Near Death Experience
The term Near-Death Experience (NDE) refers to a broad range of personal, human experiences associated with impending death. The experiences encompass widely various sensations ranging from detachment from the body to feelings of levitation, extreme fear, security or warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and/or the presence of a "light or lite" which some people interpret as a deity or spiritual presence. Many cultures and individuals revere NDEs as paranormal and/or spiritual glimpses into the afterlife.
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The Phenomenon
Near-Death Experiences are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically "dead," or otherwise very close to death--hence the label: "Near-Death Experience." The development of cardiac resuscitation and other techniques employed for pulling people back from the "brink of death," seems to have caused an increase in the number of reported NDEs. However, most of the scientific and medical community regard these experiences as "hallucinatory," and of little importance, while paranormal specialists and even a few mainstream scientists claim them to be evidence of an "after life."
Common Interest and Research
Popular interest in near-death experiences was initially sparked by Raymond Moody, Jr's 1975 book "Life After Life" and the later establishment of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) in 1978. Approximately eight million Americans claim to have had a near-death experience, with such wide-spread claims elevating NDEs to a place among the top phenomena currently studied in the fields of parapsychology, psychology, psychiatry, and even hospital medicine.
