Are near-death experiences real? Here’s what science has to say. | Dr. Bruce Greyson for Big Think

A psychiatrist studied 1,000 near-death experiences. Here’s what he discovered.

Near-death experiences are not a new phenomenon. They have occurred for millennia across the world.

Studies of these experiences have revealed consistent patterns, namely a sense of overwhelming peace and well-being.

While there is still controversy in regard to the cause of near-death experiences, they are now known to be fairly common.

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About Dr. Bruce Greyson:
Dr. Bruce Greyson is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the UVA School of Medicine. He served on the medical school faculty at the Universities of Michigan, Connecticut, and Virginia. He was a co-founder and President of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, and Editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. His award-winning research led him to become a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and to be invited by the Dalai Lama to participate in a dialogue between Western scientists and Buddhist monks in India.

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Read more of our stories on near death experiences:
Activity of dying brain shines light on near-death experiences
Do near-death experiences prove that an afterlife exists?

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[rockfishfishing]

I was looking for answers after the sudden death of my 5 years young son, I wanted to find reasons to continue living, I came across with so many beautiful NDE stories that just gave me a lot of hope. I know whenever I’m done at this physical world I will be reunited again with my son and this time will be FOREVER! Even though he has gone physically I can still feel his presence with me… Oliver, Daddy will honor you for the rest of my life by living fearlessly ❤️💪🏻. “Love never die”

[avalaxton]

I lost my 37 year old son 2 weeks ago. I am searching for something to hold on to

[ElixeoFlores]

My sister was in an auto accident when she was 18. She was non responsive when she was brought into the hospital. When she was revived and a few days after she stabilized, she asked if she could talk to the doctor who treated her in the emergency room. The nurse said, oh that's doctor Thomas. He's the one who sees you every day on morning rounds. My sister said, no, the doctor who treated me was bald. Dr. Thomas has hair. The nurse explained that doctor Thomas is bald on top but has hair in front that he combs back so it looks like a full head of hair if you are looking up at him from the angle of laying in bed. When doctor Thomas came in for his morning rounds, my sister asked him to bend down so she could see his head and was delighted when she recognized him as the doctor who basically saved her life. She thanked him for everything he did for her. Perplexed, he pointed out that she was unconscious when she came in. She explained that she was watching the entire event unfold from the vantage point of the ceiling and proceeded to describe exactly what happened, right up to the point when they inserted a metal tube into her side and she returned to her body. The metal tube is a device that is inserted into the side in an emergency to treat a collapsed lung. Pretty amazing.

[guillermodelnoche]

I remember vividly many strange images, sounds, locations including floating bodiless in space during my eight day coma.
I was never aware of my body, had zero thoughts but had an overwhelming sense of love and wellbeing.

[coolbluelights]

I've never had an NDE, but I had an out of body experience in kindergarten. I got sent out in the hall for being disruptive. it was humiliating and terrifying for me. I remember looking in the window. I was barely tall enough to see through it. Next thing I know i'm in the corner of the classroom with the group of kids I wanted to be with. I heard someone say "he wants to come in" and I look over to the door and see my own little face in the window. I thought "oh, they sent another kid out so i'm not alone" The teacher sent one of the kids to open the door for me and next thing I know i'm back in the hall looking in watching that kid come to let me in. I was completely baffled as to what just happened.

[robsmitha]

I died for 20 seconds in 2014. Felt myself flying off into the sky before a sensation of being sucked into my body and being surrounded by the crash team I am still not totally sure what to make of it.

[natashalovett]

I was diagnosed with a fibroid tumor and started bleeding out on the end of September this year. By November I had lost that much blood I could hear my heart struggling to pump blood it made a whistling sound if I got up to quickly or walked to fast. The doctors managed to find the right medication for the bleeding to slow down and was able to have an iron infusion so I was well enough to have an operation to take it out. Start of December I had surgery and the surgeon accidentally sliced my bladder and a day later I had to be airlifted to another town for emergency surgery. It was then where my experience began. While flying I was in and out of consciousness. While out, I saw a friend whom had passed away a year before. When I first saw her I was a bit confused I looked around and there was nothing but a dark grayness around then, I looked at my friend again and said hello. All she said was, she knows she f'd up but as soon as she saw her diceased father she ran to him and by then it was to late. I woke up in the ambulance in the other town the pain was unbearable I immediately blacked out again. Then I saw my fur baby 'Sir Bundlelotts' whom also passed away last year I was so happy to see him as I picked him up I noticed his old cat smell had disappeared and I gave him a big kiss then he squirmed his way out of cuddles like he always use to. I'd wake up again I had finally arrived at the hospital for emergency surgery I told the surgeon to let me die, I couldn't handle the pain anymore, a nurse came over and calmed me down. They both reassured me that everything will be ok. I was do exhausted by then I just wanted it all to go away for good. Then while I was just about to go under I saw my diceased parents at the end of the operating table holding hands smiling at me. I noticed how young they looked, they looked younger than me and before I could even understand what was going on I woke up and the second surgery was over with success. I was taught a lot of things in those few days and I believe there is a better place to go when we leave this earth, Im one who was blessed to witnessed it. This whole experience has changed my life, my hatred and toxicity of others has completely gone I even forgave the surgeon whom sliced my bladder. I now believe everything in life whether its good or bad happens for a reason and there's always something to be learned in life to become a better person. My lesson was this and I feel blessed on a daily to be alive. I want to share my experience with people whom are lost and angry like I was, so they can understand that life ain't that bad after all.

[greyswandir]

Sending love to you and all the other commenters experiencing grief. I wish you all the strength and support you need.

