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Research literature has highlighted the occurrence of deathbed vision (DBV), deathbed coincidence (DBC), and after- death communication (ADC) phenomena. To better inform the mental health profession about how psychotherapists respond to and are affected by working with these client experiences, we interviewed four therapists in private practice in the United Kingdom who reported having worked with clients who disclosed one or more of the phenomena. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), we identified three main themes from their accounts: (a) making sense of inexplicable transpersonal experiences on a professional and personal level, (b) experiencing personal transformation, and (c) perceiving clients' therapeutic benefits from addressing DBV, DBC, and ADC experiences. We discuss these findings in the context of the existing literature along with implications for clinical practice and possible future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near- death experiences (NDEs) are transpersonal events reported by individuals to have occurred while they were physically and/or psychologically close to death, whereas shared death experiences (SDEs) are transpersonal events reported by individuals to have occurred around the time of death of another person. In this paper, we compare the features and aftereffects reported in a study of 617 NDEs to those reported in a study of 164 SDEs. We found that NDEs and SDEs have a remarkably similar set of common features and aftereffects as well as key differences. When viewed together, these similarities and differences support the idea that NDEs and SDEs are different perspectives of a singular phenomenon, namely the transition between physical and non- physical existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are known to occur in individuals who go through the first stages of physical death but can also happen as a nontypical manifestation of several forms of non-ordinary states of consciousness. In this exploratory study, we assessed the possibility of inducing the phenomenological components of an NDE through hypnosis using a specific script in a group setting. Participants were 7 males (38.9%) and 11 females (61.1%) ranging in age from 15 to 59 years with a mean age of 35.9. NDE Scale (Greyson, 1983) scores among the 17 participants whose total scores met the criterion of 7 or higher were seemingly indistinguishable, in both content and intensity, from scores of spontaneous near-death experiencers. Older participants scored higher on the three non-cognitive subscales. The core phenomenological components were prevalently affective, pointing to the likelihood that expectations played a role in induced experiences, as may also be the case with spontaneous NDEs that were in some way anticipated. However, we were unable to conclude that, beyond phenomenology, a hypnotically induced experience was equivalent to a spontaneous episode. To affirm that a shift from ordinary consciousness, facilitated by hypnosis, is adequate to bring someone close to a theoretical mental threshold that might be called Near-Death Consciousness, in which a comparable event could be hypothetically achieved, at least four variables should be considered: the context, content, intensity of deviation from ordinary consciousness, and aftereffects of the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In talking with near-death experiencers (NDErs), we had encountered cases of what we called spontaneous mediumship experiences (SMEs) in which the NDEr experienced an uninvited visit by a deceased person who asked the NDEr to convey a message to another living person. We were unable to find reference to this phenomenon in the existing NDE literature. In this article, we present a brief case study and results of an exploratory quantitative study of SMEs among NDErs. We created a 38-item online survey and recruited adult participants primarily through the International Association for Near-Death Studies' approximately 45 local U.S. groups. The 89 participants were predominantly female White non-Latina/o. Whereas 15% of participants reported at least one SME prior to their first or only NDE, 56% reported at least one following it. Participants reporting deeper NDEs were significantly more likely to report at least one post-NDE SME, with a medium effect. Number of reported post-NDE SMEs ranged from 1 to over 20. Of those who reported degree of distress related to their SMEs, only 4% indicated very or extremely distressful. Of participants who responded, 28% reported having sought help with their SMEs, 62% reported they had found at least one helpful coping strategy, and the most frequent source of helpful coping strategies was reportedly personal experience. We discuss implications of these findings for healthcare providers working with NDErs and for consciousness researchers. Based on our results, further research, both quantitative and qualitative, seems warranted regarding this apparently heretofore uninvestigated NDE aftereffect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "After-Death Communication: Parents' and Their Children's Understanding and Meaning-Making" by Kimberly Jeska is presented.

