ArticleBMC psychology2025
The intertwining of death and life: a hermeneutic phenomenological investigation of near-death experiences among coma survivors.
Article in BMC psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Self-reported near-death and near-death-like experiences in a Chinese online sample: an exploratory mixed-methods study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDeath is an experience that every human being faces. As such, the near-death experience (NDE) has been a topic of interest to humanity for millennia. The NDE is often understood as a subjective event of altered consciousness that can occur during life-threatening events and/or near the time of biological death. This study investigated the near-death lived experiences of coma survivors in the context of Iran, providing unique insights into this universal phenomenon from a highly religious (Islamic) and culturally rich context.
methodsA hermeneutic phenomenological study was undertaken. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 people who had experienced an NDE whilst in a coma. The seven-stage process of Critical Hermeneutic Analysis was conducted to make sense of the data collected.
resultsPeople with NDE described two primary themes, (1) the impression of traveling to realms outside the body and (2) escaping from death under the umbrella of spiritual protection. The first theme included the subthemes of being in a world full of light, meeting the departed, and interacting closely with death. The second theme included the subthemes of receiving a positive message of health from different prophets and hoping for God's healing. The constitutive pattern which emerged from the data was "The intertwining of death and life."
conclusionNDEs for people who have regained consciousness when having been near death are a multifaceted phenomenon accompanied by deep and lasting personal, spiritual, and social changes. Our findings reflect the Heideggerian concepts of 'thrownness' (Geworfenheit) (individuals just finding themselves thrown) into existence (with circumstances and conditions they did not choose), being-towards-death (individuals recognizing and confronting their own mortality) as a fundamental aspect of life, the notion of the enduring presence of the deceased in perceived realms, and the transcending of simple endings of life with death perceived as a profound transition rather than mere cessation of existence. Such findings may help healthcare workers to make appropriate care plans for these people, better understand them and provide support for them.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.