Near-death experiences, posttraumatic growth, and life satisfaction among burn survivors

Abstract

Survivors of large burns may face positive and negative psychological after-effects from close-to-death injuries. This study is the first to examine their near-death experiences (NDEs) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) and life satisfaction afterwards. With an available sample of 92 burn survivors, half met the criteria for an NDE using an objective scale. Those who indicated religion was a source of strength and comfort had high scores on life satisfaction, PTG, and the NDE Scale. Individuals with larger burns reported greater PTG than those with smaller total body surface area burned (TBSA). There were no significant differences on life satisfaction, PTG, or NDEs when examined by gender or years since the burn injury. Elements of the NDE most frequently reported were: An altered sense of time, a sense of being out of the physical body, a feeling of peace, vivid sensations, and sense of being in an "other worldly" environment. Social workers and other health providers need to be comfortable helping burn survivors discuss any NDEs and process these through survivors' spirituality and religious belief systems as they recover.

Neurochemical models of near-death experiences: A large-scale study based on the semantic similarity of written reports

“…This suggestion is supported by the evidence that dissociative NDEs at the time of trauma may provide some therapeutic benefit in reducing the risk of full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder (Greyson, 2001). NDEs are known to produce long-lasting effects, some of which are deemed positive by the experiencers, such as changes in their personal understanding of life, self, and personal relations, modifications in their social customs as well as in their religious or spiritual beliefs and their interest in material possessions and social status (Bianco, Sambin, & Palmieri, 2017;Dougherty, 1990;Greyson, 2006;Kellehear, 1990;Parnia, Spearpoint, & Fenwick, 2007;Royse & Badger, 2017). Increased psychological well-being and self-worth have been linked to NDEs (Noyes, 1980).…”

A sub-set of psychoactive effects may be critical to the behavioral impact of ketamine on cocaine use disorder: Results from a randomized, controlled laboratory study

“…A sub-set of mystical-type effects, the NDE, has also been anecdotally linked to ketamine, but without having been investigated empirically (Luke and Kittenis, 2005). NDEs have long been proposed to have therapeutic potential, with individuals who experience them naturalistically in the context of medical illness or trauma reporting enduring improvements in outlook, life satisfaction, and decision-making (Royse and Badger, 2017). NDE-type experiences have also been linked to hallucinogens, and perhaps because of the predominant dissociative effects of ketamine, which can resemble the out-of-body experiences reported with NDEs, ketamine has been thought to be foremost among hallucinogens in occasioning this type of experience (Luke and Kittenis, 2005).…”

Traumatic Childbirth and Its Aftermath: Is There Anything Positive?

“…For some persons who have experienced a traumatic event, there can be a positive legacy which is called posttraumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). Posttraumatic growth has been reported in a broad range of groups who have experienced traumatic events, such as cancer (Holtmaat, van der Spek, Cuijpers, Leemans, & Verdonck-de Leeuw, 2017), burns (Royse & Badger, 2017), type 2 diabetes (Dirik & Göcek-Yorulmaz, 2018), and myocardial infarction (Rahimi, Heidarzadeh, & Shoaee, 2016). Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) developed the Posttraumatic Growth Model, which includes elements of posttraumatic stress, core beliefs disruption, and posttraumatic growth.…”