Study presenting evidence of seven categorical situations where participating in or knowledge of near-death experiences (NDEs) and nearing-death awareness experiences serve as healing agents in facing one's own death or the death of a significant other.

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.

Review of the book "After the Light: What I Discovered on the Other Side of Life That Can Change Your World" by former Northwest Regional Coordinator of the International Association for Near-Death Studies Kimberly Clark Sharp discussing her own near-death experience and its effect on her life.

Abstract: Karl Jansen raises a fundamental and exciting question: Is humankind's consciousness the result of neuronal function, or are there extracerebral aspects as well? While his neurotransmitter model of near-death experiences (NDEs) is well described, I find his supporting evidence weak. Methodological differences between studies of ketamine hallucinations and near-death experiences (NDEs) raise doubts about how similar those experiences are phenomenologically. While Jansen's model has electrifying implications, the data required to support his conclusions do not yet exist.

Abstract: Although ketamine can induce a state similar to a near-death experience (NDE), there is a striking difference between experiences induced by ketamine used in a recreational context and in an operating room. Ketamine is a noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, as is ibogaine, the main alkaloid of a shrub used in Central Africa to induce NDEs in a religious context. Ibogaine can also elicit different experiences when used in a hallucinatory context or in initiatic rituals, where a superficial state of coma is induced. These data raise the question of whether the chemically-induced NDE-like experience is related to the use of a particular kind of substance or to a genuine comatose state.

Article discussing Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, which resolves potential conflicting sources of meaning by the application of the Laws of Dimensional Ontology, which validate apparently conflicting viewpoints. The application of these laws to the interpretation of near-death experiences (NDEs) resolves the conflict between the orthodox scientific view of NDEs as hallucination and the experiential view of them as experiences of the afterlife to come.

Abstract: We review strengths and weaknesses of Karl Jansen's approach to the near-death experience (NDE). Strengths include his limited goals and avoidance of the trap of explaining all features of the NDE with his theory, although he surprisingly misunderstood our previously published position. Additional, we applaud the possible intersection of psychological and biological theories, demonstrated in Jansen's biochemical explanations for the individualized variations in manifestation and adaptive role of the NDE. However, he failed to take into account the pitfalls in the use of analogy, modeling oversimplification, and in taking association as causality and causes as meaningful, in the arguments for his theory.

Article offering commentary on Karl Jansen's ketamine model for the near-death experience, expanding upon and raising additional questions about several issues and hypotheses.

Article examining Karl Jansen's hypothesis that near-death experiences (NDEs) result from blockade of the N-methyl-D-asparate receptor.

Quarterly journal publishing papers related to near-death experiences, including research reports; theoretical or conceptual statements; expressions of a scientific, philosophic, religious, or historical perspective on the study of near-death experiences; cross-cultural studies; individual case histories; and personal accounts of experiences or related phenomena.

Quarterly journal publishing papers related to near-death experiences, including research reports; theoretical or conceptual statements; expressions of a scientific, philosophic, religious, or historical perspective on the study of near-death experiences; cross-cultural studies; individual case histories; and personal accounts of experiences or related phenomena. Table of contents for all issues in volume 15 on page 279.

Quarterly journal publishing papers related to near-death experiences, including research reports; theoretical or conceptual statements; expressions of a scientific, philosophic, religious, or historical perspective on the study of near-death experiences; cross-cultural studies; individual case histories; and personal accounts of experiences or related phenomena.

Quarterly journal publishing papers related to near-death experiences, including research reports; theoretical or conceptual statements; expressions of a scientific, philosophic, religious, or historical perspective on the study of near-death experiences; cross-cultural studies; individual case histories; and personal accounts of experiences or related phenomena.

Article discussing a biological basis for near-death experiences (NDEs). For example, conditions that precipitate NDEs, such as hypoxia, ischemia, hypoglycemia, and temporal lobe epilepsy, have been shown to release a flood of glutamate, overactivating N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and resulting in neurotoxicity.

Letter from Patricia Guevara to the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies on the topic "Could Endorphins Participate in the Limbic Pathways Responsible for NDEs after Acute Cerebral Hypoxia?"

Letter from Jim W. Knittweis to the editor discussing the potential for detectable differences between electrical fields of Near-Dearth Experiencers and nonexperiencers.

Article reviewing Christopher Bache's perinatal account of near-death experiences (NDEs) and suggesting that it does not go far enough. The author then presents a new model, bliss/abyss, derived from the study of mysticism; shows that pleasant and frightening NDEs can be accommodated within the model; and discusses the predictions that can be drawn from the new theoretical framework.

Article reporting the results of an investigation into near-death and out-of-body experiences in 31 blind respondents. The study sought to address three main questions: (1) whether blind individuals have near-death experiences (NDEs) and, if so, whether they are the same as or different from those of sighted persons; (2) whether blind persons ever claim to see during NDEs and out-of-body experiences (OBEs); and (3) if such claims are made, whether they can ever be corroborated by reference to independent evidence.

Abstract: Fifty-one near-death experiencers (NDErs) were surveyed in person and through the mail to discover if and how their lives were changed as a result of their NDEs. Results showed major changes in participants' lives, especially in the areas of religious belief and practice, lifestyle, career, and relationships.

Article comparing the psychophysiologic symptoms of (+Gz)-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) episodes and NDEs, which may help identify those symptoms unique to near-death and the process of dying.

Article responding to commentaries on a paper discussing the ketamine model of the near-death experience.

Article exploring expressions of surprise and puzzlement that lend a ring of authenticity to self-reports of near-death experiences (NDEs). Surprise typically indicates the discovery of novel features of reality during the cognition-reality interplay that makes learning possible. If at least some NDE surprises are discoveries in a nonsubjective sense, then that cognition-reality interplay can continue during moments near death as subject learn that self and reality must be understood to include a nonmaterial realm.

Abstract: Three of Charles Flynn's (1986) "core elements" of near-death experiences (NDEs) have special interest to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) because of their striking similarity to the doctrinal teachings of the 19th-century Mormon leaders and theologians. This article illustrates these three NDE characteristics--thought communication, speed of movement, and the ability to "absorb" knowledge--by comparing contemporary NDE accounts with both the religious teachings of 19th-century Mormon church leaders and the accepted doctrines of modern Mormonism.

Abstract: This paper is a critique of Karl Jansen's hypothesis that near-death and ketamine experiences are caused by blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. An assumption that consciousness and its alterations are merely the product of neuronal activity is only one of many possible beliefs about reality. An alternative, which can be verified through one's own direct experiences, is that consciousness is always a subject and body is only its object. The objects come and go; consciousness remains.