International Association For Near Death Studies – IANDS

Specialties

IANDS is an educational nonprofit 501©(3) organization that focuses most of its resources into providing the highest quality information available about near-​death experience (NDE) related subjects. It is the only such membership group in the world.

Mission

IANDS’ purpose is to promote responsible, multi-​disciplinary exploration of near-​death and similar experiences, their effects on people’s lives, and their implications for beliefs about life, death, and human purpose. Where scholarship does not indicate a reasonably clear position on the origin or interpretation of these experiences, we remain impartial and open to the presentation of varying points of view; however, while all personal beliefs will be respected, IANDS is under no obligation to consider them all equally supportable. Whatever the viewpoint, IANDS never supports proselytizing.

History

Established in 1981.

The pioneering work of psychiatrists Elisabeth Kübler-​Ross, Raymond Moody, Jr. and George Ritchie brought near-​death experiences to public attention in the 1970’s. During the years that followed, research studies by Kenneth Ring, PhD, Michael Sabom, MD, Bruce Greyson, MD, and others extended the early findings and stimulated additional interest in the field.

To meet the needs of early researchers and experiencers, IANDS was founded in 1978 and incorporated in Connecticut in 1981. It was the first organization in the world devoted to the study of near-​death and similar experiences and their relationship to human consciousness. Today its varied membership represents every continent but the Antarctic.