Near-Death Experiences in India
Satwant Pasricha, Ian Stevenson
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease March 1, 1986 DOI: 10.1097/00005053-198603000-00007 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractNear-death experiences reported in India share core features with those in the United States, but also show culture-specific differences. Analysis of 16 Indian cases, with four detailed accounts, reveals variations in content that may reflect cultural beliefs. However, the authors caution that these differences do not prove the experiences are merely products of cultural conditioning. Some variations could stem from how a person's beliefs influence what actually occurs after death, and other differences may, upon closer scrutiny, prove fundamentally similar across cultures despite surface contrasts.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | Individuals in India who reported near-death experiences |
| Keywords | History Social psychology |
| Citations | 94 |
| Key finding | Indian near-death experiences differ from American cases in culture-bound features, but these differences do not conclusively show the experiences derive only from cultural beliefs. |
Abstract
The authors report some features of 16 cases of near-death experiences that they investigated in India. After presenting brief accounts of four such experiences, the authors describe and discuss features in which the Indian cases differ from a larger sample of American cases. They note that some of these features seem to be culture-bound, but they caution against accepting this observation as adequate evidence that the case derive only from culture-bound beliefs. Some differences may derive from the effects of a person's beliefs on what actually does happen after death, and some different features may, on closer examination, be found to be basically similar in nature if not in detail.