Karuppiah Jagadheesan - Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences: A Handbook for Clinicians

In a recent study of 109 upper level undergraduate students at a large Southwestern US university (Holden, Oden, Kozlowski and Hayslip 2011), participants answered 20 questions about near-death experiences (NDEs). The questions addressed facts that 35 years of research on NDEs have established. Possible response to each question ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (uncertain) to 7 (strongly agree). Participants average score was 4.74 somewhat better than an average of 4 if students had acknowledged uncertainty or were randomly guessing, but far below a perfect score of 7. Despite the fact that, to date, more than 65 NDE research studies have been published involving over 3500 near-death experiencers in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia and focusing on the experience itself and/or its aftereffects (Holden, Greyson and James 2009), and despite increasing media coverage of NDEs and online availability of NDE narratives, widespread absence of information and misinformation about NDEs persist.

The nature of this need for accurate information begins with a most fundamental point: the difference between a near-death episode and a near-death experience. The confusion occurs when any close brush with death a near-death episode is referred to as a near-death experience which actually is a subjective experience reported by only about a quarter of all people who survive a close brush with death (Zingrone and Alvarado 2009). Near-death experiencers typically say that at the point that their bodies were near or actually in the first moments of death, their consciousness, now separated from their physical bodies, continued to experience and perceive the material world and/or a transmaterial domain of environments and entities. Many journalists unfortunately perpetuate the confusion by referring to any near-death episode as a near-death experience.

In the aftermath of NDEs, experiencers may turn to health care providers for understanding, information and assistance. However, a recent review of research indicated that medical and spiritual health care providers are only somewhat familiar with NDEs and that what they do know seems only partially accurate despite positive attitudes toward NDEs and a desire to learn more about them (Foster, James and Holden 2009, p. 256).

Undergraduates, journalists and health care providers all point to the need for resources that familiarize and inform about NDEs. Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences offers readers just such a resource. Chapter authors reflect an international span, representing the US, Europe, and Asia. With works by veteran researchers in the field such as mental health therapist Cherie Sutherland, cardiologist Pim van Lommel, and neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick, along with NDE scholars from the UK and India, readers hear many voices and are exposed to many perspectives on NDEs. Readers encounter both already-known information from, and also future-projected directions in, NDE investigation through chapters that range from general overviews to specific technical treatises. For readers whose interest is piqued to pursue further inquiry through primary and other quality secondary sources, Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences points such readers to many of those sources.

Even as a veteran near-death researcher, I found Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences an interesting and provocative read. I believe readers will come away from this book with not only an understanding of diverse viewpoints about NDEs but also an awareness of the complexity of the field of near-death studies and an appreciation for the value of continued research in the field. Thus the title Making Sense of Near-Death Experiences indicates appropriately not only a review of what is already known of NDEs so far but also an endeavor for humanity to continue pursuing into the future.

Janice Holden, Ed.D., LPC-S, LMFT, NCC

Professor, Counseling Program Chair, Department of Counseling and Higher Education, University of North Texas, USA