An Encounter with Death: A Comparative Thematic & Content Analysis of Naturalistic DMT Experiences and the Near-death Experience

Pascal Michael ^* David Luke Oliver Robinson

• University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

Introduction: Classical near-death experiences (NDEs) are states of disconnected consciousness with a constellation of features within the context of proximity to death. Many psychedelic substances, such as N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), reliably model NDE features and may be considered ‘near-death-like experiences’. ​However, no systematic qualitative analysis of the details of content, versus broader themes, of both psychedelic and near-death experiences has yet been performe​d.​​ ​ Methods: We report the third thematic and content analysis of the DMT experience from a naturalistic field study, here focusing on themes pertaining to death and dying, based on 36 semi-structured interviews. This is then directly compared, qualitatively and in terms of content frequency, with a novel extension of a previous thematic analysis of 34 written NDE narratives. Results: ‘Canonical NDE themes’ identified across the DMT experiences comprised of Translocation, Bright light(s), Sense of dying, The void, Disembodiment, Tunnel-like structures, Light being-esque entities, Deceased family, Life review-like, and Hyper-empathic experiences. 94% of participants reported at least one of these. Twelve ‘Less typical NDE motifs’ were also identified. Five classical NDE features were entirely absent from DMT, whereas there was an even more extensive repertoire of DMT experience features which were absent from the NDE. DMT clearly shares the more basic phenomenological structure with NDEs, but with some features’ prevalence differences. DMT also had no immediately recognisable linear sequencing of themes. Generally, DMT is definitively unique in its qualitative content, which is essentially more prodigious, as well as more stereotypical, including its kaleidoscopic, extraterrestrial, transcultural, fluctuating and overwhelming nature. Discussion: When approaching the comparability between DMT & NDEs at the fundamentally more nuanced level of qualitative content (versus broad theme or ​questionnaire ​​​item), the two experiences manifestly diverge.​ ​However, a minority of NDEs, which are themselves idiosyncratic, do share much content with DMT. ​Taken together, DMT could be conceived of as an ‘NDE-mimetic’. ​The less compelling comparability is likely owing not just to context differences, but to complex neural processes near-death of which endogenous DMT may only be one small part. In light of this level of parallelism with NDEs, some clinical application of DMT is discussed.