Near-death experiences are what are likely to be recounted in the lingo of the encounter: the detachment of the body, the sense of time distortion, the sense of hyperreal clarity. But the more lasting narrative usually starts later on when an individual goes back to a life that he/she already knows but does not feel quite at home with.
The same paradox is indicated by research and personal testimonies over and over again. The episode itself might be short, though its psychological tail might be long-changing the relationships, work, identity, and even what the people consider to be real enough to construct a life around.
1. An abrupt lack of tolerance to “nonsense” in everyday priorities
Following an NDE, most individuals report a sudden rearrangement of priorities in what they are going to pay attention to. Even normal busyness, in particular activities that are done largely to please status or expectation, may begin to become an unpayable debt of time. Participants in interviews about working adults explained that they are more decisive about the way they spend their days, including changing careers and losing interest in status symbols, with one of the participants saying, “I was not interested in doing nonsense … I simply did not have time to spend it on some nonsense after a medical emergency, which made me lose consciousness at some point (interviewed 14 working adults). What comes out is not merely the new motivation, but a shortened spectrum of what is emotionally authorized to pursue.
2. Relationships grow less transactional more demanding
One of the usual aftereffects is a closer relationship with other people and reduced tolerance to superficial positions. Relationships in the workplace which were formerly seen as being based on work and performance are further redefined as the encounter between human beings first, economic transaction second. One of the interviewees described the change in an awe-inspiringly candid way: It is all about relationships, not accomplishments.
The same inclination to connect can be extended to family life, as well, in which the new values of an NDEr might not be compatible with the existing rhythms in the house. Clinical overviews observe that the inability to be reconciled to new attitudes with the demands of family and acquaintances may cause a strain of old roles and researchers have documented value discrepancies with somewhat high divorce rates by some who have gone through the experience (value incongruities between NDErs and their families).
3. Not developed empathy, but involuntary
Other individuals complain that empathy increases in a manner that does not feel as a choice, but as a shift in baseline. The researchers of the University of Virginia have investigated the possibility of the connection of out-of-body experiences (such as the NDE-like experiences) to increased empathy due to what is referred to as ego dissolution the reduced perceptions of self-boundaries that can cause the inner life of other people to seem closer to them (ego dissolution).
Its aftereffect is social: increased patience, increased tenderness and increased attraction to prosocial behavior. It is also inconvenient to some, since heightened sensitivity does not necessarily suit some environments which reward detachment.
4. Moral memory still resonating as a life review
Not all people report it, but the life review, when it happens, may serve as a long-lasting internal paperwork. Re-experience of crucial moments has been described as a way of seeing things with a broader perspective in terms of the impact that the actions had on others. In the description of Marion Rome, the visceral aspect of such a learning is underlined: Now my soul could sense each and every mote of his pains. This reversed polarity, which Dr. Diane Morrissey speaks of, when the kindness of the particular person is made weighty by the manner of the recipient is given: I felt as though every single loving spirit in the kingdom of God were making good thank you. These stories reflect the aftereffects that are akin to moral consolidation; a desire to heal, apologize, streamline, and make other decisions the next time a little moment occurs.
5. Less fear of death and a changed attitude to time
A loss of fear of death is one of the most commonly reported changes that subsequently create a shift in the scheduling and valuing of life. In a survey study comparing psychedelic and non-drug near-death experiences, over 90% of participants in both conditions reported that their fear of death levels decreased after the experience as compared to their perceptions of the same before the experience (approximately 90% of participants). Another theme that was commonly rated by the participants as the most significant events in their lives was the event. This change may manifest in everyday language as a decrease in accumulation urgency and an increase in presence urgency less fixation on the time to come and greater demand on present time.
6. Differentiation, uncertainty, and fear of being condemned
The mainstream narrative of NDEs tends to lean towards the positive, which can only service the less appealing after-effects to a limited degree. Clinical discourses add that certain experience bearers are upset when the experience contradicts previous notions, and the frame of the positive benefits may prevent individuals in need to reach out to others in case they find themselves in distress. Others wonder to be insane, but they would not discuss it due to fear of rejection or ridicule; others are not reacted to in a positive manner by the professionals thus discouraging them further (afraid of rejection or ridicule). This is not an experience and the aftereffect that may be hidden here but the social pressure of rendering something of the inside to the language that is acceptable to other individuals.
All these aftereffects can be summed up as some kind of reintegration: not only into life, but into life that has to be re-written. The transformations that have become permanent are not always apparent as the drama that has taken place, but has had more practical effects in the way an individual spends his or her attention, love, and time.
In wellbeing, the implication that the practice has is straightforward yet not easy and the aftermath may be growth and disturbance. The most transformative detail can be the way mundane decisions, work, relationships, apologies, quiet moments, begin to take on an emotional burden of something recalled, though it cannot be entirely described.
