Abstract

Introduction: About half of all individuals that survive a life threatening situation react with horror and fear and go on to develop post traumatic stress disorder which is characterized by nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and other psychiatric symptoms like depression and substance abuse. A quarter of trauma survivors have a near-death experience and experience their trauma as euphoric and transcendental. This type of reaction is almost always followed by dramatic spiritually inclined personality changes that are similar to those of temporal lobe epileptics. Methods:In order to determine if the near-death experiences and subsequent personality changes are associated with temporal lobe paroxysmal activity, 23 near-death experiencers and non-traumatized age and gender-matched controls were screened for paroxysmal EEG discharges during an overnight EEG sleep study. Twenty seven channels of digitized EEG were sleep stage scored and screened for paroxysmal activity by visual and automated scoring that was independently rated by a registered EEG technician. Subjects also completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Civilian Mississippi Scale for PTSD, a temporal lobe symptom questionnaire, the COPE, the Anomalous Experiences Inventory, and a dream questionnaire. Results: Near-death trauma survivors were found to have more temporal lobe paroxysmal activity and reported significantly more temporal lobe (p<.005) and partial complex epileptic symptoms (p<.001) than controls. Paroxysmal activity in the left temporal lobe was associated with the near-death experience (p<.05), but not PTSD or history of head trauma. Near-death experiencers also showed differences in sleep patterns: they slept significantly less than controls (p<.05) and had longer REM latency (p<.05). REM latency was significantly associated with the near death experience (p<.05), even after sleep reduction was accounted for. The near-death group were marginally more dissociative (p<.1) but were no different than controls on measures of PTSD. Conclusion: Three physiological markers that are associated with the near-death experience were discovered in this study: left temporal lobe paroxysmal activity, reduced sleep time and increased REM latency. These physiological differences were not associated with maladaptive trauma responses, but rather positive coping styles.