four percent of the nurses had personally encountered NDErs, and those nurses reported a higher level of knowledge than their colleagues who had not had that opportunity. Furthermore, in relation to the global sample, nurses who had encountered an NDEr showed attitudes that were more positive regarding both the NDE itself and the type of assistance they offered NDErs.     

Near-death experiences and religion: A further investigation

The relationship between religion and near-death experiencers (NDEs) was examined by interviewing 40 near-death experiences who were given a series of instruments to measure religious orientation and religious change. No relationship was found between religious orientation prior to the NDE and the depth of the NDE. However, a significant correlation was found between the depth of the NDE and a subsequent increase both in the importance of religion and in religious activity. Various theoretical explanations of NDEs were examined to account for these findings.     

Further evidence for veridical perception during near-death experiences

We briefly survey research designed to validate alleged out-of-body perceptions during near-death experiences. Most accounts of this kind that have surfaced since Michael Sabom's work are unsubstantiated self-reports or, as in claims of visual perception of blind persons, completely undocumented or fictional, but there have been some reports that were corroborated by witnesses. We briefly present and discuss three new cases of this kind.