An out-of-body experience (OBE) occurs when a person looks at the world from a point outside of his physical body. There is a lot of unproven information about this phenomenon. It is often associated with various brain lesions, mental disorders, severe emotional states, near-death experiences, substance use, migraines, epilepsy, etc.
Scientists from India (Mudgal, Dhakad, Mathur, Sardesai, and Pal) have analyzed the case of a 15-year-old boy. The youth in question lay in a hospital room with doctors who were asking him questions about his current state. Then, according to the teenager, he felt someone else occupy his body as he himself soared to the ceiling. He tried to get back to his body, but couldn’t. This episode lasted 10–15 minutes. His body was answering all of the doctors’ questions but it was not under his control, as the patient later reported.
The same teen later experienced a second episode of OBE, similar to the first. He was in a trance state: his voice changed, he stopped lisping (a speech impediment from which he usually suffered), and again briefly answered all questions in a loud voice. After a few seconds he was suddenly shouting, but eventually calmed down. He later stated: “Below me, I saw my body, from outside lying on the bed and the doctor standing near me was asking some questions.”
No signs of the serious diseases listed above were found in the teenager. However, there were problems in the family (the absence of a mother, a harsh upbringing on the part of the father, attempts to run away from home). The final diagnosis was dissociative identity disorder and depression.
As the researchers add, dissociative disorders are a battle between the conscious and the unconscious, when a person cannot suppress a traumatic experience, or the repressed experience surfaces, which leads to an altered perception.
The article was published in August 2021 in the journal Cureus.
