Near-death experiences and the change of worldview in survivors of sudden cardiac arrest: A phenomenological and hermeneutical study

Abstract

Near-death experiences (NDEs) can occur during episodes of unconsciousness from life-threatening conditions, such as sudden cardiac arrests (SCAs). This study is based on interviews with patients who had an NDE. The interviews were analyzed with phenomenological hermeneutical method for their lived experiences and the meaning for the view of life and death. Four participants were interviewed 10 weeks after their NDE. Four themes emerged: being on the other side, in another dimension; not dreaming, this is a real experience; being in a non-physical condition without my body; and comparing views of life and death before and after the NDEs. The participants described the NDEs as an experience of another realm as non-physical in nature and existing beyond space and time. This study shows that this experience of another state of being, through the lived experiences of NDEs, gave the participants an entirely new meaning on life and death. To them, death was no longer viewed as an end but a passage into something else and that life continues after death. This realization instantly changed their worldview.

Near-death experiences after cardiac arrest: a scoping review

“…Characteristics of the included studies are presented in Table 1 . Three studies were conducted in Slovenia [ 7 – 9 ], two in the USA [ 10 , 11 ], one in the UK [ 12 ], one in the Netherlands [ 13 ], one in Austria [ 14 ], one in Sweden [ 15 ], and two international studies [ 16 , 17 ].

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“…For example, in one study, which found a incidence of 18%, near-death experience was defined based upon the reported memory of impression of having experienced an altered state of consciousness, rather than a validated scale [ 13 ]. The inclusion of in-hospital cardiac arrest patients (reported near-death experience incidences of 10% [ 10 ], 6.3% [ 12 ], 6.4% [ 16 ], 23% [ 11 ], 39.3% [ 17 ], 15.9% [ 14 ], 16.7% [ 15 ], and 18%[ 13 ]) as opposed to only out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (reported near-death experience incidences 21.2% [ 9 ], 21.2% [ 8 ], 18.9%[ 7 ]), may contribute to variation. All included studies involved interviews.…”

“…In the ‘experiencers’ within one study, content comprised meeting with deceased relatives, an external visual or auditory awareness episode, and being sucked into a colourful tunnel [ 14 ]. Another study characterised four themes through analysis of interviews via a phenomenological hermeneutical method: being on the other side in another dimension, having a real experience, being in a non-physical condition without their body, and comparing views of life and death before and after the near-death experiences [ 15 ].…”