Renaud Evrard is a French clinical psychologist whose work concerns the clinical, historical and theoretical aspects of psi experiences. His contributions range from exceptional-experience theory to telepathy, near-death states, pre-birth communication and bereavement contacts, all framed by a concern with how people integrate disruptive experiences.
- Evrard’s paradigmatic breakdown model treats exceptional experiences as shocks to a person’s worldview rather than straightforward signs of pathology.
- His work reconnects psi research with clinical practice, psychoanalytic theory and the history of French psychology.
- Recent studies and publications address near-death experiences, pre-birth communication, after-death contacts, voice-hearing and Romantic precursors of parapsychology.
Contents
- Life and Career
- Parapsychological Research
- Model of Exceptional Experiences
- Neuroimaging Psi Studies
- Pierre Janet
- Telepathy and Psychotherapy
- Near-Death Experiences
- Exceptional Experiences and the Emergence of Spirituality
- Pre-Birth Communication
- Experiences with Deceased Loved Ones
- Voice-Hearing
- Rorschach and Psi
- Embodiment and Near-Death Experience
- Novalis and Magical Idealism
- Books
- Works Cited
- Endnotes
Life and Career
Renaud Evrard obtained a Master’s degree in psychology from the University of Strasbourg in 2007 and a PhD from the University of Rouen in 2012, comparing and contrasting psychotic and exceptional experiences in adults and adolescents. From 2009 to 2015 he was a full-time clinical psychologist at the Regional Hospital Centre Metz-Thionville. Since 2015 he has been maître de conférences HDR in psychology at the University of Lorraine, France, having obtained the habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR), a senior qualification in the French academic system. He is affiliated with the associated Laboratoire Interpsy, a laboratory that develops mutually convergent approaches from clinical and interactional psychology and attempts to understand paranormal experiences within subjective and environmental contexts.
He is also co-founder, with Thomas Rabeyron, and a member of the Center for Information, Research and Counseling on Exceptional Experiences (CIRCEE). He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Cognition, the Journal of Parapsychology, L’Évolution Psychiatrique and HEGEL.
Evrard was elected president of the Parapsychological Association in 2019 and co-edited its bulletin Mindfield with Annalisa Ventola and Nikolaos Koumartzis from 2018 to 2024. His awards include the 2009 Gertrude Schmeidler Outstanding Student Award from the Parapsychological Association, the 2008 Eileen J Garrett Scholarship from the Parapsychology Foundation, the 2017 PA Book Award for La légende de l’esprit, and the 2024 PA Book Award for Expériences de mort imminente.
Parapsychological Research
Model of Exceptional Experiences
Evrard describes a model that attempts to accommodate exceptional experiences as deconstructions of a person’s worldview, which he terms the ‘paradigmatic breakdown’. The model develops several lines of independent thinking about the ontology of exceptional experiences; at its heart is the tenet that someone’s ‘reality’ is a representation, or model, of the underlying ‘real’. Evrard regards each person’s worldview as a ‘global variable’, and an exceptional experience as a ‘local variable’ that clashes with it. This resonates with psychologist John Mack’s ontological crisis/shock response to such experiences, in which a person’s worldview is shattered. Evrard is cautious about encouraging paranormal labels for such experiences and encourages definitions of exceptional experiences in broad terms that avoid assuming a paranormal reality.1Evrard (2015).
Neuroimaging Psi Studies
With Rabeyron and David Acunzo, Evrard reviewed neuroimaging psi data. They considered six functional neuroimaging studies of distant intentionality or telepathy, in which a remotely located individual attempts to send information to, or simply focus on, a receiver, as well as a brain-imaging precognition study. They found the overall evidential base to be quite high, with only one negative study, but marred by poor methodology. Accordingly, they proposed improvements in experimental rigour: counterbalancing of trials, proper randomisation techniques, adequate shielding between receiver and external environment, and sufficient statistical power through the recruitment of enough subjects.2Acunzo et al. (2013).
Pierre Janet
Evrard has profiled significant figures in the history of psi research. With Etzel Cardeña and Erika Pratte, he discusses the role Pierre Janet – one of the founding figures of French psychology – had in establishing the study of psychical ‘marvels’ at the turn of the twentieth century. Evrard discusses how Janet’s interest in psychical research was eventually supplanted by a more conservative attitude and a desire to protect the nascent field of conventional psychology from harm that might result from association with its more esoteric sibling. In the process, he illuminates the development of French psychology and its eschewing of all things paranormal,3Evrard et al. (2018). a history described in fuller detail in Evrard’s book on French parapsychology.4Evrard (2016).
