Near-death experiences (NDEs) are not hallucinations of a dying brain—they are likely to be real, and suggest some part of us survives death, a new study has concluded.
People who have an NDE before they are revived report similar experiences that share common themes, and are nothing like an hallucination or illusion, say researchers at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.
An NDE follows a narrative arc that includes the separation of the body and a heightened sense of consciousness before travelling to a destination where there is a meaningful review of the life and finally being taken to a place that feels like ‘home’.
EEG brain scans note high gamma activity and electrical spikes of the dying, or dead, patient, that suggest heightened states of consciousness when the reverse would be expected.
The evidence shows that physiological and cognitive processes don’t end with death, and studies have been unable to disprove the NDEs of resuscitated patients, the researchers say.
Their views form the basis of a ‘position paper’ on the study of death and NDEs which has brought together academics from various disciplines—including critical care, the neurosciences and psychiatry—based at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Baylor and London University.
(Source: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2022; doi: 10.1111/nyas.14740)
