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 |
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| 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 |