Updated 1 year ago
The suggestion that some violent suicides are scripted by a traumatic birth relates to theories that the near-death experience (NDE) is a re-activation of birth memories in symbolic form. Like birth, NDE’s involve travel through a tunnel into light. Some are blissful but others involve panic and paranoia. New data show fetal memory at 20 weeks, and adults have appeared to re-experience birth in LSD and ketamine research.
The birth trauma frequently appeared as a core imprint, described by Stanislav Grof in 4 parts:
(1) The amniotic universe: no boundaries. The re-experiencing adult describes ocean, galaxy, heaven, cosmic unity beyond time and space. Arriving toxins or lack of nourishment link with images of poison, danger, and evil forces.
(2) Engulfment and no exit: stage 1 of delivery. There are contractions but the cervix is closed so there is no way out. Symbolism includes engulfment and imminent disaster, expulsion from Eden, the sense of original sin (to have deserved this fate) and hell: entrapment in a claustrophobic, endless nightmare of pain from which escape is impossible.
(3) The death-rebirth struggle: contractions continue but the cervix is dilated. The baby moves through the birth canal, struggling against suffocation and compression. Symbolism includes a titanic struggle with energy building up towards explosive release, cataclysm, with sadomasochistic, aggressive elements. The person may identify with both killer and victim, relevant to violent suicide.
(4) The death-rebirth experience: Tension is released, the child is born into light. In adults, annihilation of all previous reference points, ego death, is followed by rebirth: visions of white light, arriving in paradise, and positive feelings about self, others and life. The stages may not be worked through sequentially and may be repeated many times.
A ‘re-doing’ of birth within a therapeutic alliance allows some resolution of the trauma. Ego death can resolve a deep sense of inadequacy, an unrealistic need to be prepared for hidden dangers, and a compulsion to be in control linked to negative aspects of birth. NDE’s can be followed by more joy in living, less anxiety and neurosis, and a sharp fall in suicide attempts. In over 1,000 patients, death-rebirth psychotherapy using ketamine has had good results at long-term follow-up.
The safe induction of NDE’s for psychotherapeutic purposes, as may be achieved with anesthetics and guided imagery, may offer a powerful treatment for those at risk: a brief ego death that may be life-saving.
Source: Karl Jansen, November 18, 1998
