Consistency of Near-Death Experience Accounts Over Two Decades: Are Reports Embellished Over Time?

This article examines whether experiencers’ reports of their NDEs were embellished over a 20-year period, as measured by their scores on the standardized NDE Scale when they first reported their experiences and again two decades later. NDE reports did not change over this time period, and the differences in NDE Scale scores between the first and second administration was not related to the length of the intervening time interval. These data suggest that memories of NDEs are more stable than memories of other events, and that studying NDE that occurred years ago can yield valid information.