Extraordinary spiritual experiences (ESEs), events that appear to be direct perception of spiritual facts, have a history in Western societies of being stigmatized and pathologized except within very limited religious contexts. That negative view has caused real harm to many "visionaries." But in the latter 20th century, social science research began to show that ESEs are actually common in the general population and that they are normal. Near-death experiences are a well-known example. The growing body of research literature suggests that many conventional theories about spirituality are empirically mistaken and that ESEs may have the potential to be powerfully health promoting. This emerging evidence creates both a great ethical obligation and a research opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I propose to replace the term a "Peak in Darien" experience, which seems to be recently gaining ground, with some other term. Two reasons for this proposal are: (a) the term, taken from John Keats's well-known poem "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," is based on a series of misunderstanding over the years, and (b) using an expression requiring idiosyn-cratic cultural knowledge irrelevant to the topic may not be the best approach in scientific writing that will be widely read in both Western and non-Western cultures. As a possible substitute, I propose the terms "Encounter with Known Decedent Not Known to Have Died" (EKD) and "Encounter with Unknown Dece-dent (EUD)" to refer to the relevant cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously in this Journal, Holden and Christian (2005) profiled patterns in the field of near-death studies through an analysis of the scholarly publications from Near-Death Experiences: Index to the Periodical Literature through 2001. In this article, we provide an updated analysis of a similar type through 2011. The body of literature on which we based this analysis included 892 scholarly articles by 629 authors spanning more than a century. We report on patterns related to publication dates and venues, experts and their most cited articles, and most and least published topics in the field--both with regard to current status and in comparison to 2001. We discuss limitations of our analy-sis and implications of it for the future of scholarship in the field of near-death studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has revealed that following a near-death experience (NDE) a majority of experiencers (NDErs) change fundamentally in values, re-ligious/spiritual beliefs, and relationship to paranormal phenomena. Much less is known about the relationship between aftereffects of one spouse's NDE and subsequent marital adjustment and stability. In this preliminary retrospective study, we addressed this question quantitatively with supplementary narra-tive data. Using the framework of John Gottman's (1999) Sound Marital House, we analyzed self-reported adjustment in and stability of the marriages of 26 NDErs before and after their NDEs compared to the marriages of 26 people before and after a self-identified life-changing event (LCE) unrelated to NDEs. Results indicated a significant reduction in marital meaning (p = .008), adjust-ment (p = .007), and stability (p = .005) in NDE compared to LCE couples, with a majority of NDE (65%) but only a minority of LCE (35%) couples' marriages ending in divorce. Implications for health professionals are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I review the German literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries that addressed two phenomena: the state of apparent death and the origin of dreams. Because the term near-death experiences (NDEs) did not yet exist, many features of those phenomena as they are currently understood were subsumed under the broad concept of the state of apparent death, whereas early theories of the origin of dreams included spiritual views that have similari-ties to current views of NDEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the results of particular sound test to prove near death experience in the 2011 issue of the journal of Near-Death studies.

My investigation has shown me that near-death experiences (NDEs) are not some kind of anomaly but, rather, are part of the larger genre of transformations of consciousness. The clue I believe most researchers have missed is stress-specifically, the intensity that comes from that stress (known in shamanism as "high stress"). I believe the entire pattern of aftereffects and the degree to which people change can be traced to that factor. It's the intensity that shifts experiencers into what I call a "threshold experience"-one that straddles the boundary between this world and other worlds, between brain and that which lies beyond what the brain can access, between reality and miracles, mind and spirit, life and death, heaven and hell, sanity and insanity. Once we humans understand this shift, we can begin to unravel how the transformational process works. At the threshold of who we think we are and what lies beyond body and brain is the core of ancient mysteries. We are transformed by the Oneness we find