scholarly journals Losing the Self in Near-Death Experiences: The Experience of Ego-Dissolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 929
Author(s):  
Charlotte Martial ◽  
Géraldine Fontaine ◽  
Olivia Gosseries ◽  
Robin Carhart-Harris ◽  
Christopher Timmermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Self ◽  
Nature Relatedness ◽  
Body Experiences ◽  
Scale Total Score ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Nature Relatedness Scale ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

Many people who have had a near-death experience (NDE) describe, as part of it, a disturbed sense of having a “distinct self”. However, no empirical studies have been conducted to explore the frequency or intensity of these effects. We surveyed 100 NDE experiencers (Near-Death-Experience Content [NDE-C] scale total score ≥27/80). Eighty participants had their NDEs in life-threatening situations and 20 had theirs not related to life-threatening situations. Participants completed the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI) and the Ego-Inflation Inventory (EII) to assess the experience of ego dissolution and inflation potentially experienced during their NDE, respectively. They also completed the Nature-Relatedness Scale (NR-6) which measures the trait-like construct of one’s self-identification with nature. Based on prior hypotheses, ratings of specific NDE-C items pertaining to out-of-body experiences and a sense of unity were used for correlational analyses. We found higher EDI total scores compared with EII total scores in our sample. Total scores of the NDE-C scale were positively correlated with EDI total scores and, although less strongly, the EII and NR-6 scores. EDI total scores were also positively correlated with the intensity of OBE and a sense of unity. This study suggests that the experience of dissolved ego-boundaries is a common feature of NDEs.

Are Persons Reporting “Near-Death Experiences” Really near Death? A Study of Medical Records

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Stevenson ◽  
Emily Williams Cook ◽  
Nicholas Mc Clean-Rice
Keyword(s):  
Medical Records ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Threatening Condition ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

In the cases of 107 patients who reported unusual experiences during an illness or injury, such as seeing their own body from a different position in space, medical records were obtained for forty patients. These were examined and rated according to the evidence they provided of grave, life-threatening illness or injury. Eighteen patients (45%) were judged to have had serious, life-threatening illnesses or injuries, but twenty-two (55%) were rated as having had no life-threatening condition. Nevertheless, thirty-three (82.5%) of the patients believed that they had been “dead” or near death. Deficiencies in the medical records may account for a few of the discrepancies between patients' reports and medical records. However, it seems likely that an important precipitator of the so-called near-death experience is the belief that one is dying—whether or not one is in fact close to death.

scholarly journals Impact of a near-death experience and religious conversion on the mental health of a criminal: case report and literature review

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla C. Braghetta ◽  
Glícia P. Santana ◽  
Quirino Cordeiro ◽  
Sergio P. Rigonatti ◽  
Giancarlo Lucchetti
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Case Report ◽  
Religious Conversion ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Present Case Report ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Psychological Events ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

OBJECTIVE: Near-death experiences have been defined as profound psychological events that may occur to a person while close to death or in a situation of extreme physical or emotional distress. These experiences seem to have an important effect on the patients’ mental health and may occur in several situations despite their cultural and religious beliefs. CASE DESCRIPTION: The present case report describes the positive impact of a near-death experience (Greyson scale > 7) followed by religious conversion on the mental health of a former prisoner. COMMENTS: Investigation of the role of near-death experiences by the scientific community could shed light on the coping mechanisms and moral/ethical transformations that take place in these individuals.

Ego Duplications, Body Doubles, and Dreams: a Contribution To a Phenomenology of Body Image and Memory

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-102
Author(s):  
Stephan J. Holajter
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Self ◽  
Lived Body ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Body Experiences ◽  
Unique Experience ◽  
Body Ego

AbstractIn this paper an "unconscious" structure common to such altered psychological states as dreaming, schizophrenic disintegration, out-of body experiences, and creative acts is described. This description is accomplished by setting psychoanalytic, clinical, and empirical studies zuithin a phenomenological framework. Phenomenological self-reflection is first made a party to discussions which focus on memories and the experience of the lived body. The configurations of "unconsciousness" then take precedence in describing relationships between the "I" of waking (or awakening) consciousness and a transformative body image (or body ego). A unique experience of the self-as undergoing a process of ego "duplication" and body "doubling"-is highlighted.

What Is It Like To Be Dead?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Schlieter
Keyword(s):  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Spiritual Orientation ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Generic Term ◽  
Body Experiences ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Deathbed Visions ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Near Death Experiences

This book offers a modern genealogy of “near-death experiences,” outlining the important functions of these experiences in the religious field of Western modernity. Emerging as autobiographical narratives in the legacy of Christian deathbed visions, narratives of near-death experiences were used in Western religious metacultures (Christian, Esoteric, and Spiritualist–Occult) as substantial proof for the survival of death. In its historical part, the study demonstrates how certain features of near-death experiences, for example, the panoramic life review or autoscopic out-of-body-experiences, emerged in Occult and Esoteric circles in the 19th and 20th centuries, experimenting with astral projection, drugs, and “clairvoyant” states. It was only in the 1970s, however, that Raymond Moody, popularizing the generic term “near-death experience” that had been introduced by John C. Lilly, could declare the different features to be elements of a single phenomenon. Other factors that paved the way were discussions on “brain death,” coma, and the increase of hospitalized dying, the crisis of traditional religious institutions in the 1960s and early 1970s, and the claim of individual religious experiences. In its systematic part, the study discusses the religious relevance of these experiences for the experiencers themselves, but also for the growing audience of such testimonies. These functions encompass ontological, epistemic, intersubjective, and moral aspects. Most central is the reassurance that in modernity, religious experience is still possible, and that near-death experiences may initiate a new spiritual orientation in life. In addition, they are held to offer evidence for the transcultural validity of afterlife visions.

A Pediatric Near-Death Experience: Tunnel Variants

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Serdahely
Keyword(s):  
Near Drowning ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Present Case Study ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

A paucity of literature exists for pediatric near-death experiences with only thirteen cases reported thus far. Morse and his colleagues have called for additional well-documented cases to further our knowledge of children's near-death experiences. The present case study is of a boy who had an NDE due to nearly drowning when he was seven years old. Besides adding to the sparse pediatric NDE population, this case presents a variation of the tunnel experience not before reported in either the adult or the pediatric NDE literature. Instead of seeing deceased friends or relatives or sensing a presence while in the tunnel, this boy was comforted by two of his family's pets who had died prior to the near-drowning incident.

Revelation in Near-Death Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 536-551
Author(s):  
Gregory Shushan
Keyword(s):  
Life Review ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
The Body ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Near Death Experience

Accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) across cultures often include claims of encounters with deities or spirits who impart information to the experiencer. Other accounts involve the experiencer obtaining knowledge by other means, without the assistance of a non-human supernatural being. While some cases involve deceased relatives, the most significant factor in others might be the soul’s perceptions of the body from a vantage point outside it, seeing or travelling to other realms, having a panoramic life review, encountering the soul of a person not previously known to have died, having prophetic visions, or more generalized impressions of universal understanding and/or union. In all these senses, NDEs can be seen as revelatory experiences, with profound information being conveyed to the individual through ostensibly mystical or ‘religious’ experiences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document