Palliative & End-of-Life DistressHealthy VolunteersPersonality & Trait FactorsDepressive DisordersAnxiety DisordersDMTPlacebo

DMT models the near-death experience

This within-subjects, placebo-controlled study (n=13) found that the DMT experience had many overlaps with the near-death experience (NDE).

Authors

  • Robin Carhart-Harris
  • David Nutt
  • Christopher Timmermann

Published

Frontiers in Psychology
individual Study

Abstract

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are complex subjective experiences, which have been previously associated with the psychedelic experience and more specifically with the experience induced by the potent serotonergic, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Potential similarities between both subjective states have been noted previously, including the subjective feeling of transcending one’s body and entering an alternative realm, perceiving and communicating with sentient ‘entities’ and themes related to death and dying. In this within-subjects placebo-controled study we aimed to test the similarities between the DMT state and NDEs, by administering DMT and placebo to 13 healthy participants, who then completed a validated and widely used measure of NDEs. Results revealed significant increases in phenomenological features associated with the NDE, following DMT administration compared to placebo. Also, we found significant relationships between the NDE scores and DMT-induced ego-dissolution and mystical-type experiences, as well as a significant association between NDE scores and baseline trait ‘absorption’ and delusional ideation measured at baseline. Furthermore, we found a significant overlap in nearly all of the NDE phenomenological features when comparing DMT-induced NDEs with a matched group of ‘actual’ NDE experiencers. These results reveal a striking similarity between these states that warrants further investigation.

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Research Summary of 'DMT models the near-death experience'

Introduction

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are complex subjective episodes that occur in association with death or the perception that death is imminent. Common phenomenological features reported in NDEs include intense feelings of peace, out-of-body experiences, travelling through a void or tunnel toward a bright light, entering an otherworldly realm, and encounters or communications with sentient beings. The authors note longstanding qualitative similarities between NDE reports and the effects of the serotonergic psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), including feelings of transcending the body, encounters with presences or entities, vividness described as 'realer than real', and themes relating to death and dying. Previous suggestions that endogenous DMT might be released during the dying process have been influential but contested, and systematic, instrumented comparisons between drug-induced states and bona fide NDEs have not been performed using a standard NDE instrument. Timmermann and colleagues set out to test directly whether intravenous DMT administered to healthy volunteers in a laboratory setting can induce experiences that resemble NDEs as measured by a validated Near-Death Experience (NDE) scale. The study also aimed to compare DMT-induced NDE scores with those from a gender- and age-matched sample of individuals reporting actual NDEs, and to examine whether baseline traits such as absorption, delusional ideation and age predict the magnitude of DMT-induced NDE-like phenomena. The principal hypothesis was that DMT would produce NDE-type experiences of comparable intensity to actual NDEs and significantly greater than placebo, and that personality and belief measures would be associated with those experiences.

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Study Details

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