Near-Death studies is a school of psychology and psychiatry that studies the phenomenology and after-effects of a Near-death experience, also called NDE.

The phenomenology of a NDE usually includes physiological, psychological and transcendental factors that come together to form an overall pattern when numerous NDE reports are considered together. It is this pattern that is one of the main objects of interest for Near-Death studies.

The interest in this field of research was orginally spurred by the research of Dr. Raymond Moody who chronicled and studied many of these experiences in a series of books. This was soon to be followed by the establishment of the Association for Near-death Studies, also known as IANDS. IANDS was founded in Connecticut USA in 1978 order to meet the needs of early researchers and experiencers within this research field. Today the association includes researchers, health care professionals, NDE-experiencers and people close to experiencers, as well as other interested people. One of its main goals is to promote thoughtful study and discussion within this very delicate field of interest (iands.org : A Brief History of IANDS)

IANDS is also responsible for the publishing of the Journal of Near-Death studies, the only scholarly journal in the field. It is cross-disciplinary and published quarterly. Between the years of 1997-2003 the journal was published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, but this arrangement was discontinued upon completion of Volume 21. Since 2003 the Journal is published by The International Association for Near-Death Studies, printed and distributed by Allen Press.

Major contributions to the field include the construction of a Weighted Core Experience Index (Ring, 1980) in order to measure the depth of the Near-Death experience, and the construction of the Near-death experience scale (Greyson, 1983) in order to differentiate between subjects that are more or less likely to have experienced a classical NDE. The NDE-scale also aims to differentiate between a true NDE and syndromes or stress responses that are not related to a NDE. Greyson (1997) has also brought attention to The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention, while Simpson (2001) has taken a closer look at the implications it has for nursing.

See also Near-death experience, Transpersonal psychology

References

• Greyson B. (1983) The near-death experience scale. Construction, reliability, and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 1983 Jun;171(6):369-75.

• Greyson B. (1997) The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 1997 May;185(5):327-34.

• Ring K. (1980) Life at death. A scientific investigation of the near- death experience. New York: Coward McCann and Geoghenan.

• Simpson SM. (2001) Near death experience: a concept analysis as applied to nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2001 Nov;36(4):520-6.

External Links

• Kluwer Academic Publishers - Journal Of Near-Death Studies
• The International Association for Near-Death Studies, Inc
• University of Virginia Health System - Division of Personality Studies