NationStates

"For Sappington and others, the issue is not whether the person is actually meeting God, but why NDErs routinely seem better adjusted, more at peace and content with themselves and the world after their experience. Disregarding, for the time being at least, how they got that way, and focusing on the changes themselves, psychologists would like to borrow this newfound sense of well-being and utilize it in therapy.

Reports are highly consistent and common: "I understand things so much more" and "My senses all seem heightened." Subjects claim "sudden knowledge and comprehension of complex mathematical theorems." Psychologist Ring has identified a consistent set of value and belief changes. They include:

a greater appreciation for life
o higher self-esteem
o greater compassion for others
o a heightened sense of purpose and self-understanding
o desire to learn
o elevated spirituality
o greater ecological sensitivity and planetary concern
o a feeling of being more intuitive, sometimes psychic.
o He also observes "psychophysical changes," including:
o increased physical sensitivity
o diminished tolerance to light, alcohol, and drugs
o a feeling that their brains have been "altered" to encompass more
o a feeling that they are now using their "whole brain" rather than just a small part.
NDErs undergo radical changes in personality, and their,significant others--spouses, friends, relatives--confirm these changes, reports Bruce Greyson, M.D., clinical psychiatrist and associate professor at the University of Connecticut. Like Sappington, he is concerned with what can be learned from such new outlooks on life." (Psychology Today, article Bright lights, big mystery, by James Mauro, published on July 01, 1992)

Digital Planets wrote:Moooooom, the Canadians are psychoposting again!

Digital Planets wrote:Moooooom, the Canadians are psychoposting again!

Near-Death Experiences and Attempted Suicide Bruce Greyson, MD
University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor

ABSTRACT: Attempted suicide is correlated with an increase subsequent risk of committed suicide. However, preliminary data and psychodynamic hypotheses suggest that serious suicide attempts followed by transcendental near-death experiences (NDEs) may decrease rather than increase subsequent overt suicide risk, despite the NDEs' apparent " romanticization" of death. Studies of NDEs and of their influence on suicidal ideation are proposed which may yield greater understanding of selfdestructive urges and new strategies of suicide prevention.

Studies of persons who have attempted suicide have reported subsequent committed suicide rates greater than 50 to 100 times that of the general population (Pederson, Awad, and Kindler, 1973; Tuckman, Youngman, and Kreizman, 1968). Furthermore, those suicide attempters who come close to death have a higher subsequent suicide rate than those who do not come close to death (Rosen, 1976). However, recent reports of profound subjective events with transcendental or mystical elements, the near-death experiences (NDEs) which some persons experience on the threshold of death (Stevenson and Greyson, 1979; Greyson and Stevenson, 1980), suggest the possibility that some nearly-completed suicide attempts may decrease rather than increase the attempter's subsequent suicidal ideation.

Dia Liaporia wrote:

Digital Planets wrote:Moooooom, the Canadians are psychoposting again!

oh ey man do-ont belittle us nadiens kay?