Skip to main content
All Reviews
PsychologyWorth Reading
intermediate

Near-death experiences in patients with locked-in syndrome: Not always a blissful journey

Charland-Verville, Vanessa et al. (2015)

Published
Jul 1, 2015
Journal
Consciousness and Cognition · Vol. 34
DOI
10.1016/j.concog.2015.03.011
View Original

At a GlanceAI

NDEs in locked-in syndrome after brainstem lesions are less peaceful than classical NDEs.

SummaryAI

Charland-Verville and colleagues compared the NDEs of 8 patients with locked-in syndrome caused by a brainstem lesion with those of 23 experiencers after coma with lesions above the brainstem. The locked-in group less often reported peacefulness or well-being. The authors suggest either a specific neuroanatomical basis linked to pontine and paralimbic connectivity, or the distress of being conscious in a paralysed body.

Method SnapshotAI

Retrospective comparison of two small patient groups.

BackgroundAI

Basic neuroanatomy.

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
Expert Review: Near-death experiences in patients with locked-in syndrome: Not always a blissful journey | Marginalia