Perfil e impacto das experiências de quase morte no Brasil

Abstract

Introduction: Near-death experiences (NDE) raise important questions about human consciousness, however, there are few studies in Brazil. Aims: to investigate the profile of NDEs in Brazil (phenomenology, predictors and impact), assessing the presence or absence of cultural specific characteristics. Methods: retrospective, observational, convenience sampling, quanti-qualitative study. Recruitment: Brazilian adults, who believed they had experienced an NDE, were invited through a broad national disclosure (television and radio programs, printed newspaper and social media). Through an online form, we collected sociodemographic data, and NDE characteristics (age and circumstance of occurrence, description and impact). We used NDE Scale (Greyson), SRQ-20 (Common Mental Disorders), Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky) and Brief Multidimensional measure of religiosity and spirituality Scale (BMMRS). We performed descriptive statistics and a comparison between groups with scores equal to higher than or less than seven on the Greyson NDE scale, through SPSS® program version 13. We performed content analysis (Bardin) for qualitative data, through the Atlas TI 22 program. Results: 216 participant shad NDE, which on average occurred at the peak of productive adult life (31.7 years), most of them work and/or study have higher educational level (63.4%), most women (73.6%). Predominance of totally pleasant experience (77.3%), occurred by external causes (28.2%), surgical causes (20.4%) diseases (19.4%) and cardiac arrest (14.8%). The majority (83.8%) reported being very/extremely impacted and 99.5% considered the experience real and with positive changes in life, related to their religious and spiritual beliefs, as well as values, attitudes and lifestyle (80.1%). Approximately 95% of participants shared the experience with someone, but in less than half (45.7%) the reaction was entirely positive. Conclusion: A large national Brazilian sample of people who have experienced a NDE shows cross-cultural consistency of the main characteristics of NDEs. The impact on feelings and lifestyle was positive, there was an increase in spirituality, intuition, generosity and a decrease in fear of death and almost all reported that the experience was real. We highlight the importance of the approach and acceptance by health professionals and general social environment. we expect to encourage future studies on the topic through new data collections, considering the importance of NDE studies to the advancement of the understanding of mind, brain and consciousness relationship.