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PsychologyMust Read
intermediate

DMT models the near-death experience

Timmermann, Christopher et al. (2018)

Published
Aug 15, 2018
Journal
Frontiers in Psychology · Vol. 9
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01424
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At a GlanceAI

DMT given under placebo control produces experiences that overlap with real NDEs on nearly every feature.

SummaryAI

Thirteen healthy volunteers received DMT and placebo and then completed the Greyson NDE Scale. DMT raised NDE scores significantly compared with placebo, and these scores tracked DMT-induced ego dissolution and mystical-type experience as well as baseline absorption and delusional ideation. Compared with a matched group of people who had actual NDEs, DMT experiences overlapped on nearly all NDE features. The authors call the similarity striking and in need of further study.

Method SnapshotAI

Within-subjects placebo-controlled drug administration with standard NDE measure and matched comparison.

BackgroundAI

Greyson NDE Scale; basic psychopharmacology.

In Collections

Psychology28 papers

Near-death experiences: reports, measurement and explanations

Some people who come close to death later report leaving their body, a tunnel, a bright light, meeting deceased relatives or a review of their life. This collection follows how psychology and medicine have studied these reports: from the first case collections (Moody, Ring) and the Greyson NDE Scale, through prospective studies of cardiac arrest survivors, to neurobiological, psychological and cultural explanations, distressing NDEs, and what changes in people's lives afterwards. What NDEs are is still debated, and the verdicts here are ours. Terms: * NDE: near-death experience * OBE: out-of-body experience * WCEI: Ring's Weighted Core Experience Index, an early measure of NDE depth

ES
Evgeny Smirnov

DMT produces experiences strikingly similar to NDEs: nearly all features on the Greyson scale overlap with those of actual experiencers. Looks like a beautiful biological explanation of what is going on.

— ES