Thirty-four participants responding to a questionnaire survey and reporting near-death experiences are examined for preexisting psychological, perceptual-cognitive, demographic, and physical differences when compared both with each other and with a larger pool of 386 respondents who were not near death. There was no evidence of psychopathology in the population, but definite evidence of different perceptual-cognitive style in those prone to near-death experiences. Different preexisting physical states did show clusters of features, thus apparently influencing the nature of the experience. Tentative psychoanalytic explanatory formulations are noted.
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