The Bereaved Detachment Experience: An NDE-like Phenomenon.

Some bereaved people experience after-death communications (ADCs) in which they sense a deceased loved one through visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, or sentient phenomena. A specific type, the bereavement detachment experience (BDE), involves feeling out of or away from the physical body during the encounter, even without a near-death threat. These BDEs share features with near-death experiences (NDEs), such as meeting the deceased, traveling through darkness or a tunnel, encountering a bright light, entering otherworldly environments, and feeling love or peace. This exploratory study examines seven BDE cases for thematic patterns, compares them to NDEs, and explores beneficial psychological aftereffects, offering therapeutic insights for bereavement care.

Study at a glance

Abstract

When people experience the death of loved ones, some of them report after-death communications (ADCs) in which they have the impression of again encountering those loved ones by means of different types of visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and/or sentient phenomena. There is one particular type of ADC that can be referred to as a bereavement detachment experience (BDE) because the experient has the impression of being out of and/or away from their physical body during that encounter. Despite the general absence of an imminent threat or a near-death condition associated with a BDE, there are a number of similar features that are also found in reports of the NDE, such as encountering and communicating with deceased loved ones, venturing through a dark place or a tunnel, seeing or entering into a bright light, entering into transcendental otherworldly environments, and feelings of love or peace. This is an exploratory study of the BDE in which seven case examples are examined for a possible thematic pattern and then analyzed for their similarities and differences with the NDE. The aftereffects of the BDE are also explored as a beneficial psychological outcome for the experient. The findings of this study have therapeutic implications with important insights for those providing care to the bereaved.