Can NDE's Reveal Something About Consciousness?

[Alpha]

Wonder if an altered state of consciousness makes one notice certain physical or non physical things over others....interesting though.


I'd like to see some of Bryan Williams work....

Can NDE's Reveal Something About Consciousness?

Tuesday, October 02, 2007


From: publicparpsychology.com



Taking a short intermission from my review series of the 50th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association (PA), I would like to introduce a new guest blogger, Bryan Williams, to Public Parapsychology readers. The following is his commentary about a recent article on near death experiences that appeared in the journal Medical Hypotheses.

Can Near-Death Experiences Reveal Something About Consciousness?

One of the most interesting features that a person may report in a near-death experience (NDE) is the apparent ability to remain aware of their surroundings throughout the duration of their experience, when they are presumed to be unconscious, comatose, or even clinically dead. After being resuscitated, some people give accounts of seeing their body from above in an apparent out-of-body experience (OBE), witnessing certain events going on around their body that are later verified as accurate by medical personnel who had been present at the time of the resuscitation attempt (Cook et al., 1998; Kelly et al., 1999 – 2000; Lawrence, 1995).


In a few cases, some have even described venturing beyond the room where their body is located in their out-of-body form, witnessing people and events in other rooms that may also be verified by others who were present (Cook et al., 1998, Cases 8, 9, & 11; Owens, 1995). This feature of NDE seems to suggest conscious awareness continuing beyond the brain, which some may argue is suggestive of some form of survival. If that is the case, then could NDEs with this feature perhaps shed light on the nature of human conscious experience?

In a recent issue of the journal Medical Hypotheses, Sam Parnia (2007) of the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York raises this very question, examining it in the light of four recently published prospective studies, each independently conducted, on the occurrence of NDEs in patients who suffered a cardiac arrest (Greyson, 2003; Parnia et al., 2001; Schwaninger et al., 2002; van Lommel et al., 2001).


These studies found that NDEs occurred in less than a quarter (between 10 and 23%) of the patients interviewed by the researchers, that NDEs were more common in younger patients (under 60 years of age) than in older patients, and that there were very few (if any) significant differences between cardiac patients who had an NDE and cardiac patients who did not in terms of medical condition, social demographics, and resuscitation procedures received, suggesting that none of these things influenced whether they had an NDE or not.

Parnia (2007) argues that NDE cases which suggest continued awareness and/or OBE aspects constitute an important problem for science and medicine, and that they should be studied further in order to explore their possible implications for consciousness.


He proposes that NDEs with these aspects could be amendable to quasi-experimental study. He suggests that certain experimental trials could be set-up in some hospitals where cardiac patients’ brain waves are continuously monitored by portable EEG. If a patient goes into cardiac arrest, the EEG will allow for inferred monitoring of the patient’s brain activity should they later report an NDE following resuscitation.


To test the OBE aspect of the NDE, he suggests that hidden targets might be placed in the resuscitation room, in positions and at heights that only a person looking down from the ceiling might see them (e.g., placing a random picture flat on a shelf hanging up along the ceiling). Parnia is apparently not the first to propose such trials; Holden (1988) had proposed similar research trials nearly two decades ago, and Owens (1995, p. 160) and Cook et al. (1998, p. 403) had advocated the value of such research trials.

The only potential problem with attempting such trials is convincing a hospital or university’s institutional review board that such work would be ethical and productive, something that would be difficult given that the life of the cardiac patient could potentially be compromised.


It is also difficult to tell at the moment how invasive the methods and equipment for such trials would be; i.e., it is hard to tell whether or not the trial would interfere with the patient’s life and/or resuscitation procedures (a solution for this might perhaps be found in a carefully planned study design).


Rate of success in testing the OBE aspects of NDE is also somewhat up in the air when one considers the mixed results from OBE perception tests with relaxed and dreaming subjects.


In a review of his classic OBE studies, Charles Tart (1998) notes the successful trial he had had with his subject Miss Z., in which she was apparently able to see a five-digit number written on a piece of paper lying on a shelf high up near the ceiling, above the bed she was sleeping on. Miss Z. had reported frequent OBEs in which she saw her body from a position near the ceiling, and this trial had been a test of her perception from that position (aside from OBE, we also have to consider ESP on her part).


However, Tart had less success with famed OBE subject Robert Monroe, who, despite having very vivid OBEs, was never able to correctly recall the number. In tests conducted at the Psychical Research Foundation in North Carolina (Morris et al., 1978; Roll & Harary, 1976), OBE subject Keith Harary often report vivid OBE in which he felt that he had traveled to other rooms, but his attempts to perceive target objects and letters in those other rooms were often found to be erroneous.

