What Happens When You Have an Out-of-Body Experience?

Close

We usually experience our conscious selves as located within our bodies, but when you have an out-of-body experience it feels like your conscious self is separate and outside of your physical body.

While not a formal diagnostic term, an “out of body experience” may be an extreme form of depersonalization. This can be one of the symptoms of the dissociative disorder known as depersonalization/derealization disorder.

Out-of-body experiences are associated with a number of factors, including near-death experiences, sleep, and medical conditions like migraines and epilepsy. Despite a growing body of research on the topic, neuroscientists, cognitive researchers, and psychologists don’t have one single answer to the question of what causes out-of-body experiences.

What Happens During an Out-Of-Body Experience?

While different scholars have described out-of-body experiences (OBEs) in different ways, they generally agree that during an OBE an individual feels theirconsciousnessis located outside their physical body or experience a “split-self,” with one part observing and one participating.OBEs usually include additional common features, such as:

By some estimates, 5%to 10%of the population will have at least one OBE during their life.

History of Out-Of-Body Experiences

The phenomenon has often been linked to psychiatric disorders. However, within the last few years, research evidence has increasingly pointed to OBEs being the result of problems with processing in the body’s sensory systems.

What Causes Out-Of-Body Experiences?

There are a number of circumstances and conditions that seem to make it more likely that people will have an OBE. These can cause one of two kinds of OBEs: spontaneous OBEs or induced OBEs.

Spontaneous Out-Of-Body Experiences

Research has shown that people who experience induced as opposed to spontaneous OBEs are more likely to report feeling the sensation of leaving their physical body prior to the OBE.Causes of spontaneous OBEs include:

Near-Death Experiences:OBEs often accompany near-death experiences, and appear to be the product of disruptions in the brain during life-threatening situations.Studies have found that survivors of cardiac arrest have frequently reported OBEs during CPR in which visual and auditoryperceptionis experienced as separate from the body.

Medical and Mental Health Conditions:There are a number of neurological and mental health conditions that have been associated with an increased likelihood of OBEs, such as:

Induced Out-Of-Body Experiences

People who experience induced OBEs are more likely to have the sensation of floating away from their body before the OBE.Causes of induced OBEs include:

Body Position:Body position appears to play a role in OBEs, with most research suggesting that OBEs are most likely to happen, whether spontaneous or induced, in a supine, relaxed position. Rapid body position changes, such as quick acceleration or deceleration, also seem to be more likely to induce OBEs.

Strong G-Forces:Pilots and astronauts can experience OBEs when they encounter strong gravitational forces. This appears to the result of blood partially draining from the brain and pooling in the lower body, which may lead to a loss of consciousness and possible OBEs. These forces can also lead to disorientation which may be a factor.

Other ways of inducing OBEs:OBEs can also be induced, intentionally or unintentionally, through:

What Happens Physically When You Have an Out-of-Body Experience?

OBEs are very difficult to study because they’re usually spontaneous, only last a short time, and happen just once or twice in a lifetime, if they happen at all.However, several studies have explored the systems in the brain and body that play a role in OBEs.

One recent studytraced OBEs to problems with the vestibular system, which consists of several parts of the inner ear. Problems with the vestibular system can causedizziness. In the study, OBEs occurred in 14% of participants with dizziness from vestibular system disorders while OBEs only occurred in 5% of participants without vestibular disorders.

In addition, a great deal of researchseems to indicate that OBEs are the result of a disturbance in the integration of multisensory information in the temporo-parietal region of the brain, including the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ).

The TPJ plays a key role in self-perception and is responsible for integrating information from the external environment and from within the body, including information from the visual, auditory, and other bodily sensation systems.

When multisensory information disintegrates at this region of the cerebral cortex, it can lead to the bodily illusions that are tied to OBEs, including a sense of body reduplication, a difference in location between the body and the self, and a change in perspective to outside the body.

Although these explanations for OBEs are unlikely to be the only reasons people experience this phenomenon, they indicate that malfunctions in the body’s sensory systems are often the cause of OBEs.

A Word From Verywell

Out-of-body experiences or OBE’s are strange but not all that uncommon. The scientific reasoning behind this phenomenon includes many theories and contributory events. If you have experienced an OBE you probably don’t have to be concerned, however if they occur frequently you may want to talk to your doctor or a mental health professional.

What Happens When You Have an Out-of-Body Experience?

11 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Sellers J.A brief review of studies of out-of-body experiences in both the healthy and pathological populations.Journal of Cognitive Science. 2018;19(4):471–491.Bünning S, Blanke O.The out-of body experience: Precipitating factors and neural correlates.Prog Brain Res. 2005;150:331-350. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50024-4Blanke O, Faivre N, Dieguez S.Leaving body and life behind:Out-of-body and near-death experience. In: Laureys S, Gosseries O, Tononi G, eds.The Neurology of Conciousness: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropathology. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2016:323-347. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800948-2.00020-0Blanke O.Out of body experiences and their neural basis.BMJ. 2004;329(7480):1414-1415. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1414Onion, A.What causes spooky out-of-body experiences?Scientific American. 2017.De Foe A, van Doorn G, Symmons M.Research note: Induced out-of-body experiences are associated with a sensation of leaving the body.Australian Journal of Parapsychology. 2012;12(2):177-185.West RL, Otto Q, Drennan IR, et al.CPR-related cognitive activity, consciousness, awareness and recall, and its management: A scoping review.Resusc Plus. 2022;10:100241. doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2022.100241Lopez C, Elzière M.Out-of-body experience in vestibular disorders – A prospective study of 210 patients with dizziness.Cortex. 2018;104:193-206. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.026Raypole, C.What Really Happens During an Out-of-body experience?Healthline. 2022.De Foe A.You’ve had an out-of-body experience, but what kind?The Conversation. 2013.Blanke O, Arzy S.The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction.The Neuroscientist. 2005;11(1):16-24. doi:10.1177/1073858404270885