there: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the Tibetan Book of the Dead (TBD) has attracted' much attention from Westerners interested in Eastern spirituality and has been discussed in the literature on dying and near-death experiences- However, the history of the TBD has practically been ignored in that literature up to now. This history has been elaborated in detail by Tibetologist Bryan Cuevas (2003). To bring this history to the attention of scholars in the field of near-death studies, I present in this paper a summary of the TBD's development based primarily on the work of Cuevas (2003). The summary shows that the TBD was gradually elaborated within a specific Tibetan Buddhist context, the Dzokchen tradition. In comparing features of first-hand reports of the death and dying process as reported in the TBD with those reported in four other categories-Tibetan ddlok, near-death experiencers, mediums, and children who remember previous lives- I find that some features are consistent but that other key features are not. Be- cause it seems likely that inconsistent features of the TBD reflect idiosyncratic dying and afterlife concepts of the Dzokchen tradition, scholars in the field of near-death studies and others should be careful about adopting the contents of the TBD without question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs) have been rarely reported by comparison to the incidence of NDEs reported in other groups. Recently, after Kreps (2009) found no NDEs in a sample from Pakistan and Kashmir, he concluded Muslim NDEs may even be nonexistent. However, in Arak City, Iran, we easily identified 19 Iranian Muslims who reported having experienced an NDE. Thirty participants claiming to have memories from a period of unconsciousness associated with a close brush with death completed a Persian translation of Greyson's (1983) NDE Scale as well as background and semi-structured questions. Of these, 19 (63%) scored 7 or higher on the NDE Scale, Greyson's criterion for a valid NDE. The presumed NDErs were 10 female and 9 male; aged 16 to 65 years old with a mean age of 33; ranging in education from no high school diploma (5%), to high school diploma (37%), to bachelor's degree (58%); reporting NDE circumstances of accident (58%), attempted suicide (16%), illness (11%), natural disaster (11%), and emotional trauma (5%); and reporting time since NDE ranging from less than one to 20 years with a mean of 8 years. Although low reliability precluded further statistical analysis of the data or comparison of them to results of previous Western studies, our informal assessment was that both the contents and aftereffects of the Muslim NDEs were quite similar to those of Westerners. We concluded that NDEs are not particularly rare in Muslim groups and that their similarity to Western NDEs suggests they may be a cross-culturally universal and transpersonal phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among other authors, Joel Ibrahim Kreps (2009) has recently published accounts of Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs). With the present paper, we aim to contribute to the growing number of non-Western NDE reports by providing summaries of eight additional Muslim NDEs, seven translated from the original Italian source (Giovetti, 2007) and one from an English source (Lerma, 2009), and to provide references for further reading. In addition, we highlight noteworthy features of these eight summarized NDE accounts. Although the documentation standard of the available cases is generally low, these accounts indicate that the structure and contents of NDEs from many non-Western Muslim communities are largely similar to those reported in the Western NDE literature. In his report, Kreps concluded that Muslim NDEs are rare and that Muslims have fewer NDEs than do non-Muslim Westerners and non-Muslim non-Westerners such as the Chinese. However, we found that the number of Muslim NDE accounts available today seems to indicate that Muslim NDEs are not as rare as Kreps concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we rejoin Gerald Woerlee's response in this issue to Smit's (2008) article, "Corroboration of the Dentures Anecdote Involving Veridical Perception in a Near-Death Experience." We show the untenability of his claim that the man whose dentures were lost before his resuscitation in the hospital was initiated had been conscious virtually all the way from the moment he was found in the meadow up to his transport to the hospital's cardiac care unit. Also, we question Woerlee's claim that the patient constructed an accurate mental picture of objects and persons in the resuscitation room simply by listening to the sounds caused by the actions around his body. In all, we question Woerlee's materialistic explanations of the out-of-body experience that occurred in this patient's near-death experience. Our conclusion is straightforward: We consider Woerlee's claims to be wrong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I address some of what I consider the inaccuracies and false assumptions in a recent article in this Journal entitled "Corroboration of the Dentures Anecdote Involving Veridical