Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are typically associated with individuals who have certain kinds of dissociative or post traumatic disorders. Though people who are generally in good health also report having OBEs, the experience is poorly understood. Often, out-of-body experiences are met by others with skepticism and stigma.A new study, published in the July 2011 issue of Cortex, has shown that OBEs are related to anomalies in the neural systems in the brain's temporal lobes - and that the body's sense of itself, called body awareness, misfires. Data from this study has enabled scientists to better understand how normal "in-the-body" mental processes work... and why, when they break down, they produce such striking experiences.
We know that epilepsy, headaches and seizures have a basis in brain neuro-circuitry, but psychological disorders also greatly influence the workings of the brain. Trauma, anxiety, depression and dissociation can have a profound effect, with out-of-body experiences being one of them.
Now science backs this up.
