The Near-Death Experience and Self-Determination Theory.

People who have a near-death experience sometimes perceive being outside their body and encountering a spiritual figure who offers a choice to return to life or stay in an afterlife-like state. This paper applies self-determination theory to explain how such experiences can meet the three basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy, which may motivate the person to willingly return to life. The authors postulate that this process fosters intrinsic motivation to live well, leading to greater psychological wellbeing.

Study at a glance

Abstract

When people experience a near-death or life-threatening incident, they sometimes report an altered state of consciousness in which they have the perception of being out of or away from their physical body. During such an experience these individuals at times have the impression of encountering a spiritual personage who offers them a choice to stay or return to their physical life and/or attempts to motivate them to willingly do so, sometimes conflicting with a simultaneous desire to stay in that altered state of consciousness they perceive as the afterlife. This paper discusses how self-determination theory (SDT) is relevant to this process by meeting the experient's three basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy, resulting in various degrees of effectiveness. It concludes with a postulation that by doing so it may foster a continuing intrinsic motivation to live life well, resulting in a greater overall condition of psychological wellbeing.