brain sciences Article Losing the Self in Near-Death Experiences: The Experience of Ego-Dissolution Charlotte Martial 1,2 ,Géraldine Fontaine 1 , Olivia Gosseries 1,2 , Robin Carhart-Harris 3 , Christopher Timmermann 3 , Steven Laureys 1,2 and Héléna Cassol 1,2, *   Citation: Martial, C.; Fontaine, G.; Gosseries, O.; Carhart-Harris, R.; Timmermann, C.; Laureys, S.; Cassol, H. Losing the Self in Near-Death Experiences: The Experience of Ego-Dissolution. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 929. https://doi.org/10.3390/ brainsci11070929 Academic Editor: Rocco Salvatore Calabrò Received: 14 May 2021 Accepted: 8 July 2021 Published: 14 July 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium; cmartial@uliege.be (C.M.); geraldine.fontaine@ulb.be (G.F.); ogosseries@uliege.be (O.G.); steven.laureys@uliege.be (S.L.) 2 Centre du Cerveau, University Hospital of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium 3 Centre for Psychedelic Research, Division of Psychiatry, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, UK; r.carhart-harris@imperial.ac.uk (R.C.-H.); christimmer@gmail.com (C.T.) * Correspondence: hcassol@uliege.be Abstract: Many people who have had a near-death experience (NDE) describe, as part of it, a disturbed sense of having a “distinct self”. However, no empirical studies have been conducted to explore the frequency or intensity of these effects. We surveyed 100 NDE experiencers (Near- Death-Experience Content [NDE-C] scale total score ≥ 27/80). Eighty participants had their NDEs in life-threatening situations and 20 had theirs not related to life-threatening situations. Participants completed the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI) and the Ego-Inflation Inventory (EII) to assess the experience of ego dissolution and inflation potentially experienced during their NDE, respectively. They also completed the Nature-Relatedness Scale (NR-6) which measures the trait-like construct of one’s self-identification with nature. Based on prior hypotheses, ratings of specific NDE-C items pertaining to out-of-body experiences and a sense of unity were used for correlational analyses. We found higher EDI total scores compared with EII total scores in our sample. Total scores of the NDE-C scale were positively correlated with EDI total scores and, although less strongly, the EII and NR-6 scores. EDI total scores were also positively correlated with the intensity of OBE and a sense of unity. This study suggests that the experience of dissolved ego-boundaries is a common feature of NDEs. Keywords: near-death experience; ego dissolution; out-of-body experience; self; experiencer; nature-relatedness 1. Introduction [“Without aspiration or projection I crossed the tunnel at full speed. Speed is not the right word because there was no movement. It was more like a dissolution of myself and an equally sudden eclosion. Somehow, a lightning crossing. In short, I found myself split into two parts. My body was resting on the bed and from the top of a cloud I could see myself. My double on the bedroom ceiling was witnessing an extraordinary scene in sharpness and authenticity.” Translated verbatim from French] This verbatim extract, drawn from our collection of testimonies of near-death experi- ences (NDEs), includes mention of a dissolved sense of self, evoking comparisons with loss of self induced via other means such as meditation, sleep, or psychedelic drugs (e.g., [1–3]). NDEs are episodes of disconnected consciousness in which the person experiences various prototypical mental events, with highly emotional and mystical aspects [4]. NDEs typically occur in truly life-threatening situations such as cardiac arrest, traumatic injury, intrac- erebral hemorrhage, nearly drowning, or asphyxia [5]. NDEs can also occur in situations that feel life-threatening (e.g., high anxiety) and perhaps in situations such as meditation or sleep, which are then referred as “NDE-like” since the phenomenology is similar to a classical NDE yet without an actual imminent risk of death [6]. Currently, in research, the Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 929. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11070929 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/brainsci