Dancing Past the Dark ~ distressing near-death experiences

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dNDEs by the numbers

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Preparing for the IANDS conference at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2006, I did a detailed review of the research literature 1975-2005 to see what various studies had said about distressing NDEs. The findings were distributed as handouts but were not included in the published report in The Near-Death Handbook. Some readers here may be interested. In the next post, I’ll comment on them.

Distressing Western NDEs, 1975-2005: Research Summary

Note:  Please keep in mind that figures for “n NDE” and “n dNDE” are the numbers of experiences reported, not necessarily the actual number of experiences. Under-reporting, especially of distressing NDEs, has been recognized as  common. (Hoffman, Greyson-Bush, Bache, Bush, Clark Sharp)

 General  Studies, no dNDEs

Study       Population /type n NDE n dNDE % Findings; author’s words Comment
R. Moody19751978 AnecdotalSelf-selected from
general pop		 50 0 0 In the mass of material I have collected no one has ever described … a state like the archetypal hell. Reflections 10 Theclassic on NDE, established the pattern & the fieldMentions ‘no archetypal hell’ but does not exclude other types of dNDE
K. Ring1980 QuantitativeSelf-selected general 46 0 0  … sometimes …feeling scared or confused near … beginning of their experience, none felt that they …either were on their way to hell or …had “fallen into” it.  …affective tone and the visionary aspects of the near-death experience … predominantly and highly positive.  192-93  [Frightening features] appear to have been, in the main, hallucinatory visions 195 First quantified study of NDE, introduced Weighted Core Experience Index (WCEI)Beyond descriptive data, speculative as to mechanics and purpose of NDE (holographic universe)
Sutherland Self-selected general 50 0 0 No mention Modified WCEI, interp ‘grounded theory’
Medical, prospective
Study       Population/type n NDE n dNDE % Findings Comment
Sabom In-patient 78 0 0 “In my sample …I did not encounter a “hellish” NDE . . . Since [then], I have encountered a few distressing NDEs…” ** **Sabom JNDS 14(3) 208
vanLommel Cardiac arrest 62 0 0 “No patients reported distressing or frightening NDE”
Parnia et al2001 Cardiac arrest 7 0 0 No mention Greyson scale
Greyson
2003		 Cardiac in-pts 27 0 0 No mention FNDE questions not asked
Schwaninger 2005 Cardiac arrest 11 0 0 “None of the NDErs reported resignation, curiosity, anxiety, fear, anger, dread, despair, or anguish” WCEI & Greyson
               8 n=331 0 0%

General Studies: with dNDEs

   Name       Pop n NDE n fNDE % Findings Comment
Garfield1979 Cancer patients 47 22 <50 4 types: classic radiant; demonic or nightmarish images; dreamlike images –“blissful,” “terrifying,” or alternating; Void, tunnel, or both (contrast between freedom/ constraint). Almost as many of the dying patients interviewed reported negative visions (demons and so forth) as reported blissful experiences, while some reported both Additional survey of 36 cardiac patients over 3 interviews showed consistency of recall (contrary to Rawlings)
Evergreen1981 Self-selectclinical death or believed self died &  back 55 11 20 One (<2%) hellish; fiery pit, devil.  18% “negative”: “…extreme fear, panic, anger…visions of demonic creatures that threaten or taunt”; most transform to positive NDE, but some positive  become negative First academic study following Ring LADInterview, WCEI
Gallup1982 Random sample, national poll Not given 1-
<28		 1% sense of  hell or torment; but “picture is more complex than that.  [M]any…had either a neutral or negative experience.”Void; nothingness; uncaring God; being tricked or duped; featureless, forbidding figures; confusion, fear of death Popular broad (& erroneous) reference to the 1% as total of  distressing NDEs; instead, it is a single mention of elements of biblical hell (“gnashing teeth, searing flames”).“Many” others in the sample neutral or  distressing but not hellish by Gallup definition.
Evans Bush1983 Most self-selected,
2 mothers		 17 2 12 1 child in darkness, threatened by mysterious presence1 child met “the devil” but rebuffed him First report of NDE/dNDE in children, based on retrospective accounts, 2 mothers of then-4-year-olds
Grey1985 NDErs 41 5 12 “extreme fear or panic…anguish…lost…
desolation…traditional fire/ devil		 First attempt to document dNDEs. Gave explicit definitions, descriptions
Serdahely1995 Non-random NDErs 12 4 33 “Frightening, scary, unpleasant” but no hellish images Two other (secondhand) reports include hellish imagery
Knoblauch et al   2001 Random German national poll 82 c 36 43 Structure differs from classic NDE ; accounts are scenic more than narrative, less emotional; later,
improved outlook but not major moral life changesdNDE: More E Ger (60%/) than W Ger (29%)		 Culturally anomalous
               7 254 c 80 c 17%

