An out-of-body experience (OBE) is a phenomenon where a person feels as though they are seeing the world from a place outside their physical body. This experience is a type of autoscopy, which means "seeing self." However, the term autoscopy is often used to describe a condition where a person sees a second version of themselves, called a doppelgänger. The term "out-of-body experience" was first used in 1943 by G. N. M. Tyrrell in his book Apparitions. Researchers like Celia Green and Robert Monroe later used the term instead of phrases such as "astral projection" or "spirit walking," which focus more on beliefs than scientific study.
Out-of-body experiences can occur due to causes such as brain injuries, lack of sensory input, near-death events, the use of certain drugs, dehydration, sleep problems, dreams, or electrical stimulation of the brain. Some people may also intentionally create an OBE. About one in ten people experience an OBE at least once, and many have it more than once. Psychologists and neuroscientists believe OBEs are types of dissociative experiences caused by various psychological and brain-related factors.
Origins
In 1918, British researcher J. Arthur Hill first used the term "out-of-the-body experience" in his book Man is a Spirit. Oliver Fox used the same term in his 1920 essays for the Occult Review. The term "out-of-the-body experience" was first introduced by G. N. M. Tyrell in his book Apparitions, published in 1943. Some of the earliest researchers to write about the subject were Caroline D. Larsen, Ernesto Bozzano, Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon, Arthur E. Powell, and Francis Prevost.
Robert Monroe brought awareness of out-of-body experiences to a larger population through his books about his own self-induced experiences, most notably Journeys Out of the Body (1971).
Spontaneous OBEs
People who have out-of-body experiences (OBEs) sometimes describe a state where they are aware they are dreaming before the OBE happens. Many people who report having an OBE say they were almost asleep or already asleep when the experience began. In many cases, these people were not sleeping deeply because of reasons like illness, noise, stress, tiredness, or waking up often. Most of these people feel awake during the experience, and about half say they feel unable to move their body, a condition called sleep paralysis.
Another type of OBE is a near-death experience (NDE). Some people report having an OBE during serious physical injuries, such as almost drowning or during major surgery. NDEs often include seeing themselves outside their body, sometimes seeing family members or religious figures who have died, and feeling like their sense of self or identity is gone. These experiences may also involve feeling like they are dead, feeling calm and pain-free, hearing sounds that are not physical, seeing a tunnel, meeting bright beings or a god-like figure, seeing a review of their life, and not wanting to return to life.
OBEs can also happen during extreme physical activities, such as climbing high mountains or running long distances. Some people report feeling like they are in two places at the same time, seeing both the ground and the sky at once.
Induced OBEs
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) can be caused by certain drugs, such as psilocybin, ketamine, DMT, MDA, and LSD. These drugs are thought to affect a part of the brain called the precuneus.
Some people experience OBEs while falling asleep but staying mentally awake. This state, called "Mind Awake, Body Asleep," is often linked to OBEs. Thomas Edison used a method to stay alert while resting by placing a coin on his head and a bucket nearby. When the coin fell into the bucket, it helped him stay awake. Another person, Sylvan Muldoon, used a simple technique by holding his arm in a specific position in bed. Artist Salvador Dalí used a similar method to get unusual visions that inspired his artwork. When a person relaxes deeply while staying mentally alert, they may feel a "slipping" sensation, as if leaving their body. Some people believe this is similar to a technique called progressive muscle relaxation.
Deep trance, meditation, and visualization are other methods. Visualizations often involve imagining actions like climbing a rope or floating out of the body. These techniques are harder for people who struggle to relax. One example is the "Body of Light" method from the Golden Dawn tradition.
Brainwave synchronization using sounds or lights can also help. A type of sound called binaural beats can guide the brain to certain frequencies, such as those found during the "Mind Awake, Body Asleep" state. The Monroe Institute found that using binaural beats to create a 4 Hertz brainwave frequency was helpful for OBEs. Other methods, like rhythmic drumming in Native American ceremonies, may also help by influencing brain activity.
Direct stimulation of the vestibular cortex, electrical stimulation of the brain (especially the temporoparietal junction), and sensory deprivation are additional methods. Sensory deprivation involves removing all sensory input, such as using flotation tanks or playing pink noise through headphones, to create confusion and disorientation. Sensory overload, the opposite of sensory deprivation, involves intense stimulation, such as being rocked for long periods or exposed to mild discomfort, which can also lead to OBEs.
