Most NDEs are felt as peaceful and loving, but some are disturbing. Each near-death experience is unique, but as a group NDEs display common features.

The same elements appear in both pleasant and disturbing near-death experiences, but with different emotional tones. PMH Atwater, one of the most prolific NDE researchers, in her book Coming Back to Life, described a peaceful experience this way:

Whether the NDE was beautiful or terrifying, near-death experiencers commonly say it was unlike a dream, "more real than real," the most powerful event in their lives. They struggle to find words to describe it, but insist they now know something new about reality, that "there's more than what's here" (in the physical world). Most feel deeply changed in their attitudes toward life, work, and relationships.

After a wonderful NDE, people almost always report losing their fear of death and believing that the essential purpose of human life is to develop our capacity to love. After a disturbing NDE , a person will almost always look for an explanation for having had the experience; because many interpret it as a threat or warning, they may try to change habits or behaviors, or to take up a new religious practice, hoping to avoid a recurrence. However experiencers adjust to these personal transformations, they often have difficulty finding someone they trust to tell about the event. They usually feel in great need of information and support.

Nearly identical experiences may also occur when people are nowhere near death, or not in any health crisis at all-perhaps during prayer or meditation, under deep emotional stress, or at the bedside of a dying person. Rarely, they seem to happen spontaneously. The general elements and aftereffects are the same as in the true "near death" experiences.

For more informationabout the characteristics of NDEs:

For a presentation on this subject, go to the webpage of the 2006 IANDS conference at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center titled "Pleasurable Western Adult NDEs: Circumstances and Contents" presented by Scott Taylor, PhD, and Pim van Lommel, M.D. (scroll down to see the details).

For several books with detailed descriptions of NDEs, please see the IANDS Bibliography.