Experiências de quase morte em parada cardíaca: Implicações para o conceito de mente não local

Abstract

Background: Near-death experiences (NDE) are vivid, realistic, and ofen deeply life-changing experiences occurring to people who have been physiologically or psychologically close to death. NDE sometimes occur during cardiac arrest, in the absence of recordable brain activity. Objective: To review prospective studies of cardiac arrest-induced NDE and examine the implications of these studies for the concept of non-local mind. Method: PubMed was the main database used for this review. Key search terms included "cardiac arrest", "near-death experiences", "physiology of near-death experience", and "veridical out-of-body-experiences". Results: Several prospective studies show an average incidence of cardiac arrest-induced NDE of 10%-20%, irrespective of sociodemographic status, sex, religion, or any consistent medical, physiological, or pharmacological measures. NDErs are more likely than non-NDErs to have positive life changes lasting many years following the experience. Discussion: Physicalist theories of the mind cannot explain how NDErs can experience - while their hearts are stopped and brain activity is seemingly absent - vivid and complex thoughts, and acquire veridical information about objects or events remote from their bodies. NDE in cardiac arrest suggest that mind is non-local, i.e. it is not generated by the brain, and it is not confned to the brain and the body.