# Out of Body Experiences



## David Baxter PhD (Jul 13, 2011)

*Out of Body Experiences*
by Dr. Deborah Serani
July 11, 2011

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are typically associated with individuals who have certain kinds of dissociative or post traumatic disorders. Though people who are generally in good health also report having OBEs, the experience is poorly understood. Often, out-of-body experiences are met by others with skepticism and stigma.

A new study, published in the July 2011 issue of _Cortex_, has shown that OBEs are related to anomalies in the neural systems in the brain's temporal lobes - and that the body's sense of itself, called body awareness, misfires. Data from this study has enabled scientists to better understand how normal "in-the-body" mental processes work... and why, when they break down, they produce such striking experiences.

We know that epilepsy, headaches and seizures have a basis in brain neuro-circuitry, but psychological disorders also greatly influence the workings of the brain. Trauma, anxiety, depression and dissociation can have a profound effect, with out-of-body experiences being one of them.

Now science backs this up.


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## David Baxter PhD (Jul 13, 2011)

*Cognitive correlates of the spontaneous out-of-body experience (OBE) in the psychologically normal population: Evidence for an increased role of temporal-lobe instability, body-distortion processing, and impairments in own-body transformations*
Jason J. Braithwaite, Dana Samson, Ian Apperlya, Emma Brogliaa and Johan Hullemanc
Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
School of Psychology University of Nottingham, UK
Department of Psychology, University of Hull, UK
Available online 21 May 2010

*Abstract*
Recent findings from studies of epileptic patients and schizotypes have suggested that disruptions in multi-sensory integration processes may underlie a predisposition to report out-of-body experiences (OBEs: [Blanke et al., 2004] and [Mohr et al., 2006]). It has been argued that these disruptions lead to a breakdown in own-body processing and embodiment. 

Here we present two studies which provide the first investigation of predisposition to OBEs in the normal population as measured primarily by the recently devised Cardiff anomalous perception scale (CAPS; Bell et al., 2006). The Launay?Slade Hallucination scale (LSHS) was also employed to provide a measure of general hallucination proneness. In Study 1, 63 University students participated in the study, 17 of whom (26%) claimed to have experienced at least one OBE in their lifetime. OBEers reported significantly more perceptually anomalies (elevated CAPS scores) but these were primarily associated with specific measures of temporal-lobe instability and body-distortion processing. Study 2 demonstrated that OBEers and those scoring high on measures of temporal-lobe instability/body-distortion processing were significantly impaired, relative to controls, at a task requiring mental own-body transformations (OBTs) (Blanke et al., 2005). 

These results extend the findings from epileptic patient studies to the psychologically normal population and are consistent with there being a disruption in temporal-lobe and body-based processing underlying OBE-type experiences.


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## GDPR (Jul 14, 2011)

Interesting. But where could I find info on what to do when OBE's happen? Or how to stop them?

I don't have them very often, but I have had them while driving before, which obviously, is dangerous.


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## Daniel (Jul 14, 2011)

BTW, from a forum for "psychics" (so take it with a grain of salt):



> Obe's while driving have happened, but they are usually very short. I've heard about people experiencing minimal out of body sensations, and I can understand the process. On long drives that require fairly little thought one can begin to doze off a tad and can enter the first stages of body asleep mind awake which are key to OBEs, but the panic of the sudden experience will always **** you back into your body.
> 
> http://family.psychics.co.uk/showthread.php/had-obe-while-driving-1444p2.html?


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## GDPR (Jul 14, 2011)

Interesting link....LOL.

The last time I experienced an OBE, I was very, very anxious because I was driving to my parents house. It wasn't anything I wanted to happen, it just did. It wasn't anything psychic, spiritual or mystical,it was just totally bizarre and scary.


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