How Similar Are Near-Death Experiences to Acid Trips?
A recent study appears to provide further support for this second view. Prompted by the well-documented similarities between reports of NDEs and reports of drug-induced experiences, such as acid trips, researchers sought to investigate further. They compared 625 NDE narratives with over 15,000 reports of experiences following the use of 165 psychoactive substances. They assumed that similar experiences would be described using the same concepts with similar frequency.
In terms of general categories, hallucinogens engendered experiences more like NDEs than sedatives, stimulants, and antipsychotics. A bit more specifically, dissociative substances produced experiences that were most similar to NDEs. And in terms of particular substances, ketamine produced experiences most similar to NDEs.
For example, they find evidence of a strong link between ketamine-induced experiences and a core feature of many NDEs, namely, the Out-of-Body Experience (OBE). They do not find as strong a link, however, between OBEs and DMT-induced experiences.
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