Perception in a Near-Death Experience" (Smit, 2008). I provide a medical explanation of how it was possible for the man reporting this remarkable NDE to have survived his period of cardiac arrest and how it was possible for him to have undergone an NDE. More importantly, I discuss how it was possible for this man to have undergone the truly unusual perceptions of feeling pain in his chest due to cardiac massage at the same time as his consciousness was displaced out of his body during an out- of-body experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern literature, the so-called 'vision of Er,' told by Plato, and the 'vision of Thespesius,' recorded by Plutarch, have sometimes been cited as examples of ancient near-death experiences (NDEs). However, in a recent study, classicist Jan Bremmer (2002) impugned this interpretation. In this article, I offer a fresh analysis of these two texts that challenges Bremmer's stance and that vindicates the similarity between the ancient reports and modern NDEs. The vision of Er emerges as the oldest known direct account of an NDE. I add to these cases Plutarch's description of the 'vision of Timarchus' as an example of an ancient NDE provoked by extreme isolation. Comparison of these reports of NDEs from antiquity with modern analogues suggests a few additional characteristic traits of NDEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I present four apparent near-death experiences (NDEs) reported in Roman times. Despite their uncertain reliability, they contain features deserving attention. Three reports involve taking the wrong person to the realm of death by mistake ("mistake cases"), and even include the claim that the correct person had died after the NDEr revived ("correction cases"). Though common in Asia, such cases are absent in contemporary Western NDE reports. The fourth report contains an alleged correct future prediction and xenoglossy, the latter being a novum to NDE research. After introducing the four cases, I discuss their peculiar features and some related aspects of near-death states with a focus on their relevance for future NDE research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this editorial, I express my views on how to understand and reconcile contradictory revelations among near-death experiencers (NDErs). I address the issue of an NDEr proselytizing one's own unique interpretations in response to life's deepest questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The causes of Emanuel Swedenborg's (1688-1772) voices and visions remain unclear. It has recently been argued that post-hoc diagnoses of schizophrenia and epilepsy are not congruent with Swedenborg's actual experiences. In this article we examine the phenomenological commonalities between Swedenborg's experiences and near-death experiences (NDEs). Using the Near-Death Experience Scale (Greyson, 1985), we show that Swedenborg's experiences meet accepted criteria to be classified as NDEs. However, despite significant evidence for such commonalities, Swedenborg's experiences also show a number of points of divergence from NDEs. After reviewing the evidence for a potential role of hypoxia in generating NDEs, we hypothesize that a proximal cause of Swedenborg's experiences was his tendency to hypoventilate. Further, we argue that a distal cause of Swedenborg's experiences was neural changes induced by his lifetime of unusual respiration, in conjunction with a predisposition to temporal lobe seizures. We conclude by proposing a number of empirically testable hypotheses emerging from our arguments, centered around a developmental approach to NDEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While awaiting execution for their Christian faith in a Carthaginian prison in 203 CE, the Roman matron Perpetua, along with her companion Saturus, both recorded visions in which they traveled to an otherworldly garden where they experienced spiritual refreshment and were reunited with a divine being and departed companions. Modern scholars have contributed much to recapturing the meaning of these visions by placing them within their wider cultural and psychological contexts. Nevertheless, these scholars have largely overlooked the many characteristics such ancient visions share in common with modern near-death experiences (NDEs) and otherworld journeys cross-culturally. Perpetua and Saturus returned from their other- world journeys no longer fearing death and able, like modern near-death experiencers, to bring healing, hope, and meaning in the face of death to the community around them. The accounts of their NDEs, passed down for many generations, transformed ancient views and beliefs about the afterlife, a transformation reflected particularly in the construction and decoration of early Christian cemeteries as paradise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on a case study involving near-death experience (NDE). It investigates apparent after-death communication in the case of Tom Sawyer. Sawyer was a known near-death experiencer who died of pulmonary fibrosis in April 2007. Sawyer's life is also explored in the article to analyze Sawyer being a near-death experiencer.

