The Concept of “Near Death Experiences”, Research Paper Example

Introduction

For a number of centuries people have been discussing the concept of “near death experiences”. In order to examine whether the medical community requires better training, for those experiencing this phenomena, it requires a clearer definition.  A near death experience (NDE) most commonly occurs when a person has been pronounced ” clinically dead”  or approaching death.  This type of experience has greatly increased, particularly in cardiology, where patients have been resuscitated.  Experiences have varied from that of “out of body” experiences [ a detachment of the physical body and often appearing to observe the death scene], hallucinations or dreams often associated with seeing bright lights and a sense of serenity.  A team of research specialists in Kentucky  stated ” while a person is undergoing a near death experience, the same parts of his / her brain are activated as the brain of a person who is having a dream state ” (Nordqvist)

The key linkages here are mind, brain and spirituality.  In medical terms we are talking neurology, psychology and parapsychology.  ” The occurrence of NDEs in cardiac arrest further highlights the fact that we currently know very little about the relationship between the mind and the brain. It also raises the possibility that some of the current theories regarding mind/consciousness, spirituality and the brain may need to be re-examined.” (Parnia)

 Background

One of the most significant pieces of research in this area was conducted by Dr Raymond Moody in 197. He studied some 150 patients that either died or had  near death experiences. He recorded the many experiences and essentially identified 9 trends or common occurrences.  These were defined as:

1. Out-of-body experience:  The dying often have the sensation of rising up and floating above their own body while it is surrounded by a medical team, and watching it down below, while feeling comfortable. They experience the feeling of being in a spiritual body that appears to be a sort of living energy field.
2. The tunnel experience: The next experience is that of being drawn into darkness through a tunnel, at an extremely high speed, until reaching a realm of radiant golden-white light. Also, although they sometimes report feeling scared, they do not sense that they were on the way to hell or that they fell into it.
3. Rising rapidly into the heavens: Instead of a tunnel, some people report rising suddenly into the heavens and seeing the Earth and the celestial sphere as they would be seen by astronauts in space.
4. People of light: Once on the other side of the tunnel, or after they have risen into the heavens, the dying meet people who glow with an inner light. Often they find that friends and relatives who have already died are there to greet them.
5. The Being of Light:  After meeting the people of light, the dying often meet a powerful spiritual being whom some have identified as God, Jesus, or some religious figure.
6. The life review: The Being of Light presents the dying with a panoramic review of everything they have ever done. That is, they relive every act they have ever done to other people and come away feeling that love is the most important thing in life.
7. Reluctance to return:The Being of Light sometimes tells the dying that they must return to life. Other times, they are given a choice of staying or returning. In either case, they are reluctant to return. The people who choose to return do so only because of loved ones they do not wish to leave behind. (Moody)

Argument

Are the medical community properly trained to give support to this experience ?  The simple answer is NO!  but they are making efforts to get better at this.  Consider the response from one noted psychiatrist ” I feel I still have more work to do in educating other physicians. Doctors are much more willing to accept this and talk to their patients about it now. I’m slowly getting papers published in the leading medical journals establishing that these are normal, non-psychotic experiences that people have. I caution doctors to let patients tell about them. It’s frustrating for a patient, who’s just had the most important experience of his life, to be told by a doctor, “Oh, that’s okay. Just forget about it.” (Dunton)

People will react differently to this type of experience.  Some people will feel confused and traumatised by it, some will feel tranquil and experience a sense of spiritual serenity, others will feel enlightened and become quest seekers wishing to gain more knowledge. This often equally depends on the mental state and well being of the surviving patient.  Surgeons are likely to feel less sensitised by this because of busy workloads and the inability to have the same personal relationships as a General Practitioner has with his / her patients.  Specialist medical staff such as Psychologists and Parapsychologists are more likely to have a keener professional interest in order to gain more research experiences into the understanding of the phenomena.  Nursing staff are perhaps more immediate recipients of after care and desirous of the social skills needed to deal with patients having undergone such experiences.  One GP provided details of her experiences with patients that visited her practice.. ” All of these types of experiences people were coming into my office with this broad spectrum. I realized, this is much bigger than just near-death experiences. Near-death experiences are just one of many types of spiritual experiences people are having today. So around 1990 I felt as a physician that I actually had a moral obligation to start becoming more public about this, to inform other medical doctors, because I’d heard so many terrible stories of people who’d had spiritual experiences who tried to tell their doctors about them but had been immediately labeled as, oh, this is a hallucination and you need some tranquilizers, or this is mental illness.”  (MD)

