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Near-Death & Out-Of-Body Experiences

Why do so many alcoholics experiencing withdrawal see insects and spiders?

Aha, now I know this one. The feeling of having insects crawling under one's skin is called 'formication' and is associated with many illnesses and conditions.
One is withdrawal from alcohol. Someone in that condition may also hallucinate and the formication would suggest the presence of the insects and spiders.
 
The following interview is one of those YouTube suggestions which seems to be related to a previous search - I am presuming COVID-19 - and randomly appears later.

I can't quite see where to place it on a precisely appropriate thread and guidance most welcome.

It's a powerful thing and belongs here somewhere.

If relocated, my question would be:

What are your thoughts on this?

 
Many near death experiences are similar.
A field, flowers, trees.
There's certainly symbolism in many cases and this one particularly with that 'strong arm' coming out from a cloud.

The reported experience of his entire life being replayed, as if watching a recording, is also a feature in other near-death experiences.

I can vouch for this. When around 10 years old, I nearly drowned and that's exactly what happened.
 
... The reported experience of his entire life being replayed, as if watching a recording, is also a feature in other near-death experiences.
I can vouch for this. When around 10 years old, I nearly drowned and that's exactly what happened.

We have a separate thread on this phenomenon, most formally called a "life review."

Life Flashing Before One's Eyes (Total Life Recall / Replay; Life Review)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...fore-ones-eyes-total-life-recall-replay.9104/
 
Many near death experiences are similar.
A field, flowers, trees.
Often meetings with dead relatives.

Too many stories like this for them to be coincidence.

Either that or the culture has bred a very limited scope for imagination.
 
We have a separate thread on this phenomenon, most formally called a "life review."
How very interesting indeed.

Just to tidy up here; in my own case there was nothing else involved. I had swam too far out to make it back, started to descend under the water and dare say, 'only on the verge of dying' before my difficulties were noticed by someone nearby and rescued.

So, if the life review has factual substance... where does the sometimes associated 'judgment' arise from?

Shall duly take this to that specific thread.

Weird to recall this so many years later. I remember it clearly and truly was a 'extreme fast forward' of my young life in... I would say 10 seconds!
 
Sebastian Junger, author of A Perfect Storm, narrates his own NDE.

He bled 90% of his blood into his abdomen!

 

Glimpses of afterlife? ‘Near-death’ experiences aren’t hallucinations, scientists conclude


Countless people have claimed that their life “flashed before their eyes” or that they actually left their body and traveled somewhere else while close to death. Critics have called these experiences hallucinations or illusions, but researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine say something else is actually happening.


The team of scientists across several medical disciplines — including neurosciences, critical care, psychiatry, psychology, social sciences, and humanities — have come up with a number of scientific conclusions after reviewing unexplained lucid episodes which involve a heightened state of consciousness.

The main finding is that these events don’t have much in common with the experiences someone has if they’re hallucinating or using a psychedelic drug. Instead, people who have a near-death experience typically report five different events taking place:


  • A separation from their body with a heightened, vast sense of consciousness and recognition that they’re dying
  • They “travel” to a different location
  • A meaningful and purposeful review of their life, involving a critical analysis of all their past actions — basically, their life flashes before their eyes
  • Going to a place that feels like “home”
  • Returning back to life

Researchers note that the near-death experience usually triggers a positive and long-term psychological transformation in the person. The team notes that people who had negative and distressing experiences while near-death did not experience these kinds of events.

The team found that there’s more to a near-death experience than just the stories each person tells. It turns out scientists can actually see physical changes taking place in the brain when someone is close to death.

Researchers found the presence of gamma activity and electrical spikes when people are technically dying. This is typically a sign of a heightened state of consciousness when scientists measure it using an electroencephalography (EEG). The findings further back up the claims from people who say they “left their body” while dying.

The findings are published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

https://www.braintomorrow.com/2022/04/08/near-death-brain-activity/

maximus otter
 
I've mentioned before that I experienced some of those 5 events when I thought I had been told I was about to die in hospital. (I had misheard what the consultant told me and within minutes I was made aware what the situation was). Interesting that the mind acts on similar lines even when the body is not actually dying. I wonder whether my brain would have exhibited those same physical changes.
 
There's certainly symbolism in many cases and this one particularly with that 'strong arm' coming out from a cloud.

The reported experience of his entire life being replayed, as if watching a recording, is also a feature in other near-death experiences.

I can vouch for this. When around 10 years old, I nearly drowned and that's exactly what happened.
Someone I knew very well had that in a car crash. It disturbed him so much he killed himself within a couple of months.
 
