Article proposing an integrated psychodynamic perspective to account in part for a variety of similarities between near-death experiences and UFO abductions. The psychodynamic psychology of these experiences implies that their "realness" is mainly a function of that psychology, rather than primarily of an objectifiable external reality. Clinical and research examples highlight the theoretical and practical usefulness of this model.

Abstract: In this paper, I discuss the general psychological structure of four near-death experiences and the evolutionary nature of the mental processes that occur. I suggest that the transformational aspect of each near-death experience comes at the culmination of the mental processes through archetypal imagery drawn from the context of the experiencer's life.