Near-death experiencers (NDErs) have reported malfunction of electrical devices in their vicinities (Atwater, 1994; Bonenfant, 2005; Ring, 1992; Ring & Valarino, 2000). In this quantitative, retrospective study we investigated electromagnetic effects among NDErs, people who reported a close brush with death without an NDE, and people who reported never having been close to death but who used their most life-changing event as a past reference point. All participants completed a demographic questionnaire and two versions of the researchers-developed Electromagnetic Experiences Questionnaire: during the past year and before the designated life event. Participants who reported a close brush with death also completed the Near-Death Experience Scale (Greyson, 1983). Participants were adults with equivalent demographics: 36 NDErs, 20 nonNDErs who reported a close brush with death, and 46 people who had not been close to death. Results were a greater incidence of reported electromagnetic effects among NDErs than among participants in the other two groups; that retrospectively reported NDEs, more than close brushes with death or life-changing events, tended to mark an increase in electromagnetic effects; and that more electromagnetic effects were correlated with deeper NDEs. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most striking examples of near-death experience stories is the account of a clinically dead patient whose dentures were removed from his mouth prior to resuscitation, and which dentures were then lost. Days later the patient saw a nurse and told him that it was he who had removed those dentures. The patient was right, but he should not have known this information, because at the time the nurse had removed his dentures, the patient was clinically dead. Since publication of this account in a prestigious mainstream medical journal, speculations have abounded. In this article I describe the investigation I undertook to put these speculations to rest and the outcome of that investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented regarding the placement of apparitions of the deceased.

Previous studies of suicide attempters have revealed near-death experiences (NDEs) in this group in varying proportions. We studied such a group in Sri Lanka in order to extend these findings. We prospectively interviewed 77 consecutive suicide attempters admitted to a tertiary teaching hospital in Sri Lanka, using the translated modified NDE Scale, and noted biopsychosocial information and medications used. The majority of the population were 18 to 25 years old and had attempted suicide by drug overdose. Seven percent had loss of consciousness. Contrary to expectation, none reported an NDE. This absence of NDE reports may have been due in part of in combination to the effects of pharmacologic agents, the relative lack of loss of consciousness, the lack of serious intend to die, and the in-hospital location of the interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I present the case study of the "death journey" or near-death experience (NDE) of Don Talayesva, a Hopi Indian, whose experience occurred between 1900 and 1910. I compare and contrast his experience with 11 accounts of Native American NDEs reported by Jenny Wade (2003), as well as with modern day NDEs. Talayesva's NDE took him to the Hopi land of the dead, where he witnessed the brutal fate of witches and Two-Hearts before returning to physical existence. Although his and many other NDEs from indigenous populations appear to adhere to cultural expectations and beliefs, that has not been the case with modern day NDEs collected from Anglo-Saxon cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to learn about the prevalence rate in a larger Indian population and to explore new features of near-death experiences (NDEs), I systematically surveyed 60 villages in southern India covering a population of 36,100 persons. The prevalence rate was 4 cases per 10,000 persons. Unlike the Western studies that have been generally conducted in hospital settings, the present study was conducted in the community setting. I systematically studied new features of visibility in the other realms, the experience of bright but soothing light, sensation of a cave, extrasensory experiences, and attitude toward life and death. In spite of different locations (community versus hospital) of the experiencers at the time of NDEs in the Indian and Western cases, common features across cultures suggest the presence of some universality of features, lending support to my earlier thesis that commonalty in features is indicative of a genuine phenomenon underlying NDEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a census of non-Western near-death experiences (NDEs), noting similarities and differences in features with Western NDEs and other non-Western NDEs. The two aims of this current review are to update previous transcultural reviews with current data and to describe both crosscultural and culture-specific features of NDEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary, Charles Tart critiques Keith Augustine's deconstruction of Pam Reynolds's near-death experience (NDE) while undergoing cerebral aneurysm surgery using the hypothermic cardiac arrest ("standstill") procedure. However, after drafting this initial response to Augustine's paper, family medical problems prevented Tart from researching and polishing his comments as thoroughly as he would have wished. He has approved our publication of this commentary but regrets that it is not up to his usual standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keith Augustine's critique of studies of veridical perception in near-death experiences is based on unsubstantiated speculation from the popular media, rather than on supportive data or peer-reviewed literature. Nevertheless, addressing the issues he raises would improve the methodology of near-death research and strengthen the evidential database for veridical perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most