A near-death experience, or NDE, can be a life-changing one for the people who have them. But what exactly is an NDE? What causes near-death experiences, and who experiences NDEs?
Let’s examine the causes and effects of NDEs and explain how literally anyone can have a near-death experience, regardless of their cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds, their mental health, or their religious beliefs.
Read More: What is a near-death experience?
What causes near-death experiences?
The term “near-death experience” (NDE) was coined in 1975 in the book Life After Life by American psychologist Dr. Raymond Moody. Since then, many researchers have studied the circumstances, content, and aftereffects of NDEs. And their terminology and definitions have grown stronger as a result of this extended research.
In most cases, NDEs are experienced by people exposed to extreme life-threatening scenarios—serious illness or injury, military combat, childbirth, suicide attempts, or being clinically dead for a brief or extended period of time.
Some research indicates that people who experience cardiac arrest are most likely to have a near-death experience. According to that research, as many as 40 percent of cardiac arrest survivors report having an NDE.
Some conditions—moments of profound grief, deep meditation, or extreme physical exertion—may lead to what researchers define as a near-death-like experience—an experience similar or even identical to an NDE, despite the fact these experiencers were not actually near death.
Despite significant amounts of research on the causes, underlying conditions, and psychological impacts of near-death experiences, the science community still doesn’t have conclusive answers as to how NDEs occur or what causes them. But efforts to research near-death experiences are ongoing, and advances in science have helped nurture our understanding of NDEs over time.
Who experiences NDEs?
One of the more fascinating elements of NDE research is that there don’t seem to be underlying cultural, mental, or societal conditions that affect them. They impact people regardless of psychological, educational, emotional, environmental, or socioeconomic backgrounds or settings.
Near-death experiences have been encountered by people of every race and creed, from children through adulthood and beyond. Every nationality and cultural identity. And there are examples of both modern accounts gathered scientifically and examples from antiquity noted in ancient texts. Put simply, anyone can have a near-death experience.
NDEs are not attributable to any known conditions, behaviors, or characteristics. This includes mental illness, drug abuse, spiritual beliefs or practices, criminality, sexual orientation, gender, age, poverty, or any other characteristics identified as the result of biases or discrimination. You might say NDEs are “equal opportunity” experiences.
There is one exception to this rule; those with a psychological condition known as absorption, a personality trait wherein a person becomes “absorbed” in mental imagery, is noted in a substantial number of NDE cases. However, research has proven conclusively that near-death experiences are not an indication of personality traits or mental disorders, and it remains unclear if higher levels of absorption increase the likelihood of an NDE or not.
It’s quite common for people experiencing an NDE to say the event changed them, either immediately or over time. For those who need time to integrate their experience, the process might take months or even years. People experiencing distressing NDEs often feel especially challenged to make sense of those experiences.
Research indicates that the vast majority of people who’ve had near-death experiences see them as beneficial, either immediately or eventually. They often say their NDEs were profound and helpful experiences.
Read More: Aftereffects of Near-Death States
NDEs in special populations
Reports of near-death experiences tend to share contextual similarities that show us that NDEs do not have isolated features depending on cultural, geographic, or socioeconomic backdrops. How an NDE is interpreted boils down to those cultural factors, but the NDE reports themselves still share identical characteristics.
NDEs in western cultures—North America, Europe, Australia, etc.—often mention the experiencer moving through a tunnel. In countries without tunnel infrastructure, NDE reports have described experiencers moving through the neck of a gourd or the funnel of a plant.
Today, it’s generally understood that near-death experiences have three structures.
- A deep structure—general features that appear to people across cultures
- A cultural surface structure—specific forms of those features that correlate to the experiencer’s culture
- A personal surface structure—the unique qualities to each person having a near-death experience
Child NDEs
Reports of NDEs in children are particularly interesting. The younger a child is, the less influenced by their culture they are. Their experiences share the same features as those of adults, but are described in simpler terms. Children who’ve experienced an NDE also later report having felt different from other children while growing up.
NDEs resulting from suicide attempts
Research also indicates that suicide attempt survivors who experienced an NDE are much less likely to try again, saying their experience showed them that their lives have purpose. They come out of their attempt and their resulting NDE seeing life as a gift, and take on challenges more constructively. They see life experiences as opportunities to deepen their ability to love and to increase their knowledge.
NDEs involving ‘veridical perception’
Near-death experiences involving accurate descriptions of specific, unique events happening around their unconscious or deceased physical body—veridical perception—are also highly fascinating. For instance, there are reports of NDE vision in persons blind from birth.
In these cases, experiencers are able to describe activities that took place around them that they technically and scientifically shouldn’t have been able to describe. These descriptions often involve the presence, physical appearance, or activities of people nearby, or even of family members at a distance.
One reported case of veridical perception in an NDE involved a woman undergoing brain surgery. She was fully anesthetized, with her eyes taped shut and her ears plugged with small speakers emitting noise. Nevertheless, she correctly described instruments used by doctors and conversations between hospital staff conducting the operation.
Read More: Quantifying the Phenomenon: The Greyson Near-Death Experience Scale