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Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 45, No. 1, 121-133 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1363461507088001

Phenomenology of Near-death Experiences: A Cross-cultural Perspective

John Belanti

Broadmeadows Adult Community Mental Health, belantijf{at}yahoo.com.au

Mahendra Perera

Albert Road Clinic, relax101{at}gmail.com

Karuppiah Jagadheesan

Moreland Continuing Care Team

Near-death experiences (NDEs) include a set of subjective experiences encountered by people who were close to death or were faced with life-threatening situations. Reports have suggested that the phenomenology of NDE might differ across cultures. This article is aimed at providing an updated phenomenological perspective by comparing NDEs in a cross-cultural context. We compared the various descriptions of NDEs from a phenomenological perspective. There were similarities between particular cultures, which differed from typical western European experiences. This article concludes that although there are common themes, there are also reported differences in NDEs. The variability across cultures is most likely to be due to our interpretation and verbalizing of such esoteric events through the filters of language, cultural experiences, religion, education and their influence on our belief systems either shedding influence as an individual variable or more often perhaps by their rich interplay between these factors.

Key Words: cross-cultural study • near-death experience • phenomenology • society


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