A distressing near-death experience with veridical perceptions during coma: psychiatric and clinical reflections from a rare case.
Rivista di psichiatria January 1, 2026 Francesco Sepioni, Antonio Metastasio, Manuel Monti
A 25-year-old woman in a medically induced coma for 20 days after a severe traumatic brain injury reported a frightening near-death experience (NDE) with an out-of-body experience that included accurate perceptions of events while she was unconscious, later verified by medical staff. The NDE scored 28/32 on the Greyson NDE Scale. After recovery, her pre-accident suicidal ideation completely resolved. This case challenges conventional models of consciousness and highlights the transformative potential of distressing NDEs.