In 1975, Raymond Moody, Ph.D., introduced the world to the term near-death experience (NDE) in his book Life After Life. Since that time, much information has been uncovered about these experiences from research and personal accounts from around the world. The primary focus of these experiences has been on adults. Indeed, most people are probably unaware that children also can have NDEs. However, what information there is available is limited. The 1980s and 1990s saw books written on the subject. However, more recently there has been limited research available on children's NDEs, while research and information about adult NDEs continues.

Dr. Melvin Morse was perhaps the first to write about children's NDEs in a 1985 article in the American Journal of Diseases in Children.[1] As with most of the early work on NDEs, the focus was primarily on the personal accounts of four children. The findings showed that the children had experiences similar to adults in that they reported being out of the body, in a tunnel, and seeing figures dressed in white. In 1990, Dr. Morse published his book Closer to the Light, which included more anecdotal accounts of children’s experiences and found, as with adults, that one must be close to death to have the experience and that just being unconscious does not produce an NDE.[2]

Dr. Jeff Long, co-founder of the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF), has been collecting accounts of NDEs since 1989 and has amassed thousands of experiences from all over the world of both adults and children. On a larger scale, Dr. Long........

© Psychology Today