Near-Death Experiences in patients with locked-in syndrome: Not always a blissful journey |
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| Affiliation: | 1. AMIS Plus Switzerland, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;2. Cardiology Department, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland;3. Cardiology Department, La Tour Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland;4. Department of Cardiology, Stadtspital Triemli, Zurich, Switzerland;5. Department of Cardiology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland;6. Department of Internal Medicine, Kantonsspital Uri, Altdorf, Switzerland;7. Department of Cardiology, Kantonsspital Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland;8. AMIS Plus Data Center, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland |
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| 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. |
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| Keywords: | Near-Death Experience Locked-in syndrome Brainstem lesions Coma Memory Emotions |
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