The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation

As the worldwide population ages, and modern medical techniques of resuscitation advance, near-death experiences (NDEs) are more and more frequently being reported and studied. NDEs include more than the popular notions of moving through a tunnel or seeing a light at the end. They include people once revived knowing things that there is no current explanation for how they could know. Like a woman co-editor Holden tells us about who was brought to the hospital clinically dead, but after revival said that she had seen, during her death state, a shoe on a ledge outside a third floor window in a second building of the hospital campus. A social worker checked; the shoe was still there, not visible from the street, and on the opposite side of campus from which the woman had been brought in by ambulance. Great controversy exists in the medical and psychological fields surrounding NDEs, which have been reported by adult, teen, and child patients after life-threatening crises including heart attack, stroke, blood loss from car accidents, near-drownings, anaphylactic shock, and attempted suicide. Are NDEs byproducts of biological reactions to oxygen loss or impending death or a product of changing states of consciousness? In this unique book, experts from around the world and across the United States share the history and current state of NDE research, controversies that surround the field, and their hopes for future investigation into this fascinating phenomenon.

As the worldwide population ages, and modern medical techniques of resuscitation advance, near-death experiences (NDEs) are more and more frequently being reported. NDEs include more than the popular notions of moving through a tunnel or seeing a light at the end. They include people once revived knowing things that there is no current explanation for how they could know. Like a woman that co-editor Holden tells us about who was brought to the hospital clinically dead, but after revival said she had seen, during her death state, a shoe on a ledge outside a sixth floor window in a second building of the hospital campus. A social worker checked; the shoe was still there, not visible from the street, and on the opposite side of the campus from which the woman had been brought in by ambulance. Great controversy exists in the medical and psychological fields surrounding NDEs, which have been reported by adult, teen, and child patients after life-threatening crises including heart attack, stroke, blood loss from car accidents, near-drownings, anaphylactic shock, and attempted suicide. Are NDEs caused by physiological changes in the brain or are they biological reactions to oxygen loss or impending death or are they a product of changing states of consciousness? Or are they caused by something else altogether? In this unique volume, experts from around the world and across the US share the history and current state of NDE research, controversies in the field, and their hopes for the future of investigation into this fascinating phenomenon.

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"Practitioners and researchers specializing in near-death experiences review the scientific literature in and from the perspectives of their various disciplines, mostly mental health, but also other health care fields and the social sciences. Among the topics are pleasurable western adult near-death experiences and their after effect, western children and teens, a census of non-western experiences to 2005, world religions, veridical perceptions, explanatory models, and practical applications of the research. Most of the 11 studies are based on presentations at a fall 2006 conference in Houston, Texas." -

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Experts from around the world share the history and current state of near-death experience (NDE) knowledge. They explore controversies in the field, offer stories from their research, and express their hopes for the future of investigation into this fascinating phenomenon.

As modern medical techniques for resuscitation advance, NDEs are more frequently reported. These include more than the popular notions of moving through a tunnel or seeing a light. They also include people, once revived, knowing things their knowledge of which can't currently be explained. As The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation makes clear, great controversy exists in the medical and psychological fields concerning NDEs. Are they caused by physiological changes in the brain, or are they biological reactions to oxygen loss or impending death? Are they a product of changing states of consciousness? Or are they caused by something else altogether? All of these ideas and more are discussed in this unique and comprehensive volume.

• Takes a cross-disciplinary approach to the topic of near-death experiences

• Includes contributions from numerous MDs and PhDs considered among the top experts in this field worldwide

• Is enhanced by vignettes from adults and children recounting their personal near-death experiences

A team of international experts presents the history, recent developments, and controversies in the intriguing study of near-death experience.

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