Strong g-forces, like those experienced by pilots or astronauts, can cause blood to shift in the brain, potentially leading to OBEs. A device that uses a head-mounted display and touch can trick the brain into feeling like it has extra limbs or is in a different body.
OBE theories
In the fields of cognitive science and psychology, OBEs are seen as experiences where the mind separates from the body, caused by various psychological and brain-related factors. Scientists believe OBEs are mental experiences similar to dreams or altered states of consciousness, not related to the paranormal.
Charles Richet (1887) believed OBEs are created by the mind’s memory and imagination, similar to dreams. James H. Hyslop (1912) wrote that OBEs happen when the subconscious mind creates vivid images that make a person feel as though they are in a different place. Eugéne Osty (1930) thought OBEs are simply the result of imagination. Other early researchers, like Schmeing (1938), supported theories about how the mind and body interact. G. N. M. Tyrrell described OBEs as hallucinations linked to the subconscious parts of personality.
Donovan Rawcliffe (1959) connected OBEs to mental health conditions such as psychosis and hysteria. Other researchers studied OBEs in terms of how the body image is distorted (Horowitz, 1970) or how a person might feel detached from themselves (Whitlock, 1978). Psychologists Nandor Fodor (1959) and Jan Ehrenwald (1974) suggested OBEs are a way the mind protects itself from the fear of death. Irin and Watt (2007) noted that Ehrenwald described OBEs as a way people imagine they have a soul that exists beyond the body. Psychologists Donald Hebb (1960) and Cyril Burt (1968) wrote about how OBEs relate to body image and visual imagination. Graham Reed (1974) thought OBEs are a reaction to stress, such as the loss of a loved one. John Palmer (1978) wrote that OBEs occur when changes in body image threaten a person’s sense of identity.
Carl Sagan (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) suggested OBEs might involve imagining being reborn or reliving birth, based on reports of tunnels and a cord-like connection, similar to an umbilical cord. Susan Blackmore (1978) concluded that OBEs are hallucinations, as they include imaginary perceptions, distortions, and feelings of having no body. Ronald Siegel (1980) also described OBEs as hallucinatory fantasies.
Harvey Irwin (1985) proposed that OBEs involve mental processes related to attention and body sensations. His theory included a concept called psychological absorption and linked OBEs to conditions like autoscopy (seeing oneself), depersonalization, and mental dissociation. Stephen Laberge (1985) suggested OBEs are similar to lucid dreaming. David Hufford (1989) connected OBEs to a type of sleep paralysis he called a nightmare waking experience. Other scientists linked OBEs to hypnagogia and sleep paralysis (cataplexy).
Studies have shown that people who have OBEs often have higher levels of fantasy-prone personalities compared to those who have not had OBEs. Research found that people who report OBEs tend to be more imaginative, believe in the paranormal, and show signs of dissociation. Other studies linked OBEs to cognitive-perceptual traits similar to those seen in schizophrenia.
Terence Hines (2003) wrote that OBEs can be caused by stimulating certain parts of the brain, suggesting they result from temporary brain issues, not the soul leaving the body. Bünning and Blanke (2005) noted that OBEs may occur when the brain processes sensory information incorrectly, especially in areas near the temporoparietal junction. Some scientists think OBEs happen when the brain’s visual and touch senses conflict.
Richard Wiseman (2011) stated that OBEs are not paranormal and do not prove the existence of a soul. Instead, they show how the brain and body work. A study by Jason Braithwaite and colleagues (2011) linked OBEs to instability in the brain’s temporal lobes and errors in how the body senses itself. Braithwaite et al. (2013) said the current view is that OBEs happen when the brain’s ability to process multiple senses is temporarily disrupted. A study by Josef Parvizi found that stimulating a part of the brain called the precuneus can cause an OBE.
Writers in parapsychology and occultism believe OBEs are not psychological and that a soul or spirit can leave the body. During the Victorian era, OBEs were called “travelling clairvoyance” in spiritualist writings. In old Indian texts, a similar state is called Turiya, achieved through deep meditation, allowing yogis to leave their bodies intentionally. The body used for this journey is called “Vigyan dehi” (Scientific body). Psychical researcher Frederic Myers called OBEs a “psychical excursion.” A book titled Phantasms of the Living (1886) by Edmund Gurney, Frederic Myers, and Frank Podmore described alleged OBEs but was criticized for relying on unverified stories.
