b'Scientific Model foronly then would they suddenly have a re- Non-Pharmaceutical Help for Death Research? turn to conscious awareness, which also in- Insomnia and WorryMany people became aware of what isvolved a sense of separation from the body.Experimental trials have demonstrated nowcalledthenear-deathexperience,They asked the pilots to describe the symp- thatbothyogaandcognitivebehavioral or NDE, in 1975, with the publicationtomstheyexperiencedwhileinthecen- therapy(CBT)providemeaningfulim-of Raymond Moodys best-sellingtrifuge or in flight. A clear patternprovements in worry, anxiety, andinsom-book,Life after Life. Scientif- emerged. The first thing theyniain older adults, results that last even ic research into NDEs hasexperienced was tunnel vi- six months after discontinuing treatment. not been considered pos- sion, which results fromA two-stage randomized preference clinical sible because of the ac- a lack of blood flow totrial included 500 individuals over age 60 cidental nature of thethe eyes and is a pre- who scored 26 or above on the Penn State phenomenon,forex- cursortoablackout.WorryQuestionnaire(intensifiedanx-ample, during surgeryWhileunconscious,iety and worry). It was the first study to or an accident result- manyofthesubjectscompare the long-term effects of the two ing in apparent death.experienced short, viv- interventions.Participantscompletedei-Sometentotwentyiddreams,ordream- ther 20 yoga sessions over ten weeks or ten percentofsurvivorsoflets.Thedreamswereweekly CBT calls between May 2017 and heartattacksreporthavingoften about past experiencesNovember2018.Thescoresforanxiety anNDE.Similarfigurescomeor family and friends. In additionand worry were similar between the CBT from survivors of electrocution, coma, at- to dreamlets, a significant number of pilotsand yoga groups, but CBT yielded a sig-tempted suicide, near-drowning and mas- reported having out-of-body experiences.nificantly higher improvement for insom-sive shock due to blood loss, infection, orThesubjectsdescribedthesensationofnia. At about six months after the inter-anaphylaxis.floating above their planes or centrifugesventions had ended, there were continued, Near-death experiences were induced inand looking down at their bodies. Some- even greater improvements from baseline, experiments studying the effects of high-Gtimes the dreamlets and out-of-body ex- except for physical function. According to forcesonfighterpilots.Thepilotswereperiences were accompanied by feelings oflead investigator Suzanne Danhauer, Ph.D., placed in huge centrifuges and spun at tre- euphoria and warmth. Some subjects saidThats the part to me thats particularly mendous speeds. During periods of rapidthey saw a bright light. The pilots wouldnotable.Theimprovementswerentjust acceleration, a subjects blood flows intoremark that death is very pleasant. statistically significant, they were clinically hislowerextremitiesandawayfromhisWhinnery J, Acceleration-induced loss of conscious- meaningful as well.brain. First, they lost consciousness; nextness: A review of 500 episodes, Archives of Neurology, 1990, 47:764-776; Whinnery J, Medical considerationsDanhauer S, Miller M, Divers J, et al., Long-Term they went into seizures; after seizures theyfor human exposure to acceleration-induced loss of con- EffectsofCognitive-BehavioralTherapyandYoga lost all muscle tone; when the blood com- sciousness, Aviation Space and Environmental Medi- for Worried Older Adults, The American Journal of pletely stopped flowing into their brains cine, 1991, 62:618-623. Geriatric Psychiatry, 2022, 30(9):979-990, at https://doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2022.02.002Suicide Attempts Reducedreduction in suicide attempts may actually be by Taking B Vitamin an underestimate, said lead author Robert A large study showed that takingfolicD. Gibbons, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics acidcould result in a 44% reduction insui- at the Center for Health Statistics, University cides.Dataon866,586patientswerecol- of Chicago, Illinois. Results also showed that lected in a large-scale epidemiological studyeveryadditionalmonthoftreatmentwas surveying diagnoses related to suicidal behav- associated with a further 5% reduction in ior, folic-acid deficiency, and folate-reducingthe suicidal-event rate. This means the lon-medications as well as any history of folate-re- ger you take folic acid, the greater the ben-ducing medications and suicidal events. Theefit, which is what you would expect to see participants were followed for 24 months toif there was [sic] a real association between compare suicide attempts or self-harm eventsa treatment and an outcome, said Gibbons, resulting in an outpatient visit or inpatient ad- adding, These results are really putting folic mission during periods of folic acid treatmentacid squarely on the map as a potential for versusduringperiodswithouttreatment.large-scale, population-level prevention.During the 24-month study period, the overallSuicidal events may have been even greaterGibbons R, Hur K, Lavigne J, Mann J, Association Be-suicidal event rate was 133 per 100,000 pop- considering the study captured only prescrip- tween Folic Acid Prescription Fills and Suicide Attempts ulation, one-fourth the national rate reportedand Intentional Self-harm Among Privately Insured US by the National Institutes of Health of 600 pertion folic acid, and participants may have alsoAdults,JAMA Psychiatry, 2022, 79(11):1118-1123, at taken over-the-counter products. The 44%doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.2990.100,000. .H ealtHF reedomN ews /w iNter2022 23'