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

 

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