Astral and out-of-body voyages. Heautoscopy, ecstasis and experimental hallucinations of epileptic origin
Vuilleumier, P.; Despland, P.A.; Assal, G.; Regli, F.
Revue Neurologique (Paris) 153(2): 115-119
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-3787 PMID: 9296122 Document Number: 481648
We report a 38 year-old patient who had temporoparietal epilepsy and unusual ictal "out of body" experiences that remained undiagnosed for more than ten years, until her admission for a motor seizure of the left hemibody. Out of body episodes were experienced as intense and ecstatic astral journeys. EEG showed a bilateral extension of epileptiform abnormalities to the parietal regions, predominantly on the right side. We discuss the various forms of heautoscopy and their putative mechanisms. We suggest that a disturbance in representing space in independent extrapersonal and personal coordinates might be as crucial as the elusive hypothesis of a body schema disorder. Combined involvement of the parietal neocortex and temporolimbic structures might allow those experiences to gain a subjective vividness which appears to be indissociable from normal conscious experiences.