I think I once had an "out of body" experience when I was a child. That was a long time ago so I don't know if my memories are reliable or if they are somehow "reconstructed".

I was about 7 or 8 years old. While visiting a fun fair with my mother I insisted on going to the "bumping cars" attraction. I was too young to go alone, so we entered one of the cars together, and she seated me onto her lap, behind the steering wheel. Never ever do that with your child ! It was an horrible idea as, very soon, another car bumped into us from behind, projecting my little chest against the steering wheel with extreme violence. My breathing was instantly blocked. As I was suffocating and my face started to grow white, my mother, helped by some passers-by, took me out of the car and sat me under a tree, trying to revive me. She was a medical doctor, but she was in a panick, utterly despaired ... She didn't know what to do.

I remember that I saw a crowd gathering around me. Lots of anguished faces and of agitation. Yet, everything was so bizarrely calm. I think I couldn't hear a sound. And the weirdest thing : I remember seing all of this from above, as if I was leaving my little body.

At that point, I started to worry about my poor mother. What would her life be ? And in the flash of in instant, my senses returned, and I was "back in place". I took an enormous breath, and that was it.

This happened about 35 years ago. Sometimes I wonder if the feeling of viewing this scene from above isn't a distortion of my memory, but the images are still so vivid in my mind ... Whatever ...

Even if time distorted and magnified my experience, sharing this it will at least serve as a warning : never put an underage child's torso immediately behind the wheel of a bumping car. That can be deadly.
 
Sorry mods I’m 100% sure we’ll have a thread on this but I can’t find it. The search is hopeless and I’ve been scrolling for fifteen minutes.
I hate the headline for this article. It so disturbing that death might not be the end. :rolleyes:
‘Disturbing study shows people could still be conscious AFTER they have died’

Because the experiences cited in the linked article refer to cardiac arrest patients who've been resuscitated, I've moved your post into this compendium thread that includes incidents that overlap between near-death and out-of-body experiences.

Some folks who are resuscitated (or otherwise snap out of an apparent clinical death status) report maintaining consciousness either within their bodies or leaving their corporeal bodies to observe themselves and / or their surroundings.

Other situations in which people have reported ongoing consciousness or signs of consciousness in someone else include the topics of these other threads:

Anesthesia Awareness (Temporary Consciousness While Anesthetized)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...orary-consciousness-while-anesthetized.15431/

Consciousness Continuing After Beheading / Decapitation
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...continuing-after-beheading-decapitation.1678/

Coma Consciousness
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/coma-consciousness.63490/
 
A Man Describes What It's Like to Briefly Die: 'I Was Separate From My Body'

There was a peace about Kevin Hill as he watched himself die. And it's a memory he now has after doctors resuscitated him and turned his death into a near-death experience (NDE).

"I knew I was bleeding. I knew it was serious," he tells The Mirror. "The staff kept coming in and out to stop the bleeding. I knew I had died. I was separate from my body."

That's how the memory ends, with the current reality of him being quite alive. "I just went to sleep, and I woke up alive and the bleeding had stopped," he says. "I knew it wasn't my time to die."

"I wasn't looking down at my body," Hill says about the event, "but I was separate from my body. It was like I was in the spirit realm. I was conscious of what was going on, but I had so much peace."

Researchers—especially those from the International Association for Near-Death Studies—believe NDEs most likely happen due to a change in blood flow to the brain during sudden life-threatening events, like a heart attack, blunt trauma, or even shock. As your brain starts losing blood and oxygen, the electrical activity within the brain begins to power down. “Like a town that loses power one neighborhood at a time, local regions of the brain go offline one after another,” one expert [said].

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a43401298/man-describes-what-its-like-to-die/

maximus otter
 
8 Ways Your Life Could Change After An Out-Of-Body Experience, According To New Research

A new study published in Psychology of Consciousness suggests that there are eight core themes of transformation one is likely to encounter following an out-of-body experience. Out-of-body experiences are those where a person feels they are observing themselves from a location that is different from their physical body.

The study found that out-of-body experiences:



  1. Served as a motivational catalyst
  2. Reduced fear of death
  3. Enhanced inner peace
  4. Generated new life perspectives
  5. Increased self-awareness
  6. Cultivated a sense of individuality
  7. Reassessed relationships
  8. Strengthened existing or developed new spiritual beliefs

https://www.forbes.com/sites/traver...of-body-experience-according-to-new-research/

maximus otter
 
Sorry mods I’m 100% sure we’ll have a thread on this but I can’t find it. The search is hopeless and I’ve been scrolling for fifteen minutes.