[georgiahughes]

After my near death experience, it was like I was awoken to what life is really meant to be. It's quite lonely because being at deaths door Changes your soul and you realise that everything you think is what life is actually isn't.. I've never been the same since,

[aster_limni]

I've lost my 30yr old best friend and I'm in shambles. I still can't accept it fully, she was gone so quickly.... life is so unfair. Please, Serena, be still alive somewhere else...seeing your corpse in the coffin was devastating. Please be well... I can't go on without you

[jennifermorris]

In two more days my NDE will be the first year anniversary. I spent half of last year with horrific nightmares and not wanting to sleep slipping into several months of severe depression I've recently started talking about my near-death experience and it is starting to help me grow and understand

[evawagner]

I had NDE as 18 years old hit my head in car when driving through the forest .
Cellphones non exist that time .we were in the cabin in middle of nowhere..I left my body..I fly above Earth to universe, then in dark tunnel .End of tunnel was absolutely amazing very bright light, beautiful very calm like music, extremely peaceful place .
I was young and no family members died in my life .
I felt someone turned me back to the tunnel and fly back through universe dark, gray, through our atmosphere , I saw ocean etc like from space ship .
Then I hear and smell the forest, wind, leafs movement and I saw ambulance in the middle of meadow .
My body was sitting there and doctors worked on me .
I remember I screamed I dont want to come back because that other place was soooo beautiful .
I was given injection in arm and come back .since that experience I totally changed my life . I know I was given second chance and purpose .
Nature and animal rescue become my life ..previously I was bit partying teenager.
As an atheist , I m bit confused , but I always trust my experience .I'm very sensitive to telephathy etc I can sense lots ..
I believe we dont die but continue in other form living .
I recently lost my beloved saint bernard Richie and 5 months latter I hear his fur and collar shaking mornings time we went for walks. .
Definitely our energy continues after we die.

[popeck]

I have studied these topics since few years now. I have a scientific background and no religion. But I am now convinced we are non material beings in a body that we leave one day to continue our experience and returning where we come from. When you add NDEs, OBEs, mediumship, pshychics experiences, trance (DMT, psychedelics, ayahuasca…), previous lives memory, death bed visions and many others, you have a really strong database to conclude. We are not in our brain. Death does not exist. I am 99% sure. When I read all comments saying it’s bullshit, I want to say: study the topic and then give your opinion.

[happybergner]

I am currently reading Dr Greyson's book, "After."
EXCELLENT. He has explored every other possibility for NDEs. His dad worked with the scientific method all during Dr. Greyson's childhood. Besides being a psychiatrist himself, Dr. Greyson applies all of his life long knowledge (when yr dad does a certain job, the kids always learn it too, ) of his dad's experience and knowledge of scientific method to his research in NDEs.
His childhood created in him the perfect background for his research. His background as a psychiatrist added to his knowledge base, and his unshakable interest in the topic of NDEs all created the perfect person to guide and establish the study of NDEs. (Btw, his intelligence also adds to the mix of qualifications!)
It's very nice to see him 'in person.'

[nelsongonzales]

my dad had a nde and this always fascinated me. He seen a old family friend who passed away. She guided him through the city to a staircase that had a line of thousands of other people all getting ready to go into the light. He said he felt so okay, but something told him it wasn’t his time yet and he woke up to my grandma giving him cpr.

[bellsina]

My grandma didn't have a near-death experience but she had the same experience that you would have during an nde. it was shortly after her own mother died in the 1940s, she was laying in bed with her niece that was about two at the time, and her niece kicked her pretty hard in the middle of the night and she awoke and was laying there staring at the ceiling. Her sister was living in Rice lake at the time in my grandma was living in Eau Claire. She said it was if someone held a phone to her ear, and she could hear her sister say Mama are you happy mama? My Grandma thought, poor thing she expects to get an answer. Then, she felt herself crash through the ceiling. She said it sounded like thunder and she could hear herself go through the ceiling. When she opened her eyes again, she said there was color she never saw in this world, and a chassis, knowing she couldn't get to the other side. She heard her mother, and her sister was next to her, although she did not see her mother, she could hear her clearly. There was a conversation I will not go into, but then she felt herself crash back down through the ceiling and into the bed, and into her body again. A couple days later she was talking to her sister in Rice lake, and her sister said you know I talked to mama? My Grandma replied, yes I know I was there. I had her tell me that story many times while she was alive she never could explain it, but she knew something had happened that was not of this world.

[timothytannerandtheamazing]

Dr Bruce Greyson is an inspirational medical doctor, scientist and intellectual. Unlike many of his colleagues, he is not afraid to move beyond reductive materialism - an outdated paradigm. Thank you Bruce! 🙏

[marinawong]

We really need more scientists, doctors to come out and talk about these things.

[joecallender]

I had a spontaneous OBE when I was 10. I was relaxing in a comfortable chair when I simply floated out of my body. I felt that I could go as deeply into the experience as I wanted but I was afraid I might not be able to find my way back. Soon I started to hear a hum/vibration that I sensed was coming from an intelligent source not of this world. I couldn't make it stop! It gradually faded away. Many years later I read "Autobiography of a Yogi" and realized I had somehow tuned in to "Om, " the sound of the creative manifestation of God's power, called che, prana, the "Light of Christ, " and various other terms, depending on the religion or whatever. It scared me when I was 10, but now after many years of meditation I can hear it almost constantly. It is not unpleasant at all.

[loosingsleep]

You gotta respect a man when he says “as a scientist you don’t run from what you don’t understand you run towards it” & “seems to defy a simple materialist explanation” because there’s so many scientist who won’t look into this because it makes them seem insane to their science community and or they have preconceive notions regarding their materialist viewpoint so they never look into and or deny the possibilities connected to something to non material explanations but as a scientist or even a thinker you must question what you think you know. P.S. this guy reminds me of Jung in that sense.