near-death researchers have disregarded reports of near-death experiences (NDEs) with hallucinatory features, many have sought cases of veridical paranormal perception during NDEs. But despite more than a quarter century of near-death studies, no compelling evidence that NDErs can obtain information from remote locations during their NDEs has been forthcoming. This paper, Part I of a critique of survivalist interpretations of NDEs, reviews the quality of the evidence for veridical observations during NDEs, and finds the case for veridical paranormal perception during NDEs wanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are reports of veridical out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and healing occurring during near-death experiences (NDEs). We report a case in which there was strong evidence for both healing and a veridical OBE. The patient's experience was thought to have occurred while he was unconscious in an intensive therapy unit (ITU). The patient's account of an OBE contained many veridical elements that were corroborated by the medical team attending his medical emergency. He had suffered from a claw hand and hemiplegic gait since birth. After the experience he was able to open his hand and his gait showed a marked improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds more light on some of the unique personal and spiritual challenges that people face following near-death experiences (NDEs). The six challenges and suggested remedies described here were developed from more than 185 written responses to two questions, regarding challenges after NDEs and remedies, gathered from 25 attendees at the first retreat for NDErs held by the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), in April, 2006. We hope that this informal study will stimulate more formal research into the challenges and unique needs faced by all NDErs and the development of resources to assist experiencers in coping with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of eight Kongo near-death experiences (NDEs) from Central Africa supports the argument that universal features exist within this experiential form. Respondents described leaving their bodies and journeying to afterlife realms, encountering boundaries, and communicating with spiritual beings. Some accounts reveal culturally specific elements, implying that expectations shape perceptions. NDEs seem related to shamanism, humankind's first religious form, since NDEs contain the same elements as waking visions unrelated to the threat of death. Comparisons of Kongo accounts with two Basuto narratives from Southern Africa extend this argument. The theory that NDEs have a shamanic basis has evolutionary implications since shamanism provides greater survival advantages to those with genes allowing dissociation, hypnotic capacity, and religiosity. Shamanic healing, practiced over many millennia, would have increased the frequency of those genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

René Jorgensen's editorial comparing the Clear Light in The Tibetan Book of the Dead (or Bardo Thodol) and the experience of light in some near-death experiences (NDEs) does not adequately acknowledge either the diversity of NDEs or the possibility that the content of The Tibetan Book of the Dead may be metaphorical. Similarities between descriptions of light in some NDEs and descriptions of the Clear Light in The Tibetan Book of the Dead may reflect similar underlying neural mechanisms and does not provide validation for either description. Any relevance of these descriptions to enlightenment is speculative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial brings together two forms of human understanding of disembodied consciousness: the light in the near-death experience (NDE}, and the Clear Light in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I begin by telling the story of my own NDE. Then I compare my experience with the Tibetan Book of the Dead, to find points where the two are similar. To show that my NDE contained features in common with others, I also compare my experience with those found in the near-death literature. Specifically, I suggest that some NDEs provide a basis for the understanding of a nondualistic perception of the Clear Light. I also explore a broader and more unified understanding of enlightenment, based on the concept of the Clear Light. I argue that the NDEr could be on the right side of the dividing line in natural liberation, explaining bow the experience of light as reported by NDErs could represent insight into spiritual liberation. Finally, I close by comparing the message from NDEs and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and pose questions for future research in the field of near-death studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-death experiences (NDEs) have been reported since ancient times. Before the advent of modern reporting methods in medicine and the social sciences, the credibility of these accounts was often compromised through editing by church authorities or retelling by secondary sources. The autobiographical account of the NDE of George de Benneville, an 18th-century physician and lay minister, would satisfy the criteria of contemporary near-death researchers. In addition, de Benneville's life is so wen-documented that researchers have confidence in his personal credibility. The hopeful Universalist message in his account is also consistent with the reports of modern-day NDEs. We provide a complete account of de Benneville's NDE and compare it with both ancient and modern NDEs. We discuss his experiences within the context of comparative religion in general and Universalist Christian theology in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history and across cultures, certain aspects of religious mysticism bear striking resemblance to modern near-death experiences (NDEs). Interpretations of these experiences vary widely, but the descriptions of the experiences themselves can be very similar, and are very difficult to discount as