The Bereaved Detachment Experience: An NDE-like Phenomenon

Abstract

When people experience the death of loved ones, some of them report after-death communications (ADCs) in which they have the impression of again encountering those loved ones by means of different types of visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and/or sentient phenomena. There is one particular type of ADC that can be referred to as a bereavement detachment experience (BDE) because the experient has the impression of being out of and/or away from their physical body during that encounter. Despite the general absence of an imminent threat or a near-death condition associated with a BDE, there are a number of similar features that are also found in reports of the NDE, such as encountering and communicating with deceased loved ones, venturing through a dark place or a tunnel, seeing or entering into a bright light, entering into transcendental otherworldly environments, and feelings of love or peace. This is an exploratory study of the BDE in which seven case examples are examined for a possible thematic pattern and then analyzed for their similarities and differences with the NDE. The aftereffects of the BDE are also explored as a beneficial psychological outcome for the experient. The findings of this study have therapeutic implications with important insights for those providing care to the bereaved.