Psychic Phenomena Following Near-Death Experiences: An Australian Study

This s tudy examines the incidence of reports of psychic phenomena and associated beliefs both before and after the near -dea th experience (NDE). The near -dea th exper iencers in terv iewed repor ted no more psychic phenomena before the NDE than the genera l populat ion. There was a stat ist ica l ly s ignif icant increase following the NDE in the incidence of 14 of 15 i tems examined. The near-death experience (NDE) occurs when a person is on the brink of death, or in some cases actually clinically dead, and yet survives to recount an intense, profoundly meaningful experience. Although there have been a number of studies conducted in other countries, to date there has been no detailed empirical study of the phenomenon in Australia. In 1980-1981, a major survey by George Gallup, Jr. (1982) discovered that eight million Americans, or approximately five percent of the adult American population, have had what Gallup called a "verge-ofdeath" or "temporary death" experience with some sort of mystical encounter associated with the actual "death" event. In view of the Ms. Sutherland was formerly a lecturer in the Department of Social Work, University of Sydney, and is currently a full-time doctoral student in the School of Sociology, University of New South Wales. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Ms. Sutherland at the School of Sociology, University of New South Wales, P.O. Box 1, Kensington, NSW 2033, Australia. journal o~ Near-Death Studies, 8(2) Winter J989 9 1989 Human Sciences Press 9 3 94 JOURNAL OF NEAR-DEATH STUDIES major changes in values and beliefs that can occur as a result of these experiences, this is a figure of sociological significance and importance. This paper describes the reports of paranormal events in the lives of 40 near-death experiencers interviewed as part of an ongoing study of aftereffects of NDEs. The Presence of Psychic Phenomena Most of the early studies of the NDE focused on the phenomenology of the experience itself. Bruce Greyson and Ian Stevenson (1980) reported the incidence of paranormal features occurring in the NDE itself. Interest in the aftereffects of the NDE has grown in recent years. Kenneth Ring (1980, 1984) and Margot Grey (1985) described a range of aftereffects. Richard Kohr (1982) compared the psychic and psirelated experiences of near-death experiencers with two other groups within his sample, and Greyson (1983) specifically sought to compare the incidence of psychic phenomena in the lives of near-death experiencers before and after their NDEs. Both Kohr and Greyson used in their studies the questionnaire developed by John Palmer (1979) for his ~Community Mail Survey of Psychic Experiences" among a general population of townspeople and students in Charlottesville, Virginia. When examining my own data, it soon became clear that unless I could compare the incidence of psychic phenomena reported by my sample before their NDEs with the incidence in a general population, I would have no way of knowing whether the near-death experiencers I was interviewing could be considered ~normal" before their NDEs or whether they were already unusually gifted psychically. In addition to Palmer's study (1979), those by Susan Blackmore (1984), Erlendur Haraldsson (1985), Kohr (1980), and the Roy Morgan Research Centre's ~Australian Values Study Survey" (1983) provided data on the reported incidence of psychic experiences and associated beliefs among a general population. Kohr (1982) analyzed data from a national survey Of 547 members of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, a group having interests in parapsychological phenomena, dreams, and meditation. Although it is not possible to generalize from the results of that study to a wider population, it is possible to make comparisons among three categories within that special group: 84 near-death experiencers; 105 nonexperiencers, who had been close to death but had not had an NDE; and 358 others who had never been close to death. The results showed that the near-death experiencers reported more psychic and psi-related CHERIE SUTHERLAND 95 experiences than the nonexperiencers and others. Overall Kohr found a substantial difference between the near-death experiencers and the other two groups, which was statistically significant for all variables. A similar pat tern was shown in relation to changes in belief between near-death experiencers and nonexperiencers by a number of researchers (Ring, 1980, 1984; Flynn, 1986; Grey, 1985; Greyson and Stevenson, 1980). Michael Sabom (1982) found that belief in an afterlife increased dramatically among near-death experiencers, while there was no change in belief among nonexperiencers. Similarly, he found a marked decrease in fear of death among near-death experiencers, while among nonexperiencers 39 out of 45 reported no change and the remaining five reported an increase in fear of death. As Kohr (1982) and Greyson (1983) suggested, there are at least three possible explanations for such differences: 1. near-death experiencers are more psychically sensitive prior to their NDEs, 2. near-death experiencers tend to focus more attention on psychic and psi-related experiences, or 3. there is actually an increase in the incidence of psychic and psi-related phenomena in the lives of people after an NDE.