Distressing NDEs Only

Study       Population/type n NDE n dNDE % Findings Comment
Rawlings1978,1993 AnecdotalMost cardiac in-patients “Several hundred”*33*15 *12*32 3948 Interview immediately post-resuscitation or NDE will be repressed, forgotten or recalled as pleasantLiteralist Christian: Accounts taken as evidence of biblical hell, urgent need for salvation * Sabom calculations (JNDS 14(3))Vivid accounts but shaky data: factual errors; accounts inconsistent in retelling; conclusions not replicated by othersIntent is to rescue non-believers  more than to provide research data.
Greyson-Bush1993 Self-selected 50 50 100 No single “dNDE” but three types: classic elements perceived as terrifying; Void; images of traditional hell First analytical study of exclusively dNDE accounts; reports patterns but does not speculate as to causes
Atwater1994 AnecdotalGenl. NDErs 700
277		 105 14 Void, limbo, hellish, indifference; seem to have deeply suppressed/repressed guilts, fears, angers/ expect punishment or discomfort at death Strongly attuned to experiencer perspectives. Insightful and wide-ranging, though undocumented, exploration of dNDEs, marked by metaphysical pronouncements of cause, effect, and mechanics of phenomena.
Rommer2000 NDErs 300 53 >18 “feelings of terror, despair, guilt, and/or other overwhelming aloneness”“Every [distressing near-death] experience I have studied has been transforming” Perhaps the best collection of dNDE reports, but projects own beliefs onto experiencers; draws conclusions without substantiation: “He had no life review because it wasn’t necessary.”
               4 1,375 252

Totals

n NDE

 n dNDE % dNDE
All categories 1,910 332 17

 

Could justifiable fear cause a negative NDE?

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A reader says he knows about “all the negative traits a person’s character can contain that could trigger a negative NDE.” But now he is curious. What if the cause isn’t related to some spiritual fault? What if, before an operation, a person is scared to death? What if there’s been an accident, and a person is afraid he’s going to die?

The question is, “Could justifiable fear in a crucial moment cause a distressing NDE?”

The answer, I’m sorry to say, is the same as for so many questions about near-death experiences and their close relatives: We don’t know. Nobody knows. There is no data that would help answer these questions.

However, we can make some assumptions.

For one thing, there is no hard evidence that character traits “cause” any type of NDE. The list of character traits that people assume help to create a distressing NDE include: being hostile, cold, repressed, suppressed, unloving, controlling, rigid, sinful, guilt-ridden, non-God-loving, fearful, mean. Although authors, even some researchers, have said those traits are connected to distressing NDEs, no testable evidence has been produced in support; the list is based on guesswork,  assumptions, and experiencers’ self-assessments (“I think I was unloving”), not on factual evidence.

By contrast, there are individuals with a perfect fit to those descriptions who have had pleasant, even blissful NDEs. Some describe themselves as having been unloving, even hostile, before the NDE, whereas afterward they have become open and affectionate. On the other hand, some kindly, friendly, peaceful, religious, loving people have had a really difficult experience. Perhaps there are subtle factors we don’t know about or can’t capture that make a difference; but in broad terms, the observable characteristics of a person simply do not always match up to the type of NDE.

I believe the same is true with the question of whether justifiable fear might cause a distressing NDE. Some women happy to be delivering a baby have had extremely unpleasant NDEs. And some people who say they were terrified and half-expecting to die during open heart surgery have had glorious NDEs. The thought does not always produce the corresponding effect.

At the same time, although the evidence does not support making a general rule about causation, healthcare workers know that optimism and calm are likely to be more helpful attitudes in a crisis than anxiety and agitation. The positive attitudes may have nothing to do with near-death experiences, but they will certainly help the person’s psychological status both before and after the crisis.

After the conference headiness

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OK, so I’m back. IANDS–the International Association for Near-Death Studies–just had its 30th anniversary conference. Thirty years. A miracle! Now my challenge is to settle down after all the excitement and that incredibly high energy level and put the interconnectedness into practice.