I hate the headline for this article. It so disturbing that death might not be the end. :rolleyes:

‘Disturbing study shows people could still be conscious AFTER they have died’

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/disturbing-study-shows-people-could-28230425
Don't go by a tabloid headline. Read the article.
Get it from the horse's mouth. ;)

The aim of the research was to study the extent of possible patient awareness during cardiac arrest.
This is interesting because many patients who are resuscitated go on to have problems such as PTSD.

Resuscitation is only performed on patients who have died.
If patients could remember events around and during their resuscitation, they must have still had consciousness even though they appeared dead.

Here's the Abstract, which is a summary of the aim of the research, how it was carried out and what was found.
(Line breaks inserted for easier reading.)

Background:
Cardiac arrest (CA) survivors experience cognitive deficits including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

It is unclear whether these are related to cognitive/mental experiences and awareness during CPR.
Despite anecdotal reports the broad range of cognitive/mental experiences and awareness associated with CPR has not been systematically studied.

Methods:
The incidence and validity of awareness together with the range, characteristics and themes relating to memories/cognitive processes during CA was investigated through a 4 year multi-center observational study using a three stage quantitative and qualitative interview system.

The feasibility of objectively testing the accuracy of claims of visual and auditory awareness was examined using specific tests.
The outcome measures were (1) awareness/memories during CA and (2) objective verification of claims of awareness using specific tests.

Results:
Among 2060 CA events, 140 survivors completed stage 1 interviews, while 101 of 140 patients completed stage 2 interviews.
46% had memories with 7 major cognitive themes: fear; animals/plants; bright light; violence/persecution; deja-vu; family; recalling events post-CA and 9% had NDEs, while 2% described awareness with explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' actual events related to their resuscitation.

One had a verifiable period of conscious awareness during which time cerebral function was not expected.

Conclusions:
CA survivors commonly experience a broad range of cognitive themes, with 2% exhibiting full awareness.

This supports other recent studies that have indicated consciousness may be present despite clinically undetectable consciousness. This together with fearful experiences may contribute to PTSD and other cognitive deficits post CA.
 
An article which might be of interest to NDE fans.

ACADEMIA Letters

The Irrelevance of Time in Near-Death Experiences(NDEs)

Robert A. King, The NDE OBE Research Project

Introduction

Those whohave undergone near-death experiences (NDEs) have often reported elaborate tran-scendental encounters with spiritual beings and/or deceased loved ones while venturing intoparadisiacal environments and sometimes spending what appears to be a signicant amountof time there. In fact, they might report that their experience lasted for hours or days, oreven longer. However, research has shown that often what may seem like hours or days tothe experient may in fact only have been seconds or minutes (King, 2021; Green, 1968, pp.101–103).

The Signicance of Time Distortion in NDEs

The signicance of this time-distortion element that can take place during an NDE makes theassumed time of the experience irrelevant in comparison to real time. Therefore, while somehave inferred that it is not possible to experience an NDE during cardiac arrest if it is solelya function of the brain due to the NDE’s presumed length of time coupled with the rapid lossof brain activity (Parnia & Fenwick, 2002), this argument loses its force since clinical lossof consciousness and loss of EEG activity after abrupt cardiac arrest can sometimes take aslong as up to 30 seconds (Pana et al., 2016). Yet, an NDE might only last a few seconds orless in real time. ...

https://www.academia.edu/50361772/The_Irrelevance_of_Time_in_Near_Death_Experiences_NDEs_
 
Interesting perspective here on the biological elements behind OOBEs and their effect on the sense of self.

From NPR.org:

Having an out-of-body experience? Blame this sausage-shaped piece of your brain

"Dr. Josef Parvizi remembers meeting a man with epilepsy whose seizures were causing some very unusual symptoms.

"He came to my clinic and said, 'My sense of self is changing,'" says Parvizi, a professor of neurology at Stanford University.

The man told Parvizi that he felt "like an observer to conversations that are happening in my mind" and that "I just feel like I'm floating in space."

Parvizi and a team of researchers would eventually trace the man's symptoms to a "sausage-looking piece of brain" called the anterior precuneus."
 
Interesting perspective here on the biological elements behind OOBEs and their effect on the sense of self.

From NPR.org:

Having an out-of-body experience? Blame this sausage-shaped piece of your brain

"Dr. Josef Parvizi remembers meeting a man with epilepsy whose seizures were causing some very unusual symptoms.

"He came to my clinic and said, 'My sense of self is changing,'" says Parvizi, a professor of neurology at Stanford University.

The man told Parvizi that he felt "like an observer to conversations that are happening in my mind" and that "I just feel like I'm floating in space."

