Out-of-body and near-death experiences are complex phenomena that have interested humanity since time immemorial. A group of researchers from Iran (Shakeri, Ebrahimi, Jahromi, Tabehi, and Naghi) tried to study these two phenomena as intrinsically linked.
As the authors mention, 5–10% of people have had an out-of-body experience (OBE), and a near-death experience (NDE) is familiar to 6.3–23% of survivors of cardiac arrest. At the same time, OBE is one of the key components of NDEs. The scientists interviewed seven people who had experienced clinical death, all of whom reported that they had felt themselves floating outside their body. Some were even able determine the approximate height at which they “hovered,” and some said that they could observe the surrounding objects from all sides, at a 360 degree angle simultaneously.
The researchers also cite methods of provoking an OBE without trauma: hypnosis and meditation. Such situations are characterized by elements that have no adequate neurophysiological explanations. For example, people who had been blind from birth reported that during the out-of-body experience they could see the surrounding space.
There is a need to establish an empirical basis for the study of these phenomena. The authors propose to create two displays to control cases of OBE and NDE and install them in CPR rooms. One screen would be facing up – so that only a person looking from above can see the image on the display. The second one would be positioned facing the floor, in order to test claims of 360-degree vision.
Similar attempts to record evidence of NDEs have already been made by other scientists. The researchers from Iran, however, have chosen to focus on the phenomenon of the OBE in particular, for the sake of producing a more accurate model.
The article was published in 2021 in the Turkish Journal of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation.
