Into the light . . . coping, not God?
New studies suggest that people who have near-death experiences are having a psychological, not spiritual, experience.Experiences of bright lights, mysterious tunnels, and feelings of peace as a person nears death seem to be healthy coping mechanisms that protect people from traumatic stress reactions.
People who report these sorts of near-death experiences are better able to cope with stress than the general population, researchers from the University of Arizona and University of Virginia report in separate studies.
In question, however, are whether positive coping skills cause such near-death experiences or such experiences lead to more positive coping skills later in life.
As medical technology enables physicians to bring more people "back from the brink," pastoral caregivers are likely to encounter more people who've had near-death experiences.
Identifying the strengths that grow from such experiences, and making meaning of them in a way that leads to more abundant life in this world, seems an honorable task--whether the experiences themselves are primarily neurological, psychological, spiritual, or [most likely, it seems to me] a combination of them all.
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Tuesday, April 20, 2004
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