From my perspective, several trends stand out:

  • Distressing near-death experiences, for so long the despised step-child of the field, are increasingly recognized as genuine, though still baffling, spiritual events that must be investigated, engaged, and allowed into the family. The attitude of most conference-goers has changed dramatically. Now they are ready for substantive information.
  • As more than one science-centered presentation emphasized, the idea of the nonlocality of consciousness–that is, that mind is more than a product of the brain and is not located exclusively there–has gained good traction among thoughtful and informed thinkers. Three decades ago, that was barely a mirage, though the idea was far from new; now the concept is almost commonplace. It is still mysterious, and I would guess often understood incorrectly, but accepted as a likely truth. Books like Irreducible Mind  (Kelly et al) and Science and the Near-Death Experience (Chris Carter) make the point.
  • Responses to NDEs and their aftereffects has shifted, over time, from the early “gosh-golly-wow!” reactions to  to a more grounded interest in how to integrate the experience into daily life in both individuals and the community. This shift from naive enthusiasm to a more purposeful approach goes with an intensified understanding that as society in general, and the planet as a whole, are being confronted by massive challenges and disruptions on all sides, there is something about near-death experiences that can help humankind deal with the changes.  The question, of course, is how.
So, the heady socializing and idea-sharing in community over for another year, we buckle back down to living out whatever it is we believe we know from these experiences, whether our own or those of others. Back to chopping wood and carrying water.

Small good news

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Yes, it’s small; but we take what we can get and are grateful. The ‘Sample chapter’ link at the menu bar is now properly configured and includes Chapter 2, “The Other Shoe.” Love those support forums!

Chapter 2…

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We left our researchers waiting for the other shoe to fall. See the “Sample chapter” link, above, to follow the adventure.

What is the function of a distressing NDE, #3

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Over-commitment is not a wise choice when beginning a conversation that requires focus and time. That said by way of an apology, let me get back to my question about the function of distressing near-death experience.

Two emails have arrived in my in-box almost simultaneously, both bearing on this question. In one of them, a friend says:

“Some of the gold that has settled to the bottom of the pan for me, is the idea that faith is simultaneously a duality of two very strongly opposed forces that tear at our existence in exactly the same way it does in nature. And it is this duality that creates the tragic, joyful, soul-saving tension that is both our salvation and our damnation.

“It is critically important to understand that this duality is not, in totality, a blessing or a curse. In physics, light has the duality of being simultaneous both wave and particle. In the cat in the box example, the cat may be considered to be simultaneously alive and dead. Since in both cases, the duality is simultaneous and co-existent, it is indeterminate; it cannot be thought of as one state vs. another. The two states are not only coexistent, they are mutually dependent and mutually exclusive. Each state exists only because the other exists and at the same time, it exists in concert and opposition to its other. Every decision we make, no matter how large or how small is our own. And no matter which side of the duality we choose, there is immediate tension and conflict from the other side.”

The other email is from another friend, NDE researcher Jim McCartney. From a context quite different than that of my friend quoted above, he comments on “an intimately entangled universe pointing toward consciousness as the basis of all, a picture increasingly shared by scientists and mystics.”

He points to the well documented fact that, in contrast to the assumptions of conventional thinking, “Some people who have NDEs or undergo extreme trauma, over time exhibit not only resiliency, but significant growth, even though they may remain physically, mentally or circumstantially compromised. In fact, people transforming their life through crisis can be readily identified:

  • “Greater compassion and empathy for others
  • “New and greater strength (psychological toughness/resilience)
  • “Greater psychological/emotional maturity
  • “A recognition of vulnerability and struggle, and a deeper appreciation of life
  • “New values and life priorities (less materialistic, heightened intimacy in relationships)
  • “Greater existential or spiritual clarity”

Notice that he does not say whether the trigger will be pleasant or negative; in fact, it may be either. The key element in this is crisis. The precipitating event could be any revolutionizing situation—NDE, divorce, terrible medical procedure (especially in children), combat incident, spontaneous spiritual experience, natural disaster—any event that is presents as a crisis, a point of disjuncture. In NDE terms, crisis is the situation itself, whether it involves a blasting away of previous assumptions by way of a trip to what might be heaven or the destruction of assumptions about the reality of existence by way of a distressing NDE.

The crisis, which may be either joyful or anguished, precipitates movement toward the integration that  is described in my other friend’s comments —“the tragic, joyful, soul-saving tension that is both our salvation and our damnation.” It is, indeed, the “intimately entangled universe.”

My friend concludes:

“But do not be deceived about one thing. This shadow thru which we must pass is not a twilight, it is an absolute darkness, a total lack of light. And what is more significant, once one has entered this darkness, and we all must, it is impossible to go back out the way you came in. Either you wander forever in perfect perpetual darkness, that has the dualistic appearance of light, or you move toward the inevitable reality. It is inevitable because, in the end of all things, it will be resolved. You cannot see where you are going, yet you must try to go. You must ask questions that you do not understand and accept answers that are an enigma. In a metaphysical sense, we must render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.
“As Rabbi Gellman wrote, the only resolution will come when our souls stand before God in judgment after death. Only then will we understand. Only then will the materialistic physical be melted away, the darkness abolished, and the only reality left will be true, eternal light. The duality will be gone.”
I couldn’t have said it as well. In the meantime, there is the tension, and the work of integrating it.