mere coincidence. While modern science has attempted to understand NDEs in various ways, it has yet to delve deeply into its role as part of a continuum of human experience. NDEs can be viewed as the latest stage in a long history of a phenomenon that transcends cultural and temporal boundaries. By focusing on where such profound human experience shares common ground, we will be able to see humanity itself at perhaps its most sublime level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illustrates the concept of divine light in stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender near-death experiencers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of a near-death experience (NDE) on an experiencer's ability to cope with stress. The intent of the study is to determine whether changes reported by experiencers have a practical, psychological application in their day-to-day lives. The test group included 18 participants of support groups sponsored by the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), all of whom reported having experienced an NDE. The control group consisted of 25 participants of the same support groups, none of whom reported having experienced an NDE. Questionnaires were distributed to all individuals. Results showed that 94 percent of experiencers felt their NDE positively affected how they responded to stress, and 86 percent of the control group felt that exposure to NDEs had the same positive effect on their response to stress. One hundred percent of experiencers and 91 percent of nonexperiencers felt that significant life events, whether positive or negative, were imbued with meaning. The findings suggest that a philosophical framework that imparts meaning to life events, and not necessarily a NDE, has a positive effect on a person's ability to cope with stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Gibbs relates research findings on near-death experiences (NDEs) to John Shelby Spong's "continuity view of Jesus" and his "call for a new Christianity." Gibbs' argument falls short of demonstrating congruence of the scientific findings of NDE research with the theological claims of Spong, who posits that Jesus was not God, but just a person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature surveyed we found only two articles that dealt with the prevalence of near death experiences (NDEs) in a general population. The first study, from the United States, reported NDEs in 15 percent of the population. In a more strictly controlled study from Germany, the rate was 4 percent. The present study was performed to ascertain the prevalence of NDEs in Australia. We developed a questionnaire and administered it by telephone interview. We present that questionnaire here for further studies. We determined that 8 percent of the population reported an NDE. There was a 36 percent prevalence of people who had faced a situation of imminent death, almost one-fourth of whom reported an NDE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persons who have had near-death experiences (NDEs) typically become less self-centered or more spiritual, evidencing an expansive love much like that attributed to Jesus Christ. According to traditional Christianity, these common qualities fail to capture a profound discontinuity: whereas NDErs are human, Jesus was divine. John Shelby Spong has taken issue with this discontinuity view, arguing for a more "authentic" view of Jesus, a more spiritual understanding of humanity, and a new, evolving Christianity. This article relates near-death phenomena to Spong's argument. Various aspects of near-death research findings converge in pointing toward a deeper human spiritual reality of love and connection. In other words, humans, despite varying degrees of self-centeredness and distortion, may nonetheless in some ultimate sense all be integral to the light of divine love. This implication of near-death research is congruent with Spong's continuity view that humanity and divinity are not discontinuous but instead blend or flow together. Near-death research and Spong's envisioned new Christianity share in principle the ideal of progress through challenge and open dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-eight near-death experience (NDE) narratives were selected from 1,832 anomalous experience accounts collected from predominately African-American respondents in northeastern North Carolina. Analysis of this sample allowed testing hypotheses regarding NDEs and the ritual healing theory. The North Carolina sample revealed a lower incidence of NDE core features than Bruce Greyson found in a sample of International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) members, but equivalent to that found by Mark Fox in a British sample and by Kenneth Ring in an American sample. As Fox reported, comparison of crisis to non-crisis accounts revealed no significant differences in frequency of NDE features. Although no narrative features in the sample stories indicated ethnicity, content analysis revealed different frequencies of NDE type and greater incidence of negative emotion than previous researchers found. Accounts portrayed elements associated with shamanism and shed light on the process by which NDEs shape folk religious belief. All in all, hypotheses derived from the ritual healing theory were supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirituality is increasingly acknowledged in medicine as a legitimate topic of instruction and focus of research. I highlight some findings of my own and others' retrospective research on near-death experiences (NDEs), review recent prospective research by myself and others, and describe veridical perception research I plan to undertake. After reviewing findings regarding approaching-death experiences and their relationship to NDEs, I assert my current perspective on the relationship between mind and brain and explain the impact that empirical support for that perspective will have on both science and humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]