The fear of death tends to drop among people who have had near-death or similar extraordinary experiences and those who have had psychedelic drug experiences, a new study comparing both groups has found.
The research by Johns Hopkins University is the first major study to compare these groups and how their experiences — more than 3,000 assessed in total — alter their perceptions of death and shape their lives afterwards.
“Not only can the features of psychedelic experiences be similar to near-death experiences, both are rated as among the most meaningful lifetime experiences. Both produce similar enduring decreases in fear of death and increases in wellbeing,” notes co-author Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US.
The research team analysed survey data from 933 people who reported that their beliefs about death changed after either a non-drug near-death experience or something similar, and from 2,259 people whose perceptions altered after using the psychedelic drugs, LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca or DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine).
Both groups reported a decreased fear of death, and most of the participants felt their experiences were “personally meaningful and spiritually significant”.
Both produce similar enduring decreases in fear of death and increases in well-being.
— Prof Roland Griffiths, Johns Hopkins psychiatry and neuroscience
“Those with non-drug experiences were more likely to feel it was the single most meaningful experience they had ever had,” Griffiths stated.
Paediatric cardiologist Prof Rik de Decker — who has edited a book titled Avoiding the Grim Reaper on extraordinary tales of survival outdoors — has observed how near-death experiences affect patients and fellow adventurers.
When he was a young doctor, he remembers a woman with severe lung disease coming into the hospital, saying she didn’t want to live and that only her dog would miss her when she was gone.
“She was treated with a big dose of palliative morphine and she slept for two days. When she woke up, her feelings had completed changed, and said: ‘Isn’t life wonderful?’” says De Decker, who has seen other transformations in patients’ will to live during his career.
Extreme adventurer and Cape Town life sciences teacher James Currie says his narrow escapes from death have “generated a greater love for life — for living” while simultaneously raising his awareness that life is fragile.
A whitewater kayaker, mountain biker, canyoner (abseiling over waterfalls in kloofs) and former hang-glider, he says: “Near-death experiences for me generated extreme caution as I continued doing the activities l love outdoors, in the hope there would be no repeats ...
“In the case of kayaking, it took years to learn to control the fear,” says Currie, who narrowly escaped death on a river.
In the US study, the participants who took psychedelics reported greater mystical experiences. The ones who took ayahuasca or DMT reported “stronger and more positive” lasting effects from their drug experiences, the results, published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday night, show.
Former Lifeline director-turned-traditional practitioner Monica Cromhout, from Somerset West, has been crusading for the unbanning of “magic mushrooms”, which contain psilocybin, after witnessing their positive effects on people who approach her for mushroom ceremonies and healing.
“I have been with nearly 4,000 people here over the years and their experiences have almost always been positive,” says Cromhout. “They are rethinking life and death, and some of them thinking about dying.
“Many of the people who come are in the 60s, well into their 80s,” says the 71-year-old Cromhout, who had an 88-year-old join them on his birthday.
Further research could “help inform investigations into the clinical use of psychedelics in treatment for mood disorders and other psychiatric conditions, such as end-of-life anxiety”, suggested the US scientists.
Cromhout says of her experiences: “The mushroom journeys give people a whole new perspective on the wonders of life and being alive. They feel different about life and its mysteries.”
