Ispectrum Magazine Ispectrum Magazine #11 | Page 34

So far the evidence for a psychological explanation for the NDE is looking pretty thin on the ground. The theories or ideas are there but nothing has been shown to be solid enough to be rigorously tested to provide hard evidence. A key factor in all psychological theories is having a workable model that can be tested, so what would a model for the NDE have to account for and how could it be put to the test? If we assume that the NDE does have some sort of psychological function then a working model would be able to explain it. A psychological model would have to account for three things in relation to the NDE; the consistency of reports and the universality of those who report them, the psychological reason behind it and the physiological processes in the brain that occur during the process. At the moment it is extremely difficult 33 47 to construct any kind of model in relation to the NDE as the psychological theories are just not robust enough to form the basis of a model. looking back