Out-Of-Body Experiences During Sleep Show Altered-Self Phenomenology Without A Distinct Clinical Profile

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) during sleep involve a temporary sense of the self being outside the physical body. In an online survey of adults reporting vivid sleep-related experiences, OBEs were compared to sleep paralysis, lucid dreams, and ordinary remembered dreams. OBEs showed a distinct increase in feelings of disembodiment and ego dissolution, and a high proportion of complete mystical-type experiences. Unlike sleep paralysis, which was linked to anxiety and impaired control, OBEs were not associated with higher psychological symptoms, poorer sleep quality, or greater depersonalization. Personality differences were minimal, with lower neuroticism in the OBE group. The findings indicate sleep-related OBEs are transient alterations of bodily self-consciousness, not markers of broader clinical or dispositional issues.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) during sleep involve a transient disruption of bodily self-consciousness, in which the self or center of awareness is experienced as displaced from the physical body. Although OBEs have been reported in neurological, psychiatric, and dissociative contexts, they also occur in non-clinical populations, raising the question of whether their altered-self phenomenology reflects a broader clinical or dispositional profile. We examined whether sleep-related OBEs are distinguished by a specific episode-level alteration of bodily selfhood, and whether this profile is accompanied by differences in psychological symptoms, depersonalization/derealization, sleep quality, or personality. Adults recruited online reported a vivid or meaningful sleep-related experience, which was classified as an OBE, sleep paralysis, lucid dream, or ordinary remembered dream. Participants completed measures of altered-state phenomenology, mystical-type experience, ego dissolution, personality, subjective sleep quality, psychological symptoms, and depersonalization/derealization. OBEs showed a selective elevation in Disembodiment relative to ordinary dreams, lucid dreams, and sleep paralysis, indicating a specific alteration of bodily selfhood. OBEs also showed higher altered-state intensity, stronger ego dissolution than ordinary dreams and sleep paralysis, and the highest proportion of complete mystical-type experiences. By contrast, sleep paralysis showed an aversive profile characterized by anxiety and impaired control, whereas lucid dreams were mainly distinguished by complex imagery. Despite these episode-level differences, OBEs were not associated with higher psychological symptoms, poorer subjective sleep quality, or higher trait-like depersonalization/derealization. Personality differences were limited to Neuroticism, which was lower in the OBE group. These findings suggest that sleep-related OBEs are best understood as transient alterations of bodily self-consciousness during sleep-related experience rather than as markers of a broader clinical or dispositional profile. Keywords: out-of-body experience; sleep paralysis; lucid dreaming; bodily self-consciousness; depersonalization; ego dissolution; altered states of consciousness; dream phenomenology.