Abstract

Recent developments in the study of dissociation prompted a re-examination of the nature of the out-of-body experience (OBE). A questionnaire survey of Australian university students addressed the relation between the OBE and nonpathological dissociation (psychological absorption), pathological mental dissociation, and pathological somatoform dissociation. Both the occurrence of the OBE and the frequency of OBEs were found to be predicted by somatoform dissociation. The findings are discussed with reference to the extent to which the OBE should be considered a pathological phenomenon. A dissociational theory of the OBE is formulated; this depicts the experience as a dissociation between the sense of self and the processing of somatic events.