Among the founders of French psychology, Pierre Janet (1859-1947) is recognized for both his scientific and institutional roles. The psychology born at the turn of the 20th century was initially partly receptive to, but then engaged in, a battle with the "psychical marvelous," and Janet was no exception. He was involved in the split between psychology and parapsychology (or "metapsychics" in France), developed at that time, playing several successive roles: the pioneer, the repentant, and the gatekeeper. At first, he was involved in so-called experimental parapsychology, but quickly chose not to engage directly in this kind of research any longer. Janet seemed to become embarrassed by his reputation as psychical researcher, so he increased his efforts to side with the more conventional thought of his time. Janet's attitude, in this, is an example of how French nascent psychology has explored "marvelous phenomena" before recanting. Yet this aspect of Janet's work has been rarely commented on by his followers. In this article, we describe the highlights of his epistemological journey. (PsycINFO Database Record

The physician and botanist Timothée Puel (1812-1890) lived through a pivotal period of psychology (1848-1878), between the academic prohibition of the study of animal magnetism to its disjointed recovery in hypnotism and psychical research. One of his cases of "catalepsy complicated with somnambulism" triggered a lively debate on "extraordinary neuroses" within the young Société médico-psychologique [Medico-psychological Society]. In 1874, Puel founded the Revue de psychologie expérimentale [Journal of Experimental Psychology], the first of its kind in French, which he intended as the vehicle of international interest in psychical research, the scholarly and institutionalized study of "psychism" that prepared the way for the recognition of academic psychology. Puel circulated between these different currents by taking advantage of the polysemy of concepts like "sleep," "experimental psychology," and "psychism." This article discusses his role in the context of emerging French psychology in the mid- to late 19th century. (PsycINFO Database Record

In their recent paper, Parnia and colleagues propose a new label for the near-death experience (NDE): recalled experience of death. They claimed NDEs are "authentic" only when an objective danger is present and that authentic NDEs have a proven core phenomenology. We consider that these claims are insufficiently supported by empirical data. NDEs appear as a continuum of heterogeneous experiences of consciousness precipitated by the disjunction of processes usually combined in normal mental activity. The "core phenomenology" of NDEs is also opened to several criticisms. Closeness to "real" death does not appear to be a decisive criterion for characterizing NDEs. The author's adhesion to Raymond Moody's NDE model produces a biased partition of this field of research that is unable to provide the basis for a consensus.

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Cet article détaille les résultats quantitatifs préliminaires d’une thèse de doctorat intitulée « Impacts sur le bien-être et implications cliniques des expériences de mort imminente ». Dans cette étude un questionnaire en ligne de 67 questions a été employé. 51 personnes identifiées comme des expérienceurs de l’EMI ont participé. Les questions étaient à la fois des questions à choix multiple et des réponses ouvertes au sujet de la vie avant l’EMI, pendant et après elle. Elles traitaient des changements difficiles à expérimenter et de comment ces difficultés s’étaient exprimées. Une analyse quantitative a permis de mesurer les corrélations entre les effets négatifs autant que positifs sur le bien être autant que la profondeur de l’EMI et l’âge auquel elle s’est produite. Les résultats initiaux montrent qu’il existe une corrélation positive entre les changements de l’humeur au long terme. Les EMI de type transcendantal présentent aussi une corrélation positive avec l’humeur. Un changement au long terme de la façon dont on perçoit les objectifs de sa vie était aussi corrélé positivement avec un changement d’humeur et de bien-être social. Cers trois aspects étaient en corrélation positive avec des changements au long terme au sujet de la satisfaction de sa vie et du bonheur. De plus, un haut degré de significativité corrélé à l’âge (en dessous de vingt ans) comparé aux effets sociaux négatifs après l’EMI a été retrouvé.