11 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Sellers J.A brief review of studies of out-of-body experiences in both the healthy and pathological populations.Journal of Cognitive Science. 2018;19(4):471–491.Bünning S, Blanke O.The out-of body experience: Precipitating factors and neural correlates.Prog Brain Res. 2005;150:331-350. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50024-4Blanke O, Faivre N, Dieguez S.Leaving body and life behind:Out-of-body and near-death experience. In: Laureys S, Gosseries O, Tononi G, eds.The Neurology of Conciousness: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropathology. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2016:323-347. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800948-2.00020-0Blanke O.Out of body experiences and their neural basis.BMJ. 2004;329(7480):1414-1415. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1414Onion, A.What causes spooky out-of-body experiences?Scientific American. 2017.De Foe A, van Doorn G, Symmons M.Research note: Induced out-of-body experiences are associated with a sensation of leaving the body.Australian Journal of Parapsychology. 2012;12(2):177-185.West RL, Otto Q, Drennan IR, et al.CPR-related cognitive activity, consciousness, awareness and recall, and its management: A scoping review.Resusc Plus. 2022;10:100241. doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2022.100241Lopez C, Elzière M.Out-of-body experience in vestibular disorders – A prospective study of 210 patients with dizziness.Cortex. 2018;104:193-206. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.026Raypole, C.What Really Happens During an Out-of-body experience?Healthline. 2022.De Foe A.You’ve had an out-of-body experience, but what kind?The Conversation. 2013.Blanke O, Arzy S.The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction.The Neuroscientist. 2005;11(1):16-24. doi:10.1177/1073858404270885

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Sellers J.A brief review of studies of out-of-body experiences in both the healthy and pathological populations.Journal of Cognitive Science. 2018;19(4):471–491.Bünning S, Blanke O.The out-of body experience: Precipitating factors and neural correlates.Prog Brain Res. 2005;150:331-350. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50024-4Blanke O, Faivre N, Dieguez S.Leaving body and life behind:Out-of-body and near-death experience. In: Laureys S, Gosseries O, Tononi G, eds.The Neurology of Conciousness: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropathology. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2016:323-347. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800948-2.00020-0Blanke O.Out of body experiences and their neural basis.BMJ. 2004;329(7480):1414-1415. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1414Onion, A.What causes spooky out-of-body experiences?Scientific American. 2017.De Foe A, van Doorn G, Symmons M.Research note: Induced out-of-body experiences are associated with a sensation of leaving the body.Australian Journal of Parapsychology. 2012;12(2):177-185.West RL, Otto Q, Drennan IR, et al.CPR-related cognitive activity, consciousness, awareness and recall, and its management: A scoping review.Resusc Plus. 2022;10:100241. doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2022.100241Lopez C, Elzière M.Out-of-body experience in vestibular disorders – A prospective study of 210 patients with dizziness.Cortex. 2018;104:193-206. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.026Raypole, C.What Really Happens During an Out-of-body experience?Healthline. 2022.De Foe A.You’ve had an out-of-body experience, but what kind?The Conversation. 2013.Blanke O, Arzy S.The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction.The Neuroscientist. 2005;11(1):16-24. doi:10.1177/1073858404270885

Sellers J.A brief review of studies of out-of-body experiences in both the healthy and pathological populations.Journal of Cognitive Science. 2018;19(4):471–491.

Bünning S, Blanke O.The out-of body experience: Precipitating factors and neural correlates.Prog Brain Res. 2005;150:331-350. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50024-4

Blanke O, Faivre N, Dieguez S.Leaving body and life behind:Out-of-body and near-death experience. In: Laureys S, Gosseries O, Tononi G, eds.The Neurology of Conciousness: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropathology. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2016:323-347. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800948-2.00020-0

Blanke O.Out of body experiences and their neural basis.BMJ. 2004;329(7480):1414-1415. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1414

Onion, A.What causes spooky out-of-body experiences?Scientific American. 2017.

De Foe A, van Doorn G, Symmons M.Research note: Induced out-of-body experiences are associated with a sensation of leaving the body.Australian Journal of Parapsychology. 2012;12(2):177-185.

West RL, Otto Q, Drennan IR, et al.CPR-related cognitive activity, consciousness, awareness and recall, and its management: A scoping review.Resusc Plus. 2022;10:100241. doi:10.1016/j.resplu.2022.100241

Lopez C, Elzière M.Out-of-body experience in vestibular disorders – A prospective study of 210 patients with dizziness.Cortex. 2018;104:193-206. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.026

Raypole, C.What Really Happens During an Out-of-body experience?Healthline. 2022.

De Foe A.You’ve had an out-of-body experience, but what kind?The Conversation. 2013.

Blanke O, Arzy S.The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction.The Neuroscientist. 2005;11(1):16-24. doi:10.1177/1073858404270885

Meet Our Review Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit

What is your feedback?