Summary: A research study scrutinizes the parallels and differences between a near-death experience (NDE) during a coma and the experience induced by a potent psychedelic drug, 5-Methoxy-DMT (5MeO-DMT).
The researchers found shared themes, such as ego dissolution and space-time transcendence. However, specific themes like life review, meeting with deceased loved ones, and a sense of no return were only reported in NDEs.
The participant also expressed that, despite similarities, the experiences felt significantly distinct.
Key Facts:
- The research represents one of the few studies that systematically report on individuals who have experienced both a classical psychedelic and a near-death experience.
- The study found common themes such as the transcendence of time and space, ego dissolution, and cosmic love in both NDEs and psychedelic experiences.
- However, unique elements such as life review, meeting deceased loved ones, and the sense of a no-return threshold were reported only in NDEs.
Source: BIAL Foundation
Researchers analyzed the similarities and differences between a near-death experience (NDE) while in a coma and the experience induced by a psychedelic drug.
Despite the common themes that emerged, such as space-time transcendence or ego dissolution, only in the NDE were the themes of life review, meeting deceased loved ones, and a threshold of no-return reported.
In 1994, Stanislav Grof, one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, reported finding high comparability between LSD and a subsequent NDE. However, apart from Grof’s study, no other has systematically reported on persons experiencing both a classical psychedelic and a near-death experience, as well as their reflections on comparability.
Thus, there was a gap in the study on the relationship between the NDE and the experience induced by the highly potent endogenous psychedelic drug called 5-Methoxy-DMT (5MeO-DMT).
Pascal Michael and collaborators analyzed the similarities and differences between a NDE, during a coma, and an experience induced by the psychedelic drug 5MeO-DMT.
The article “This is your brain on death: a comparative analysis of a near-death experience and subsequent 5-Methoxy-DMT experience,” published in June in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, presents a case study of a 54-year-old Caucasian man from North America, who is popularly documented for having had a profound near-death experience while in a coma caused by bacterial meningoencephalitis. In addition, the individual also subsequently underwent an experience with 5MeO-DMT.
The researchers from the University of Greenwich and Imperial College (U.K.) conducted a semi-structured interview with the subject concerning his experiences with both the NDE and 5MeO-DMT, and then analyzed the similar and different emergent themes between the two states, with particular emphasis on the subject’s own perceptions on the similarities and differences between the experiences.
Overall, a high level of comparability was observed between the NDE and the psychedelic experience, with common themes emerging, such as the transcendence of time and space, ego dissolution, and cosmic love.
However, specific themes also emerged in NDEs that were not present in the psychedelic experience, namely life review, the deceased, and the threshold.
This finding echoes a further study presently in review by the authors comparing a similar psychedelic, NN-DMT, and the NDE.
Despite the observed convergences in the several aforementioned domains, the experiences were considered to be totally different by the participant themselves in several dimensions, on account of which the participant argues that his NDE should not be attributed to endogenous psychedelics.
In this study, several mechanisms that could potentially explain the NDE were discussed, including the speculative hypothesis of correlation between the participant’s NDE and the unique way in which the bacterial meningoencephalitis impacted the subjects’ cortex, which may mimic the action of psychedelics.
About this psychology research news
Author: Press Office
Source: BIAL Foundation
Contact: Press Office – BIAL Foundation
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“This is your brain on death: a comparative analysis of a near-death experience and subsequent 5-Methoxy-DMT experience” by Pascal Michael et al. Frontiers in Psychology
Abstract
This is your brain on death: a comparative analysis of a near-death experience and subsequent 5-Methoxy-DMT experience
Introduction: Much research has focused on the modeling of the near-death experience (NDE) by classical and atypical psychedelics; however, to date, no study has reported on the relationship between the NDE and the experience induced by the highly potent, endogenous psychedelic drug 5-Methoxy-DMT (5MeO-DMT). This article presents a case study of an individual who is popularly documented to have had a profound near-death experience while in a coma caused by bacterial meningoencephalitis. Additionally, the individual also subsequently underwent an experience with 5MeO-DMT.
Methods: A semi-structured interview was conducted with the subject concerning his experiences with both the NDE and 5MeO-DMT. A basic thematic analysis was performed on both the original text describing the NDE as well as the interview itself, which mainly focused on the subject’s experience with 5MeO-DMT. This analysis was organized to identify both the similar and different emergent themes between the two states, with a particular emphasis on the subject’s perceptions of the similarities and differences between the experiences.
Results: There is a very high level of comparability between the original NDE and psychedelic experiences in general, including shared characteristics such as entering other worlds, meeting menacing or benevolent entities, experiencing synesthesia, perinatal regression, and lucid dreamlike properties. Much comparability was also identified with the 5MeO-DMT experience, in particular the major mystical experiential domains, such as ego dissolution, but especially transcendence of time and space. However, there were also a few unique themes (life review, the deceased, and the threshold) that emerged in the NDE that were not present in the 5MeO-DMT experience or other psychedelic experience studies, suggesting that these themes may be more unique to the NDE.
Discussion: Despite such similarities, the participant asserted that his NDE and psychedelic experiences were not similar enough to be attributed to endogenous psychedelics. In this study, we discussed several mechanisms that could potentially account for the NDE, including lucid dreams and perinatal regression. However, the study also explored the possibility that the unique etiology of the participant’s NDE, bacterial meningoencephalitis affecting the neocortex, may have triggered similar downstream neural activity as that initiated by psychedelic agents through pyramidal neuronal activation. This hypothesis is presented with appropriate caveats and acknowledged as speculative.