Lastly, it might be somewhat difficult to generalize any findings that may result from such trials given that the number of NDEs in cardiac arrests is so relatively small. In other words, whatever the results may possibly tell us about the conscious experience of the patients having such NDEs, it may be difficult to generalize the results to the conscious experience of all people given the small numbers of patients. This should not take away from the potential benefits of conducting such trials, however, and it is still an open question as to whether or not such innovative research will actually be carried out.

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Bryan Williams is a Native American student at the University of New Mexico, where his undergraduate studies have focused on physiological psychology and physics. He is a student affiliate of the Parapsychological Association, a student member of the Society for Scientific Exploration, and a co-moderator of the Psi Society, a Yahoo electronic discussion group for the general public that is devoted to parapsychology. He has been an active contributor to the Global Consciousness Project since 2001, and was the recipient of the Charles T. and Judith A. Tart Student Incentive Award for Parapsychological Research from the Parapsychology Foundation in 2003. As of August 2007, he is the author of seven articles (two co-authored with William G. Roll) that have appeared in the Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association Convention. His native ancestry lies with the Laguna Pueblo in western New Mexico, and the tribe’s long-held beliefs in survival and the concept of spirits is one of the things that spurred his interest in parapsychology.

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[Alpha]

Looks like Dr Sam Parnia is continuing his research. Here are some snips from this article.

Near-death Experiences are Real and we have the Proof, say Scientists

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Dr Parnia has previously studied near-death experiences. Two years ago his work was published in the prestigious medical journal Resuscitation. Dr Parnia’s team rigorously interviewed 63 cardiac arrest patients and discovered that seven had memories of their brief period of ‘death’, although only four passed the Grayson scale, the strict medical criteria for assessing near-death experiences. These four recounted feelings of peace and joy, they lost awareness of their own bodies, time speeded up, they saw a bright light and entered another world, encountered a mystical being and faced a “point of no return”.

According to modern medicine all of these patients were effectively dead. Their brains had shut down and no thoughts or feelings were possible. There was certainly no possibility of the complex brain activity required for dreaming or hallucinating.

Dr Parnia’s initial trial was especially rigorous - he wanted to confound his critics before they could muster their arguments. To rule out the possibility that near-death experiences resulted from hallucinations after the brain had collapsed through lack of oxygen, he rigorously monitored the concentrations of the vital gas in the patients’ blood. Crucially, none of those who underwent the experiences had low levels of oxygen.

He was also able to rule out claims that unusual combinations of drugs were to blame because the resuscitation procedure was the same in every case, regardless of whether they had a near-death experience or not.

“Arch sceptics will always attack our work,” says Dr Parnia. “I’m content with that. That’s how science progresses. What is clear is that something profound is happening. The mind – the thing that is ‘you’ – your ‘soul’ if you will - carries on after conventional science says it should have drifted into nothingness.”

Dr Parnia says that every near-death experience is subtly different but that they all share eight or nine key features, whatever the nationality, culture or religion of the patient. These include intense feelings of calmness, traveling down a long dark tunnel, being drawn into an intense loving light, seeing your dead body from above, and meeting long-deceased relatives or friends. A few experience a brief form of ‘hell’ where they are drawn, petrified, into a dark swirling well of bitterness, hatred and fear.

There are cultural differences in these experiences. Tribal people may report paddling in a canoe down a long dark river for three days towards the sun, for example, rather than floating down a tunnel towards the light. The experience, whatever the cultural differences, usually have a deep and long lasting effect. It often leaves behind a legacy of profound spirituality and removes the fear of death.

..................

Cardiac arrest survivors like Patrick are tailor-made for Dr Parnia’s study. Scientists know that within seconds of the heart stopping the brain has shut down completely. The patient is effectively dead and there is no chance of dreams or hallucinations mimicking a near-death experience.

As soon as a patient slips into a cardiac arrest, Dr Parnia’s team will swing into action. The first priority will be to get the patient’s heart beating again. Equipment used during the resuscitation will have symbols placed on top of it in such a way that they can only be seen from above. Other symbols will be placed around the patient’s body.

Surviving patients will then be gently quizzed about their experiences when they regain consciousness. Those that claim to have left their bodies will be questioned in more detail to see if they can identify the symbols.

