IANDS Glossary: Distressing Near-Death Experience (Negative NDE)

A distressing near-death experience (also known as a negative NDE) is one that’s scary, hostile, or threatening. It’s the opposite of a pleasurable near-death experience, which is categorized as being pleasant, peaceful, and affirming.

A distressing near-death experience can be quite frightening. In fact, they can result in serious emotional trauma for some experiencers that can sometimes last for years or even decades.

There are fewer reported long-term aftereffects than with pleasant NDEs, though this is possibly due to experiencers being less likely to dwell on or discuss these unpleasant experiences.

Distressing near-death experiences are not as common as pleasurable NDEs. Most studies estimate that approximately 11 percent to 22 percent of all NDEs are distressing NDEs.

The three types of distressing near-death experience

Researchers usually classify distressing near-death experiences into three general documented types, as established by storied NDE researchers Nancy Evans Bush and Bruce Greyson.

An Inverse NDE is one where features reported as pleasurable in other NDEs are perceived as hostile or threatening. The experiencer doesn’t feel a sense of bliss or peace with what they’re witnessing. Instead, they’re frightened or angry over their inability to affect the situation.

A Void NDE is described as one where the experiencer endures vast emptiness, isolation, or even annihilation. Experiencers of void NDEs report being trapped in space or in blackness, often for what feels like an eternity.

Lastly, a Hellish NDE is considered the least common type of distressing near-death experience. These NDEs feature scenes of horror, pain, violence, torture, or some combination thereof.

How do people come to terms with a negative NDE?

Nancy Evans Bush is arguably the world’s foremost expert on distressing near-death experiences. and in her important book Dancing Past the Dark: Distressing Near-Death Experiences, she explains there are three common responses to distressing NDEs.

The turnaround is a response where the distressing near-death experience is seen as a warning, meant to inspire the experiencer to turn their life around. They might abandon bad behaviors or otherwise shift away from a bad path in life.

Reductionism is a response where the experiencer repudiates the NDE and rejects the idea that it should change their way of life. They might write off their NDE as a medical anomaly, a hallucination, or something else.

The Long Haul is a response where the experiencer spends months, years, or even decades attempting to understand their negative NDE. Rather than rejecting the experience or immediately finding meaning in it, the experiencer continues to wrestle with its emotional, spiritual, or psychological implications until they eventually find a way to integrate it into their lives.

Who can have a distressing near-death experience? Are they only for ‘bad’ people?

Some people assume that only a “bad” person can have a distressing near-death experience. It wouldn’t make sense for someone with a checkered past to have a pleasurable NDE, right?

But here’s the thing: there is no evidence that “bad” people have distressing NDEs or that “good” people have pleasurable NDEs. People from a wide variety of religious, cultural, and personal backgrounds have reported both.

There’s also no evidence that a distressing near-death experience is some form of punishment. Researchers haven’t found any evidence that a person’s moral character, religious devotion, or life history determines which type of NDE they’ll have. Like pleasurable NDEs, distressing NDEs can happen to literally anyone.

What can cause a distressing near-death experience? Why do negative NDEs happen?

We don’t yet understand what causes near-death experiences, nor do we understand why some people have distressing near-death experiences while most others have pleasurable ones.

Through the years, several possible explanations have been proposed, but no single theory has been able to account for pleasurable or distressing NDEs. The theories posited by some researchers have thus far been dismissible for various reasons.

As it stands, there is no evidence that distressing NDEs are shaped in any way by a person’s morals, beliefs, spirituality, or their own internal perceptions of guilt or ethicality. People who think of themselves as “good” can have negative NDEs, while people who think of themselves as “bad” can have pleasurable NDEs.

For more academic reading on distressing near-death experiences, you may find these links useful:

You might also find these other IANDS Glossary and IANDS Q&A entries interesting, too. They aren’t focused on the subject of distressing near-death experience, but you might think they’re worth reading regardless: