Coming Back to Life: The After-Effects of the Near-Death Experience

by P.M.H. Atwater

According to a Gallup Poll, as many as eight million Americans have had at least one near-death experience. This fascinating phenomenon has been the focus of much investigation in recent years -- but its after-effects, the ways that near-death experiences can dramatically change both the personalities and lives of survivors for years to come, have never been explored in depth until now.
Based on extensive interviews with over two hundred near-death survivors and thousands of their friends and relatives, Atwater, herself a "survivor" of three near-death experiences, examines the major positive and negative after-effects which survivors experience,
* a shifted view of physical reality and disorientation in the world of time and space
* expanded intuitive and psychic abilities
* spiritual transformation
* difficulty with communication and relationships and an inability to personalize emotions and feelings, especially those of love.
COMING BACK TO LIFE also provides a specific recovery plan for assisting near-death survivors in their return to "ordinary living." It is a compassionate and invaluable resource for the survivors and those who love them.

Genres: Spirituality

95 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

Reviews

[Steven H]

A NEAR-DEATH "EXPERIENCER" WRITES HER FIRST BOOK (OF MANY)

P.M.H. Atwater (born 1937) has also written books such as 'Beyond the Light: What Isn't Being Said About Near Death Experience: from Visions of Heaven to Glimpses of Hell' and children of the New Millennium: Children's Near-Death Experiences and the Evolution of Humankind.'

In her "Opening Statement" to this 1988 book, she wrote, "This is a book about after-effects, consequences, if you will; what happens AFTER surviving the worst of all possible outcomes... Using the near-death experience as its premise, this book examines the consequences of such an event." (Pg. xvii) She states in the first chapter, "I am a near-death survivor. That means I am one of those people who died but didn't stay dead. I came back. While 'dead,' I experienced something quite extraordinary... I experienced 'The Other Side.' I passed THROUGH death... What this book contains is an 'accident,' a by-product, if you will, from the experiences I survived in 1977 that so radically changed my life and me with it." (Pg. 1, 3)

She notes, "Negative experiencers are relieved and overjoyed to find themselves back in their nice, safe, comfortable bodies again... Many times they turn negative into positive by learning valuable lessons from their experience and taking steps to improve their attitudes and relationships with others... Why there are so few negative reportings, I do not know. It has been speculated by various professional researchers that these people may be afraid to speak up publicly and report such things..." (Pg. 18) Later, she adds, "Some survivors label their near-death experiences a dream and seem to forget it. Many cannot or will not integrate what happened, suppressing any constructive or beneficial change it could foster." (Pg. 113)

She observes, "Well over half the survivors I contacted want to write a book about their experience... They are imbued with a sense of 'spiritual mission' and a desire to help others. Once in a while, however, you run across one or two whose only thought is for fame and fortune with their blockbuster story..." (Pg. 23-24) She reports, "Researchers usually side-step other possibilities, especially if mention is made of the psychic, religion, spirituality, mysticism, or anything 'other-worldly,' preferring instead to brand such possibilities as 'insignificant' or 'unconfirmed.' For example, I was told by a former editor of 'Vital Signs' magazine that if I did not play down or preferably not mention the 'other ' after-effects the column I wrote would be cancelled." (Pg. 66)

She says, "That spiritual hunger opens many 'doors' to many discoveries. One of them is the discovery that---people who are not near-death survivors can have the same or similar experiences followed by the same after-effects! These other people have gone through some kind of transformational event or series of events which so deeply and traumatically affected them it is as if they 'died' and were reborn." (Pg. 119-120) She observes, "Other hi-tech methods exist today whereby a person can be 'wired up and plugged in' to receive a whole range of stimuli via music, pulses, beeps, tones, charges, and states, visions, and all the trappings of the enlightenment experience by stimulating the brain and neural processes ... Epileptic seizures are known to cause the same thing. Does this deny what has been previously said? No! You can short cut the process but you cannot short cut the aftermath." (Pg. 143)

Since this book deals more with the "after" part of NDEs, it will be of interest to those wanting more than just the NDE itself.