HUMAN MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE TIME OF DEATH
The results of a
four-year international study of 2060 cardiac arrest cases across 15 hospitals
concludes the following. The themes relating to the experience of death appear
far broader than what has been understood so far, or what has been described as
so called near-death experiences. In some cases of cardiac arrest, memories of
visual awareness compatible with so called out-of-body experiences may
correspond with actual events. A higher proportion of people may have vivid
death experiences, but do not recall them due to the effects of brain injury or
sedative drugs on memory circuits. Widely used yet scientifically imprecise
terms such as near-death and out-of-body experiences may not be sufficient to
describe the actual experience of death.
Recollections in
relation to death, so-called out-of-body experiences (OBEs) or near-death
experiences (NDEs), are an often spoken about phenomenon which have frequently
been considered hallucinatory or illusory in nature; however, objective studies
on these experiences are limited.
In 2008, a large-scale
study involving 2060 patients from 15 hospitals in the United Kingdom, United
States and Austria was launched. The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation)
study, sponsored by the University of Southampton in the UK, examined the broad
range of mental experiences in relation to death. Researchers also tested the
validity of conscious experiences using objective markers for the first time in
a large study to determine whether claims of awareness compatible with
out-of-body experiences correspond with real or hallucinatory events.
Results of the study
have been published in the journal Resuscitation.
Dr Sam Parnia,
Assistant Professor of Critical Care Medicine and Director of Resuscitation
Research at The State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA, and the
study's lead author, explained: "Contrary to perception, death is not a
specific moment but a potentially reversible process that occurs after any
severe illness or accident causes the heart, lungs and brain to cease
functioning. If attempts are made to reverse this process, it is referred to as
'cardiac arrest'; however, if these attempts do not succeed it is called
'death'. In this study we wanted to go beyond the emotionally charged yet
poorly defined term of NDEs to explore objectively what happens when we
die."
Thirty-nine per cent
of patients who survived cardiac arrest and were able to undergo structured
interviews described a perception of awareness, but interestingly did not have
any explicit recall of events.
"This suggests
more people may have mental activity initially but then lose their memories
after recovery, either due to the effects of brain injury or sedative drugs on
memory recall," explained Dr Parnia, who was an Honorary Research Fellow
at the University of Southampton when he started the AWARE study.
Among those who
reported a perception of awareness and completed further interviews, 46 per
cent experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death
that were not compatible with the commonly used term of NDE's. These included
fearful and persecutory experiences. Only 9 per cent had experiences compatible
with NDEs and 2 per cent exhibited full awareness compatible with OBE's with
explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' events.
One case was validated
and timed using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest. Dr Parnia concluded:
"This is significant, since it has often been assumed that experiences in
relation to death are likely hallucinations or illusions, occurring either
before the heart stops or after the heart has been successfully restarted, but
not an experience corresponding with 'real' events when the heart isn't
beating. In this case, consciousness and awareness appeared to occur during a
three-minute period when there was no heartbeat. This is paradoxical, since the
brain typically ceases functioning within 20-30 seconds of the heart stopping
and doesn't resume again until the heart has been restarted. Furthermore, the
detailed recollections of visual awareness in this case were consistent with
verified events.
"Thus, while it
was not possible to absolutely prove the reality or meaning of patients'
experiences and claims of awareness, (due to the very low incidence (2 per
cent) of explicit recall of visual awareness or so called OBE's), it was
impossible to disclaim them either and more work is needed in this area.
Clearly, the recalled experience surrounding death now merits further genuine
investigation without prejudice."
Further studies are
also needed to explore whether awareness (explicit or implicit) may lead to
long term adverse psychological outcomes including post-traumatic stress
disorder.
Dr Jerry Nolan,
Editor-in-Chief of Resuscitation, stated: "The AWARE study researchers are
to be congratulated on the completion of a fascinating study that will open the
door to more extensive research into what happens when we die."
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