Near-death experiences (NDEs) are of great interest to science, however, the difficulty in studying them lies in the fact that they are based on subjective memories. To overcome this issue, scientists have even tried to make virtual simulations of NDEs using VR to recreate them in the laboratory.
However, the most obvious way to restore deep memories of clinical death is hypnosis. In a hypnotic state, people experience signs of an altered state of consciousness – from warped time perception to out-of-body experiences. Thus, a hypnotic state can simulate near-death experiences in and of itself.
In an experiment conducted by Belgian scientists led by Charlotte Martial, five volunteers under hypnosis managed not only to recall their near-death experiences but also to feel the sensations of undergoing them. Participants recalled experiencing death under the influence of hypnosis and in a normal state, while scientists assessed their brain activity using EEG.
The experiment showed that memories of death under hypnosis allowed the participants to recreate their experience at the level of sensations – they felt a sense of peace and out-of-body projection, similar to actual NDEs. Three of the participants scored 7 points on the Grayson scale, which indicates that their experiences qualified as an NDE. The results provide interesting perspectives for studying this phenomenon under controlled conditions.
Do you think it is possible to relive a real phase state under hypnosis? Share your opinion in the comments.
The study was published in 2019 in Scientific Reports journal.