Telepathy and Psychotherapy
In a paper co-authored in 2021,5Rabeyron et al. (2021). Evrard discusses Freud’s writings on thought-transference and its relationship with psychotherapy. The concept of telepathy has influenced several psychoanalytic concepts, including transference (redirecting emotions experienced during childhood to a substitute, typically a therapist) and projective identification (projecting qualities that are unacceptable to the self onto another person). Evrard and his co-authors discuss the epistemological implications of telepathy and its integration within contemporary psychoanalytic theory.
Near-Death Experiences
Evrard and co-authors consider how our understanding of the near-death experience (NDE) can be informed by historical accounts. In a typical modern account, NDEs occur during a life-threatening emergency; however, in several historical accounts, an individual faced with the prospect of death summons outstanding intellectual and physical abilities to escape. This ‘energy of despair’ also seems to occur in a subset of contemporary NDE accounts, as the experient becomes aware of the imminent prospect of death. Evrard discusses these accounts in the context of psychodynamic theory that incorporates both psychology and evolutionary theory, proposing that NDEs in their simplest manifestation might hold survival value.6Evrard, Toutain et al. (2019).
The same paper describes ‘fear-death’ experiences in which individuals facing the danger of death discovered new abilities that helped them survive. Evrard and co-authors compare these with NDE accounts, concluding that they may be part of the same continuum. His 2024 book Expériences de mort imminente, written with the collaboration of Ronald Beurms and published by Albin Michel, is a major clinical and theoretical treatment of this theme; it was awarded the 2024 Parapsychological Association Book Award.7Evrard, with Beurms (2024).
Exceptional Experiences and the Emergence of Spirituality
Evrard discusses research that shows a high prevalence in the general population of paranormal or exceptional experiences that can appear psychotic. Treating them in this way imposes a stigma on the experience, even when it is positive or helpful. To avoid this, the experiencer seeks out alternative worldviews that can accommodate the experience without shame and insecurity. Evrard therefore encourages healthcare professionals to be circumspect in such situations and help clients integrate their experience into a more holistic worldview before prematurely closing it down as pathological.8Evrard (2012). Evrard develops this argument more fully elsewhere, arguing that standard psychopathological classifications such as dissociation, trauma and schizotypy fail to account for positive exceptional experiences.9Evrard (2013a).
Pre-Birth Communication
Evrard and co-workers have described the first known attempts to communicate psychically with the consciousness of a foetus during pregnancy, motivated by traditional beliefs that human consciousness may be present before birth.10Guittier et al. (2023). In this well-controlled exploratory study, employing a triple-blind design, mediums posed questions to 11 pre-birth infants, collecting a total of 1,500 statements. Information given spontaneously was found to correspond to subsequent parental reports more closely than answers to structured questions, at 69.4% and 17.6% respectively. The authors conclude that communication with pre-birth consciousness is possible and encourage future research in this area.
Experiences with Deceased Loved Ones
A paper published in 2021,11Evrard et al. (2021). co-authored with Callum Cooper and Chris Roe at the University of Northampton, describes an online questionnaire study of after-death contacts by deceased loved ones. One hundred and eight testimonies were collected. Most of the messages conveyed by the deceased to the living were positive and had a beneficial psychological impact. Even those experienced as frightening proved to be catalysts for positive bereavement. The authors conclude that such reports support the Continuing Bonds Model, which emphasises the benefits of continuing a healthy relationship with a loved one who has died, rather than the Rupture Model, which encourages acceptance of death.
Voice-Hearing
In a 2024 paper in History of Psychiatry, Evrard and colleagues trace the evolving Western perception of voice-hearing from antiquity to the present day. Drawing on nine databases, the review finds that hearing voices was originally regarded as a form of privileged access to the divine; the progressive influence of monotheistic religion and, later, secular psychiatry attached successive layers of stigma to the phenomenon. More recently, the emergence of the Hearing Voices Movement has begun to rehabilitate the experience as something other than a symptom of psychosis.12Evrard et al. (2024).
Rorschach and Psi
Evrard has used the Rorschach inkblot test as a lens through which to examine psi claims, presenting a paper at the 2022 PA-SSE Annual Convention that explored the potential value of projective techniques in parapsychological assessment. The approach reflects his longstanding interest in bridging clinical psychology and psi research rather than treating them as separate enterprises.13Evrard (2022).
Embodiment and Near-Death Experience
A 2023 paper in Mind & Matter examines whether near-death experiences are best understood as induced by deficits in embodiment – that is, whether the dissolution of the normal sense of inhabiting a body is sufficient to account for NDE phenomenology. Evrard reviews the neurological and phenomenological evidence critically, concluding that deficit-based accounts leave significant aspects of the experience unexplained.14Evrard (2023a).