The theosophist Arthur Powell (1927) supported the idea that a “subtle body” can leave the physical body during an OBE. Sylvan Muldoon (1936) described an “etheric body” to explain OBEs. Ernesto Bozzano (1938) supported the idea that an “etheric body” can separate from the physical body in rare cases. Occult writers like Ralph Shirley (1938), Benjamin
OBE studies
Early studies of out-of-body experiences (OBEs) were conducted by Ernesto Bozzano (Italy) and Robert Crookall (UK). Crookall studied OBEs from a spiritualistic viewpoint and collected most of his cases from spiritualist newspapers like the Psychic News. This method may have influenced his results. For example, many of his subjects described seeing a cord connecting their physical body to a separate one, but later research by Celia Green found that less than 4% of her subjects noticed such a cord. About 80% of Green’s subjects said they felt like "disembodied consciousness," meaning they did not sense a physical body at all.
Celia Green conducted the first major scientific study of OBEs in 1968. She gathered written accounts from 400 people through media appeals and follow-up questionnaires. Her goal was to classify different types of OBEs as unusual perceptual experiences or hallucinations, without deciding if some might involve extrasensory perception.
In 1999, researchers Wagner Alegretti and Nanci Trivellato presented findings from an online survey about OBEs at the 1st International Forum of Consciousness Research in Barcelona. The survey was answered by people interested in OBEs, not a random group of people.
A common sensation during OBEs is temporary or projective catalepsy, which is more often linked to sleep paralysis. A 2007 study in Neurology by Kevin Nelson and his team at the University of Kentucky found that people who experience OBEs are more likely to have sleep paralysis. This connection was also supported by the Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire.
In 1968, Charles Tart tested an OBE experiment with a subject called Miss Z over four nights in a sleep lab. Miss Z was connected to an EEG machine, and a five-digit code was placed above her bed. She correctly identified the code on the fourth night but not the first three. Psychologist James Alcock criticized the experiment for poor controls and questioned why a video camera was not used to monitor Miss Z. Susan Blackmore suggested that Miss Z may have peeked at the code while still in bed, as the EEG showed brain activity that would occur if she had moved.
Some physical explanations for OBEs include brain stimulation. For example, stimulating the posterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus has been linked to OBE-like experiences. Positron-emission tomography (a brain imaging technique) was used to identify these brain regions. The term "OBE-like" is used because these experiences often lack the clarity or detail of typical OBEs or are reported by people who have never had an OBE before.
British psychologist Susan Blackmore and others suggest that OBEs begin when a person loses sensory contact with their body while staying conscious. The brain creates a vivid illusion of a body and the world, even without sensory input. This is similar to how dreams work, though OBEs are said to be more vivid than lucid dreams.
Irwin noted that OBEs often happen during very high or very low arousal. For example, Green found that three-quarters of 176 subjects who had one OBE were lying down when it occurred, and 12% said they were asleep when it started. Others experienced OBEs during highly stressful events, like accidents or childbirth. McCreery proposed that sleep might occur as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-arousal, and that OBEs under both relaxed and highly aroused conditions may be a type of "waking dream."
Research by Olaf Blanke in Switzerland showed that stimulating the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ), where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, can create OBE-like experiences. Blanke’s team found that OBEs are linked to damage in the TPJ and can be triggered by electrical stimulation in patients with epilepsy. These experiences may involve sensing changes in body parts or feeling displaced from one’s body.
In healthy people, Blanke and colleagues found that the TPJ helps the brain combine sensory information to create the sense of self and body location. Using brain imaging, they showed that the TPJ activates when people imagine themselves in positions similar to those reported during OBEs. Stimulation of the TPJ disrupted mental imagery of one’s own body but not of external objects.
A follow-up study by Arzy et al. (2006) showed that different brain areas are activated depending on whether people imagine themselves with a physical body or without one. When imagining an embodied self, the extrastriate body area (EBA) was more active, but when imagining a disembodied self, the TPJ was more active. This suggests that the TPJ and EBA work together to create the sense of self and body location.
Blanke and colleagues concluded that the TPJ is crucial for the brain’s sense of spatial location. When these processes are disrupted, OBEs may occur.
In August 2007, Blanke’s lab published research in Science showing that virtual reality can cause conflicts in sensory input, disrupting the feeling of being in one place.
Also in August 2007, Henrik Ehrsson, then at the Institute of Neurology at University College London (now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden), published research in Science demonstrating the first experimental method to create the illusion of being in a different body.