Evidence to Support and Oppose Near Death Experiences

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  • Evidence to Support and Oppose NDEs
    • Support
      • Those who experience have a clear recollection. Dr Fenwick's research showed only 14% had received any form of drug
      • The NDE is life-changing. After they believe the most important thing is love. Become more interested in spiritual rather than material
      • Dr Atwater says that ' no matter what the nature of the experience, it alters some lives'
      • Those who have a pleasant NDE no longer fear death. E.g Ronald Regan became Christian after seeing awful things in his hell experience
      • Children declared clinically dead can give accounts of NDEs without understanding what they're describing
        • Yet Children report similar experiences to those of adults
          • Dr Melvin Morse's research of NDEs with Children has led him to accept they are genuine
      • People witness events while clinically dead that they later describe eg. blind people describing objects eg. Pam Reynolds
      • NDEs occur in all parts of the world and affect people regardless of race, creed, sex or age. Evidence throughout history
    • Opposition
      • The exact point at which the individual dies is not known and the last sense lost is hearing.
      • The experience is described as an NDE because the individual was not dead, therefore the experience has nothing to contribute to what happens after death
      • NDEs = result of hypoxia. Dying brain creates a feeling of Euphoria
        • Dr Persinger (cognitive neuroscience) = no more than brain responding to external stimuli
        • Stimulating the temporal lobes can induce similar feelings to a NDE
      • American jet fighter pilots have had similar NDEs when spun at high levels of acceleration, They lose consciousness and feel feelings of euphoria
      • Dr Susan Blackmore - 'Dying brain' theory. When the brain dies=lack of oxygen to central vision= impression of bright light
        • The vision narrows and the sense of going down a tunnel is created. Brain then begins to create images
      • Freudians = regard NDEs as hallucinatory wishful thinking to overcome fear of death. Appear real to those who experience them

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