Life Review
Life review is a phenomenon often associated with near-death experiences (NDEs), in which individuals report a vivid recollection of their life during moments of clinical death or extreme trauma. People who have undergone a life review frequently describe experiencing a comprehensive replay of their lives, with a particular emphasis on the impact of their actions on others. This introspective process can lead to profound changes in behavior, such as a greater dedication to helping others, decreased materialistic tendencies, and increased spirituality, though not necessarily aligned with organized religion.
While many individuals believe in the authenticity of these experiences, the scientific community remains skeptical, attributing life reviews to neurological responses during traumatic events. Some researchers suggest these memories arise from random neuronal firings, while others propose they may be hallucinations or manifestations of yet-to-be-understood conditions. Philosophical parallels have been drawn between life reviews and concepts found in various cultural and religious teachings, such as purgatory in Roman Catholicism or the bardo in Tibetan Buddhism. The interest in life reviews has been bolstered by the work of researchers and authors in the field of near-death studies, particularly following the publication of Raymond Moody’s influential book in 1975. Despite differing explanations and interpretations, life reviews remain a compelling aspect of NDEs, drawing interest from both the academic community and the public.
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Life Review
A life review is part of the controversial phenomenon of the near-death experience (NDE), in which a person sees his or her life flash before his or her eyes during a brief period when the person was clinically dead or close to death. Those who claim to have experienced a life review report the instantaneous ability to experience everything they ever did in life, along with the effects of those actions on others. Typically, this endows the viewer with a new sense of moral clarity that he or she acts upon when fully recovered from whatever trauma precipitated the NDE. Some persons having undergone a life review report dedicating their lives helping others, becoming less materialistic, and becoming more spiritual (although not necessarily more religious).
Overview
The idea of the NDE being a bona fide paranormal event is rejected by most scientists, even though a Gallup poll conducted in 1982 revealed that about eight million Americans believed they had had a NDE. Instead, medical professionals chalk up such events to the random firings of neurons associated with whatever physical trauma the person is experiencing. According to this idea, memories of long-ago events and deceased loved ones come flooding forth. Only after the individual recovers consciousness does he or she prescribe the meaning to these random firings and define the episode as a life review. Some medical doctors believe the life review could be a hallucination, a sensory perception that appears for all intents and purposes perfectly real to the subject; others maintain the phenomenon is due to yet-to-be-understood neurological condition. Philosophers note that the concept of the life review bears some resemblance to the Roman Catholic belief in purgatory and the idea of bardo, or the time between death and rebirth, as explained in The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
The field of near-death studies, which has promoted the concept of the life review, was precipitated by the publication of psychiatrist Raymond Moody’s book Life after Life in 1975, the first mainstream publication devoted to near-death experiences, as Moody dubbed the phenomenon. A few years later, researchers established the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, which publishes the quarterly, peer-reviewed Journal of Near-Death Studies. Bruce Greyson, a psychiatrist, former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Near-Death Studies, and leading NDE expert, created the psychometric NDE scale that places common elements of the NDE on a sixteen-point continuum from those that are experienced most frequently to those that patients report only rarely. The elements that coincide with the life review are thoughts speed up; scenes from the past appear; and the person gains sudden insight. Greyson’s scale has been applauded by many researchers for having internal consistency and high reliability, important traits for such an instrument to be accepted by the medical research community.
One of the most well-known accounts of a life review, although one that is atypical, is related by Betty Eadie in her best-selling 1992 memoir Embraced by the Light, in which she recounts an unusually long experience of having died, ascending to heaven, and meeting God. Throughout this experience, she purportedly visited places of her youth and discussed her past with angels; it is notable that this life review varies considerably from the more common experience of having one’s life flash before one’s eyes.
Bibliography
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Greyson, Bruce. “The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, Reliability, and Validity.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171.6 (1983): 369–75. Print.
Khanna, Surbhi, and Bruce Greyson. “Near-Death Experiences and Spiritual Well-Being.” Journal of Religion and Health (2013): 1–11. SpringerLink. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.
Label-Warren, Emily. "A 'Life Review' Can Be Powerful at Any Age." The New York Times, 29 Aug. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/08/29/well/mind/life-review-therapy.html. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
Moody, Raymond. Life after Life. New York: Mockingbird, 1975. Print.
Rousseau, David. “The Implications of Near-Death Experiences for Research into the Survival of Consciousness.” Journal of Scientific Exploration 26.1 (2012): 43. Print.
Thonnard, Marie, et al. “Characteristics of Near-Death Experiences Memories as Compared to Real and Imagined Events Memories.” PLoS One 8.3 (2013): e57620. Web. 28 Aug. 2013.