In a recent study, a neuroscientist named Christopher Lopez from Aix-Marseille Universite and a vestibular disorder doctor named Maya Elziere teamed up to study and compare 210 patients with dizziness and with 210 patients with no dizziness.
Out of the 210 patients who experienced dizziness, 14% said they also experienced OBE's. On the other hand, only 5% of those who did not experience dizziness claimed they regularly experienced OBE's. Interestingly, those patients who experienced dizziness, as well as depression or anxiety, were more likely to experience an OBE.
Researchers of this study believe that OBE's could be caused by damage to people's ears, or more specifically, the vestibular system in the inner ear that aids people in controlling balance and eye movements.
Vestibular system problems often result in dizziness and floating sensations. It's also worth mentioning that the study found that most patients only experienced OBE's after having experienced dizziness for the first time.
The study concluded that:
OBE in patients with dizziness may arise from a combination of perceptual incoherence evoked by the vestibular dysfunction with psychological factors (depersonalization-derealization, depression and anxiety) and neurological factors (migraine).
Jim Singleton
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