What Is A Near-Death Experience?

“Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands” was published in the Lancet, a well-known medical journal, to share the effects of near-death experiences and the possible influences that act upon it. Psychologists observed patients throughout eight years in an effort to see their outcomes on life. The experimenters also wanted to know if other influences such as medications, time between CPR, seriousness of crisis, and psychological factors caused a difference in experience. To begin with the experiment, psychologists collected a large group of people who experienced a traumatic event to initially interview. A study in the Netherlands wanted to find the cause of near-death experiences and …show more content…
The research shows that about forty-three percent of adults and eight-five percent of children with life-threatening illnesses have had a near-death experience. The percentages have made the psychologist wonder if different events make a near-death experience more likely to occur. With this in mind, the psychologists started a longitudinal study in order to find …show more content…
At this meeting, a life-changing inventory questionnaire was added to the experiment. The questionnaire addressed issues of self-image, concern with others, materialism and social issues, religious beliefs and spirituality, and attitudes towards death. Psychologists concluded from this examination that patients had an increase in religious beliefs and spirituality, and most patients also had a decrease in fear of death. Another examination was held eight years after the traumatic event, and the same procedure was used as the two year follow-up. Similar to the two year examination, the same results were found at the eight year interview. Another result found within the research was the patient’s ability to retell their near-death experience exactly through all eight years of interviews. This ability certainly showed that near-death experiences were life changing. In conclusion, psychologists found no real influences on near-death experiences. There was no correlation between experience and medical factors, seriousness of crisis, medication, or psychological factors. There was however a correlation between the age of a patient and the depth of the experience. It seemed as though patients under sixty years of age were more likely to have a near-death experience rather than an older person. A good short-term memory plays an important role in a near-death experience, which also explains the reason why