Parvizi and a team of researchers would eventually trace the man's symptoms to a "sausage-looking piece of brain" called the anterior precuneus."
That's fascinating, thank you! :twothumbs:
 
Yup, it's all in our'eads, innit. :( This is a point I make a lot on'ere.
I had an Oobe as a child back in the1960s,it was late afternoon in winter time,I was at home in bed suffering with measles and feeling pretty rough.I recall being in bed then in an instant I was up on the ceiling level with the Lampshade and looking around the room and looking down at my model railway layout etc and myself lying in bed and in another instant I was back in bed.Interestingly I started to feel much better in the days following my Oobe.
 
It's one of those subjects that has materialists flailing around for a materialist answer. and at least once a year they attempt to

I know we are not comfortable with not knowing, but I am afraid we will never know all I can say is that many people who have had a NDE comeback quite changed

More interesting to me, are the many people who have no NDE despite being in the same position as people who have NDE's, is the experience blanked out from their memory?
 

This atheist says he died and returned. Now, he believes in God.


Jose Hernandez, an avowed atheist, shares how a life-altering incident transformed his perspective.

Hernandez's near-death experience occurred while fixing an electrical issue from atop a bucket truck.

"I was a staunch atheist. As an engineer, I focused solely on logical explanations," he said. "But that day, everything changed. We were running late, and my partner, concerned for my safety, inadvertently crashed our truck into a tree. The impact left me with multiple broken ribs, and I was rushed to the emergency room."

At the hospital, Hernandez's breathing ceased, and the medical staff fought desperately to save his life.

In that critical moment, he found himself contemplating God, making a promise, "If you get me through this, I'll change."

It was then that he noticed a mysterious presence in the room.

"I saw a shadow standing by the door. At that point, I thought, 'I've endured so much in life. Perhaps it's fine to let go.' And the moment the shadow touched my toe, an overwhelming sense of relief, calm, peace, and love engulfed me. It was euphoric."

Hernandez describes a descent into a black hole, where he experienced flying and witnessed mesmerizing cities, breathtaking forests, and wild herds of animals in motion. In this celestial realm, he was assured that he would be able to see his children and, most significantly, he was reunited with his father.

In Jose Hernandez's case, his NDE challenged his atheism and opened his eyes to the possibility of an afterlife.

https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-757783

maximus otter
 

Study of cardiac arrest survivors reveals insight into near-death experiences


What exactly is happening in the human brain when a person who has almost died is being resuscitated?

A new study of cardiac arrest survivors suggests that almost 40% of people undergoing CPR have memories, dreamlike experiences or some type of perception even when they are unconscious. What’s more, brain waves show signs of activity suggesting awareness sometimes up to an hour as they are being brought back to life.

Six patients in the study reported what the researcher called “transcendent recalled experiences of death,” or what many people think of as a near-death experience.

Several patients recalled aspects of the medical treatment, such as pain, pressure or hearing doctors. Others remembered dreamlike sensations, such as being chased by the police or being caught in the rain.

Some survivors had positive memories, such as seeing a light, a tunnel or a family member, or feeling intense emotions, such as love, tranquility and peace. Others, however, had a feeling of separation from the body and a recognition that they had died or had delusions of monsters or faceless figures.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cardiac-arrest-near-death-experiences-rcna104812

maximus otter
 

Study of cardiac arrest survivors reveals insight into near-death experiences


What exactly is happening in the human brain when a person who has almost died is being resuscitated?

A new study of cardiac arrest survivors suggests that almost 40% of people undergoing CPR have memories, dreamlike experiences or some type of perception even when they are unconscious. What’s more, brain waves show signs of activity suggesting awareness sometimes up to an hour as they are being brought back to life.

Six patients in the study reported what the researcher called “transcendent recalled experiences of death,” or what many people think of as a near-death experience.

Several patients recalled aspects of the medical treatment, such as pain, pressure or hearing doctors. Others remembered dreamlike sensations, such as being chased by the police or being caught in the rain.

Some survivors had positive memories, such as seeing a light, a tunnel or a family member, or feeling intense emotions, such as love, tranquility and peace. Others, however, had a feeling of separation from the body and a recognition that they had died or had delusions of monsters or faceless figures.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cardiac-arrest-near-death-experiences-rcna104812

maximus otter

Very interesting.
The fact that some people who've come close to death report feelings of tranquility, a comforting light and seeing departed loved ones welcoming them, whereas others report pain, monsters and a sensation of being chased, kind of underlines the ages-old notion of judgement and heaven or hell.
 
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