Novalis and Magical Idealism
In a 2025 paper in the Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition, Evrard rehabilitates the German Romantic poet and natural philosopher Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis, 1772–1801) as an overlooked precursor to theoretical parapsychology. Novalis reported personal experiences of the apparition of his dead fiancée, practised animal magnetism, and developed a metaphysics he called ‘magical idealism’ – an attempt to resolve the opposition between subject and object that Evrard argues converges with modern dual-aspect monist approaches to psi.15Evrard (2025).
Books
Evrard has written and edited extensively for both academic and general audiences. La légende de l’esprit (2016) surveys 150 years of French parapsychology and won the 2017 PA Book Award. Phénomènes inexpliqués (2023, HumenSciences) is an accessible overview of unexplained phenomena for a general readership. Expériences de mort imminente (2024, Albin Michel) is his major clinical and theoretical treatment of near-death experiences, and won the 2024 PA Book Award. In 2025, he co-directed the Grand manuel de parapsychologie scientifique (Dunod), a substantial reference work intended as a comprehensive scientific survey of the field for French-speaking readers.16Evrard (2016); Evrard (2023b); Evrard, with Beurms (2024); Berghmans et al. (2025).
Michael Duggan
Works Cited
Acunzo, D.J., Evrard, R., & Rabeyron, T. (2013). Anomalous experiences, psi and functional neuroimaging. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7, 893. [Full paper.]
Berghmans, C., Evrard, R., & Rabeyron, P.-L. (eds.). (2025). Grand manuel de parapsychologie scientifique. Paris: Dunod. [Book page.]
Evrard, R. (2012). Spirituality as an anti-psychopathological discourse on exceptional experiences. In Handbook on Spirituality: Belief Systems, Societal Impact and Roles in Coping, ed. by C.A. Stark & D.C. Bonner, 279-89. New York: Nova Science Publishers. [Book page.]
Evrard, R. (2013a). Psychopathologie et expériences exceptionnelles: Une revue de la littérature. L’Évolution Psychiatrique 78/1, 155-76. [Abstract.]
Evrard, R. (2013b). Phénomènes inexpliqués. Paris: HumenSciences. [Book page.]
Evrard, R. (2015). The paradigmatic breakdown: A model to define the ExE dynamics. Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology 3/1, 21-33. [Full paper.]
Evrard, R. (2016). La légende de l’esprit: Enquête sur 150 ans de parapsychologie. Escalquens: Éditions Trajectoire. [Book page.]
Evrard, R. (2022). Rorschach inkblot test and parapsychology. Presentation at the PA-SSE Annual Convention, June 2022. [PDF Download.]
Evrard, R. (2023). Are near-death experiences induced deficit correlations in embodiment? Mind & Matter 21/1, 45-63. [Abstract.]
Evrard, R. (2025). Novalis and magical idealism: A forgotten pioneer of parapsychology? Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition 5/1, 70-97. [Full paper.]
Evrard, R., with Beurms, R. (2024). Expériences de mort imminente. Paris: Albin Michel. [Book page.]
Evrard, R., Beauvais, B., Essadek, A., Lighezzolo-Alnot, J., & Clesse, C. (2024). Neither saintly nor psychotic: A narrative systematic review of the evolving Western perception of voice hearing. History of Psychiatry 35/2, 177-95. [Full paper.]
Evrard, R., Dollander, M., Elsaesser, E., Cooper, C., Lorimer, D., & Roe, C. (2021). Exceptional necrophanic experiences and paradoxical mourning: Studies of the phenomenology and the repercussions of frightening experiences of contact with the deceased. L’Évolution Psychiatrique 86/4, 799-824. [Abstract.]
Evrard, R., Pratte, E.A., & Cardeña, E. (2018). Pierre Janet and the enchanted boundary of psychical research. History of Psychology 21/2, 100-25. [Abstract.]
Evrard, R., Toutain, C., Glazier, J.W., & Le Maléfan, P. (2019). The energy of despair: Do near-death experiences have an evolutionary value? Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice 6/2, 184-99. [Abstract.]
Guittier, M.J., Wahbeh, H., Eykerman, M., & Evrard, R. (2023). Near birth experience: An exploratory study on the communication experiences with a hypothetical prenatal consciousness. EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing 19/4, 544-52. [Abstract.]
Rabeyron, T., Evrard, R., & Massicotte, C. (2021). Psychoanalysis and telepathic processes. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 69/3, 535-71. [Abstract.]