"Hypnotically Induced Near-Death-Like Experiences: An Exploratory Study of Phenomenological Similarities to Near-Death Experiences"

Abstract

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are known to occur in individuals who go through the first stages of physical death but can also happen as a nontypical manifestation of several forms of non-ordinary states of consciousness. In this exploratory study, we assessed the possibility of inducing the phenomenological components of an NDE through hypnosis using a specific script in a group setting. Participants were 7 males (38.9%) and 11 females (61.1%) ranging in age from 15 to 59 years with a mean age of 35.9. NDE Scale (Greyson, 1983) scores among the 17 participants whose total scores met the criterion of 7 or higher were seemingly indistinguishable, in both content and intensity, from scores of spontaneous near-death experiencers. Older participants scored higher on the three non-cognitive subscales. The core phenomenological components were prevalently affective, pointing to the likelihood that expectations played a role in induced experiences, as may also be the case with spontaneous NDEs that were in some way anticipated. However, we were unable to conclude that, Ana Sofia Machado Ferreira, MA (Psychology), is a clinical psychologist and researcher at the Laboratory of Mind-Matter Interaction with Therapeutic Intention (LIMMIT) at the University of Lisbon in Lisbon, Portugal. This article is based on work leading to her PhD thesis, Induced near-death-experiences in healthy volunteers: Phenomenology and aftereffects, which she will submit to the University of Northampton in Northampton, England, UK. Mário Simões, PhD (Psychiatry), emeritus professor on the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon, is Director of LIMMIT. Ana Paula Farinha, PhD (Molecular Biology), is an independent researcher and a resident consultant at LIMMIT. The authors wish to thank Enrico Facco, MD, and Bruce Greyson, MD, for their encouragement and suggestions in the preparation of this article. We also would like to acknowledge the essential roles that BIAL Foundation, as well as Chris Roe, PhD, and Callum Cooper, PhD, both at the University of Northampton, played in the further development of the project described in this article.