27 February 2023 , 11:27
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A doctor who has become the world's leading expert on near-death experiences has revealed the moment 50 years ago that shaped his career forever.
Dr Bruce Greyson was raised to believe that the only things that exist are in the material world, but when he started his psychiatric training back in the 1970s, all that changed.
He claimed he was "confronted by patients who seem to be leaving their bodies and seeing and hearing things from another perspective that I couldn't explain and it didn't make any sense to me".
He said: "As a scientist, I figured I had to study this and figure out what's going on. So I tried to study it and here I am, 50 years later, and I’m still trying to understand."
Dr Greyson went on to recall a time when he was an intern and was asked to see a patient who had overdosed.
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Speaking to WMRA, a radio station in Virginia, USA, about his latest book After, which comes out in paperback on Friday, he said: "I went down to the emergency room to see her and she was unconscious. So I really couldn't speak with her, but talk to her roommate and as it happened, I spilled some spaghetti sauce on my tie, so I buttoned up my lab coat to cover that up.
After by Bruce Greyson (Bruce Greyson)"And the patient was still unconscious, so she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and when I went to see her the next morning, I started to introduce myself but she said, 'I know who you are, I remember you from last night'.
"That stumped me because she was unconscious clearly when I saw her.
"So I said 'I thought you were out cold' and she said, 'well, not in my room, I saw you talking to Susan down the hall' and that just blew me away.
"And then she told me about the conversation I had with their roommate and then told me about the spaghetti stain she saw on my tie and I just could not understand how she could have known that. So I figured I've got to look into this.
"I thought somebody's got to be playing a trick on me. This can't be real."
He added that his study of near death experiences has led him to believe that "it usually happens when they are very close to death or sometimes when they're pronounced dead, like when their heart stops".
"Typically [they] feel that their thoughts are going faster and clearer than ever. They have a sense of time stopping or slowing down.
"They have very strong emotions, usually positive emotions – feeling a tremendous feeling of love and peace.
"They may have what we call paranormal sensations, for lack of a better word.
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"They feel like they're leaving their bodies and they may encounter other entities that they think are deceased loved ones or sometimes divine beings and effectually they may review their lives and then either decide to come back to life or are sent back against their will."