About IANDS

As an educational nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) focuses most of its resources into providing the highest quality information available about NDE-related subjects. It is the only such membership group in the world.  

In addition to maintaining this information-rich website, IANDS publishes a peer-reviewed scholarly journal and a member magazine, sponsors conferences and other programs, works with the media, and encourages the formation of regional discussion and support groups.

We invite you to join today to become a part of this mission and keep up to date on what is known about this fascinating subject.

IANDS’ purpose is to promote responsible, multi-disciplinary exploration of near-death and similar experiences, their effects on people’s lives, and their implications for beliefs about life, death, and human purpose. Where scholarship does not indicate a reasonably clear position on the origin or interpretation of these experiences, we remain impartial and open to the presentation of varying points of view; however, while all personal beliefs will be respected, IANDS is under no obligation to consider them all equally supportable. Whatever the viewpoint, IANDS never supports proselytizing.

IANDS serves a broad range of people:

• Experiencers: People who have had a near-death or similar experience
• Researchers: People who are interested in the objective academic or clinical study of near-death experiences and/or near-death-like experiences
• Health care professionals: People who care for experiencers’ physical and/or mental health
• People close to experiencers: Family and friends of persons who have had an NDE.
• Educators: People who teach about near-death and near-death-like experiences
• Interested other people: People with terminal illness, those in grief, and the general public.

IANDS Programs and Activities

• IANDS provides reliable information to caregivers, experiencers, and the public by publication of the approximately quarterly magazine Vital Signs; maintaining this active and growing website; working with media around the world; sponsoring periodic North American conferences, continuing education programs, and other programs; offering a speaker's bureau; and producing a wide variety of educational materials.

• IANDS encourages interest in research and professional applications through publication of the three-times-a-year Journal of Near-Death Studies, management of a program of small grants to encourage scholarly research, creation of an NDE Research Fund, sponsorship of conferences and other programs, work with media representatives around the world, and publication of an indexed bibliography to the periodical literature on near-death and near-death like experiences.

• IANDS facilitates support. Near-death and similar experiences can raise deeply troubling questions for many experiencers. Aftereffects of the NDE can be disturbing to the experiencers as well as to their families, friends, and caregivers. To meet these needs, support and interest groups have developed across North America and around the world.

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