Dr Parnia has designed the experiments to be bullet-proof. He is only too keenly aware that critics will tear his work apart if he leaves even the slightest doubt about the rigour of his team’s efforts. It will also destroy his career as a scientist. Even the exact experimental details are shrouded in secrecy.

“We can’t run the risk of prejudicing the experiment,” says Dr Parnia. “I won’t even know some of the details. We have a researcher who will be hiding the symbols on the equipment. Somebody else will be doing the interviews with the patients. It’s what’s known as a double-blind trial. It prevents scientists from unconsciously altering the results of their experiments.”

Other scientists acknowledge Dr Parnia’s formidable reputation and the care he takes over his experiments but are still sceptical about his aims.

Full Article

[Divinorumus]

Life exists beyond every dream ...

Dang, I wish I could recall that apparent OBE (maybe NDE, who knows for sure what went on in that operating room) I had during that surgery last year in May. I still do not recall a dang thing about it, and all I had to go on is what those could recall that I was yapping about after being brought out of anesthesia. My daughter claims up and down I was blabbing about it, but then after I fell asleep for a short while and when I woke up I did could not recall any of it or even having talked about it. It was like those couple of times I got so drunk and that I couldn't remember about 4 hours of happenings the next day, ha. Obviously I was experiencing something outside of my body and mind while under anesthesia, and I was able to briefly recall and recount it, but it really bothers me that after that post-surgery nap, I could not recall even the slightest about any of it. I had not even realized I had forgotten until my daughter mentioned it. (jaw wide open) "I said WHAT?" She tried to recall everything I said. Standard OBE description. Damn, I really can't recall any of it. IT BUGS ME! I do not like missing blocks of memory, or misplaced or misfiled memories.

[RedDog]

You guys don't doubt that anymore do you? There is so much emperical data now that the question is no longer relevant. At least to most of us. The question remains about how our consciousness exists after the death of our body. Do we just hang around something we resonate with like the way the earth revolves around the sun, or the moon around the earth? Lock to this place in spirit? Or can we expand and exist everywhere?

[Judee]

You guys don't doubt that anymore do you? There is so much emperical data now that the question is no longer relevant. At least to most of us. The question remains about how our consciousness exists after the death of our body. Do we just hang around something we resonate with like the way the earth revolves around the sun, or the moon around the earth? Lock to this place in spirit? Or can we expand and exist everywhere?

We can expand and exist anywhere/everywhere. Trust me... We are beings of energy, and as such, are a part of the Universe. It's only down here (earth) that we feel 'locked'.

[Alpha]

Consciousness Beyond Life

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As a cardiologist, Pim van Lommel was struck by the number of his patients who claimed to have near-death experiences as a result of their heart attacks. As a scientist, this was difficult for him to accept: Wouldn't it be scientifically irresponsible of him to ignore the evidence of these stories? Faced with this dilemma, van Lommel decided to design a research study to investigate the phenomenon under the controlled environment of a cluster of hospitals with a medically trained staff.


For more than twenty years van Lommel systematically studied such near-death experiences in a wide variety of hospital patients who survived a cardiac arrest. In 2001, he and his fellow researchers published his study on near-death experiences in the renowned medical journal The Lancet. The article caused an international sensation as it was the first scientifically rigorous study of this phenomenon. Now available for the first time in English, van Lommel offers an in-depth presentation of his results and theories in this book that has already sold over 125,000 copies in Europe.


Van Lommel provides scientific evidence that the near-death phenomenon is an authentic experience that cannot be attributed to imagination, psychosis, or oxygen deprivation. He further reveals that after such a profound experience, most patients' personalities undergo a permanent change. In van Lommel's opinion, the current views on the relationship between the brain and consciousness held by most physicians, philosophers, and psychologists are too narrow for a proper understanding of the phenomenon. In Consciousness Beyond Life, van Lommel shows that our consciousness does not always coincide with brain functions and that, remarkably and significantly, consciousness can even be experienced separate from the body.

For a short introduction to the author's thoughts, check out his article "Continuity of Consciousness" over at the IANDS website. Not only does van Lommel speculate about how consciousness might operate separately from the brain, but he also brings interesting (and controversial) questions to the table, noting that such an idea would necessitate "a huge change in the scientific paradigm in western medicine, and could have practical implications in actual medical and ethical problems such as the care for comatose or dying patients, euthanasia, abortion, and the removal of organs for transplantation."


Full Article

[Alpha]

Dr Parnia will be George's guest tonight, Jan 3 - 4, 2011. Bumping this thread up before the show for those interested.