Paul Matthews and Hannah Young who is looking into near-death experiences among Northland Maori. Mr Matthews is a member of the Maori Advisory Panel formed to ensure her study was culturally appropriate. Photo / Supplied
A young Northland woman is researching near-death experiences among Northland Maori in a bid to find out if culture impacts what people see when they are close to death.
Hannah Young said as many as one in five people had visions during a near-death experience, but because international research was
focused mainly on European cultures she said it was unknown if different cultures had different experiences.
So, the 24-year-old from Opua decided to look into it for the thesis part of her Masters of Psychology she is studying at Massey University.
"A near-death experience can be someone who has had a heart attack and been pronounced clinically dead but is successfully resuscitated. Sometimes they will say they've seen a bright light and heard the doctors talking or have gone out of their body and seen themselves."
Miss Young said a near-death experience could also affect someone who was close to death. For example, she said someone who was in a serious car crash might experience watching the crash from the sideline. She has six Northland Maori participating in her research and has interviewed four so far.
