Near Death Experiences
Research Scales Used to Classify an NDE : the Weighted Core Experience Index
Near Death Experiences Series, Article 13 (Reviewed by the Editorial Board)
Having examined the cases, Ring concluded that there was a ‘core experience’ which unfolded in a characteristic pattern. The stages that he described were:
- An experience of peace, well-being and absence of pain
- A sense of detachment from the physical body, progressing to an out of body experience
- Entering darkness, a tunnel experience with panoramic memory and predominantly positive effect
- An experience of a light which is bright, warm and attractive
- Entering the light, meeting persons or figures
Both the WCEI as well as the NDE Scale developed by professor Greyson (2), ((3) have improved consistency in the field, have decreased the ambiguity in descriptions of both the phenomenology and the frequency of the NDE experience, since they have been useful methods to identify NDEs. (3) According to literature (4) it seems that incidence estimates are higher with the WCEI, average score of 37%, than with the NDE Scale which yields 18% incidence average score (with unspecified criterion). (3)
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(2) Greyson, B. The Near-Death Experience Scale : Construction, reliability, and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171:369-75.
(3) See article Research Scales Used to Classify an NDE : the Greyson Scale
(4) Holden, JM, Greyson B., James D. 2009. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences ABC-CLIO, LLC. California.