Ghosts, Meaning, and Faith: After-Death Communications in Bereavement Narratives

Abstract

After-death communications (ADCs) are reported encounters with a deceased loved one, a contemporary type of ghost experience heralded as therapeutic in coping with bereavement. Pertinent literature generally illustrates the healing power of ADCs with brief self-contained episodes. The functions of ADCs over the course of grief need exploration. To that end, this article analyzes 20 published book-length autobiographical stories of bereavement in which authors report ADCs. Two functional patterns are identified--instantaneous relief from painful grief symptoms and reinforcement of a consoling religious worldview. The second dynamic links ADCs to meaning-making and religious coping within Christian and Spiritualist frameworks.

Unresolved mourning, supernatural beliefs and dissociation: a mediation analysis

“…During normal bereavement, the need to maintain attachment relationships increase and, for some, attachment-seeking efforts include communicating with ghosts or apparitions of the deceased (Kwilecki, 2011) or sensing the presence of the deceased during daily activities (Steffen & Coyle, 2011). Study findings have suggested that these supernatural experiences may compensate for anxious attachment experiences from early childhood.…”

Still part of the family: The importance of physical, emotional and spiritual memorial places and spaces for parents bereaved through the suicide death of their son or daughter

“…While such discussions would usually be outside the social norm, these parents did not feel that it was unusual for them to be experiencing such phenomena, often in the form of after-death communications. Such experiences were reported to offer pain relief to bereaved people (Kwilecki, 2011). Discussions about ritual and supernatural phenomena voiced the parents' sense of the continuation of the emotional connection developed with their child during their life that had continued.…”

Continuing Bonds Through After-Death Spiritual Experiences in Individuals Bereaved by Suicide

“…R. Jahn and S. Spencer-Thomas relationship continues with an evolving mental and emotional connection (Kwilecki, 2011). This continuing bond can happen on two levels (Gee, 2009).…”