Medical Schools are starting to include the “near death experience” as part of the curriculum for training Doctors. One such example is the Mayo Clinic of Medicine .. ” Near-death experiences represent for a medical school curriculum a watershed area between life and death, between science and experience, and between the known and the unknown. First-year medical students as nascent scientists and clinicians have complex and often intense feelings about realms that are at the border zones of their developing acumen. In this context, the near-death experience is an ideal topic for teaching professionalism and respect for individual patients, differing cultures, and for colleagues who have differing sets of beliefs. Using videotaped presentations students were asked to explore their own and their peers’ reactions to near-death experiences both in small group discussion format and using a web based discussion board. The inclusion of this topic early in medical school training was felt to be a valuable tool for developing both professionalism and collegiality. It also served to broaden the scientific viewpoint presented in the curriculum in a manner that promoted openness to and respect for patient perspective on life changing events.”  (Sheeler)

Another argument that is put forward relates to Medicine being essentially a scientific doctrine. In this sense the workings of the brain and mind or consciousness can be explained in scientific medical terms e.g. dreaming, hallucinating, brain activity etc.  The personal experiences of those going through “near death experiences” may be dismissed in these terms and as such do not readily lend themselves to clinical support or training in the conventional sense.  It tends to pass over more readily in the psychological sphere of medicine. There is an argument that suggests such care may be more easily adopted by the theologians i.e. the individuals pastor or spiritual counsellor, consider .. ” One possibility that would need to be considered, is how science would tackle the potential discovery that mind or consciousness may continue to exist at the end of life and independently of the brain. To many, this would of course support the theological and philosophical concept of an ‘afterlife’ and would suggest that the age-old concept of the ‘soul’ is the same as what scientists now call ‘consciousness’  (Anon)

A nurse who has been working with near death patients has been conducting scholarly research into the area, focusing on the type of care that should be provided to such patients both before and to those recovering from heart resuscitations.  The nurse discovered that very little reference or research material was contained in this area.  Her 5  year clinical investigation is considered to be one of the most in depth studies of its kind.  The work has now been published .. ” Her new book, entitled Near Death Experiences of Hospitalized Intensive Care Patients – a Five Year Clinical Study, is the largest review of its kind and details Ms Sartori’s 10 year research project.’ I carried out the study on a wide range of ICU patients and got the best results when I studied heart attack patients who nearly died,’ she said. ‘Reports included out-of-body experiences, people travelling down a tunnel towards a bright light and patients having their entire lives flash before them.’ Ms Sartori said she plans to continue her research into the phenomenon. ‘Current science says it is a byproduct of the brain,’ she said. ‘But it may be that consciousness is around us and the brain might be a mediator, an antenna, instead of controlling consciousness”  (Sartori)

Conclusions

There is clearly a lot of evidence that supports patients having near death experiences, particularly after heart resuscitation.  Whether the onus of “after care” and support should be provided by the medical community is debatable.  It is equally apparent that patients react differently from such experiences and as such the type of care may be different.  This might be classified as i) post traumatic – where the patient needs support and help in coming to terms with the experience ii) informative – the patient seeks more knowledge on the experience and is looking for answers be they of a scientific or spiritual nature iii) Enlightenment – a serene experience that leaves the person in need of spiritual or religious guidance.  When examining these “types” of  help categories they are not contained purely within the medical  realm. Help  or support may need to be provided from different sources i.e. Psychological,  Comfort (nurse), spiritual guidance ( pastor or religious counselling).  Support groups may prove to be another useful contribution i.e. communities of similar patients having similar experiences.

The Medical community recognises these needs and is at least examining this within future Doctor and Nurse training programs.

Works Cited

Anon. “The Implications for Ethics, Theology and Philosophy.” Horizon Research Foundation (2009).

Dunton, Lese. Interview with Psychiatrist: A Near-Death Experience Expert. 2009. 14 October 2009 <http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Interview_with_Psychiatrist_A_Near-Death_Experience_Expert.html>.

MD, Yvonne Kason. “Farther Shores.” MD, Yvonne Kason. Farther Shores. Toronto: iuniverse, 2008.

Moody, Dr Raymond. “Life after Life: The investigation of a phenomonon: survival of bodily death.” Moody, Dr Raymond. Life after Life: The investigation of a phenomonon: survival of bodily death. New York : Bantam, 1976. 65.

Nordqvist, Christian. Near Death Experiences May Have Biological Explanation, Say Scientists. 11 April 2006. 14 October 2009.

Parnia, Sam. Near Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest and the Mystery of Consciousness. 2008. 14 October 2009 <http://www.scimednet.org/library/articlesN75+/N76Parnia_nde.htm>.

Sartori, Penny. Near Death Experiences of Hospitalized Intensive Care Patients . Swansea: Edwin Mellan Press, 2008.

Sheeler, Robert D. “Teaching Near Death Experiences to Medical Students.” Sheeler, Robert D. Journal of Near Death Studies. Rochester MN : Allan Press, 2005. August.