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intermediate

A systematic analysis of distressing near-death experience accounts

Cassol, Helena et al. (2019)

Published
Sep 14, 2019
Journal
Memory · Vol. 27 · No. 8
DOI
10.1080/09658211.2019.1626438
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At a GlanceAI

Distressing NDEs are 14% of 123 accounts, and their memories are as vivid as those of pleasant NDEs.

SummaryAI

Cassol and colleagues identified distressing experiences in 17 of 123 NDE accounts (14%) and had multiple coders classify them with the Greyson and Bush scheme: 8 inverse, 8 hellish, 1 void. Suicide survivors were overrepresented among distressing NDEs. Memories of distressing and classical NDEs were equally detailed, differing only in emotional valence. The authors note the figure is likely an underestimate, since people may be reluctant to share frightening experiences and standard NDE scales favour positive emotions.

Method SnapshotAI

Written narratives, multi-coder classification, frequentist and Bayesian group comparisons.

BackgroundAI

Greyson NDE Scale; Greyson and Bush (1992) classification.

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

Distressing NDEs are 14% of the sample, and this is clearly an underestimate: not everyone is ready to talk about them, and the scales are tuned to positive experiences.

— ES