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reports, the approach addressed in this paper. 2. Classification by precipitating agents or stressors, that is, the conditions existing at the time of the experience, although a cause-effect relationship has never been established (discussed in this paper). 3. Classification by psychosocial and psychopathological variables, suggested only anecdotally and being addressed in the second paper in this series. For example, Eastman13 reports OBEs associated with fearful states of mind, states of loneliness, and states of extremely positive mood (ecstatic states). 4. Classification by analogy. Here is suggested a state of sensory deprivation, peak and plateau experiences, and psychopathological states (schizophrenic body boundary loss, autoscopy, depersonalization, etc., being addressed in our third paper). A correct taxonomy may make use of all four approaches, in an attempt to define pathognomonic features of the experience. Naturally the ultimate value of a taxonomy would depend on what it can explain. Many features of OBEs are most likely explainable by the idiosyncratic effects of precipitants (for example, drugs), personality and defensive constellations, and cultural factors, including belief systems.
Surveys of OBE
Few surveys of the incidence of OBEs exist; the earliest was by Hart in 1954.14 He asked 155 students whether they had ever had an OBE. 27.1% of them said that they had, most of them having had more than one experience. This result is not inconsistent with the results of several later surveys. In 1968 Green15 reports the results of asking 380 Oxford undergraduates: “Have you ever had an experience in which you felt that you were out of your body?” Of these 34% replied affirmatively. Palmer and Dennis in 197516 published the first survey using a randomly selected group of 1,000 students and townspeople in a small town in Virginia 25% of the students and 14% of the townspeople reported having had an OBE. A rather original approach to the study of OBEs was that of Shiels,17 who collected data on belief in OBEs from nearly 70 non-Western cultures. Despite cultural differences the beliefs were strikingly similar. Shiels felt that this was indirect evidence for an account of a genuine event, the OBE. It is quite well known, for example, that many cultures attribute to shamans the capacity to fly
Surveys of OBE
Few surveys of the incidence of OBEs exist; the earliest was by Hart in 1954.14 He asked 155 students whether they had ever had an OBE. 27.1% of them said that they had, most of them having had more than one experience. This result is not inconsistent with the results of several later surveys. In 1968 Green15 reports the results of asking 380 Oxford undergraduates: “Have you ever had an experience in which you felt that you were out of your body?” Of these 34% replied affirmatively. Palmer and Dennis in 197516 published the first survey using a randomly selected group of 1,000 students and townspeople in a small town in Virginia 25% of the students and 14% of the townspeople reported having had an OBE. A rather original approach to the study of OBEs was that of Shiels,17 who collected data on belief in OBEs from nearly 70 non-Western cultures. Despite cultural differences the beliefs were strikingly similar. Shiels felt that this was indirect evidence for an account of a genuine event, the OBE. It is quite well known, for example, that many cultures attribute to shamans the capacity to fly
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