auditory-verbal hallucination; persistent complex bereavement disorder; population; sense of presence; Humans; Bereavement; Hallucinations/diagnosis; Hallucinations/etiology; Hallucinations/physiopathology; Interpersonal Relations; Mental Disorders/diagnosis; Mental Disorders/etiology; Mental Disorders/physiopathology; Hallucinations; Mental Disorders; Psychiatry and Mental Health
Abstract :
[en] Bereaved people often report having sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased (SED), and there is an ongoing debate over whether SED are associated with pathology, such as grief complications. Research into these experiences has been conducted in various disciplines, including psychiatry, psychology, and anthropology, without much crossover. This review brings these areas of research together, drawing on the expertise of an interdisciplinary working group formed as part of the International Consortium for Hallucination Research (ICHR). It examines existing evidence on the phenomenology, associated factors, and impact of SED, including the role of culture, and discusses the main theories on SED and how these phenomena compare with unusual experiences in other contexts. The review concludes that the vast majority of these experiences are benign and that they should be considered in light of their biographical, relational, and sociocultural contexts.
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
Kamp, Karina Stengaard; Department of Psychology and Behavioural Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Steffen, Edith Maria; Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
Alderson-Day, Ben; Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK
Allen, Paul; Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK ; Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK
Austad, Anne; Faculty of Theology, Diaconia and Leadership Studies, VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway
Hayes, Jacqueline; Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
Laroi, Frank ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie ; Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway ; Norwegian Centre of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Ratcliffe, Matthew; Department of Philosophy, University of York, York, UK
Sabucedo, Pablo ; Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
Language :
English
Title :
Sensory and Quasi-Sensory Experiences of the Deceased in Bereavement: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Review.
Datson SL, Marwit SJ. Personality constructs and perceived presence of deceased loved ones. Death Stud. 1997;21(2):131-146.
Rees WD. The hallucinations of widowhood. Br Med J. 1971;4(5778):37-41.
Hayes J, Leudar I. Experiences of continued presence: on the practical consequences of 'hallucinations' in bereavement. Psychol Psychother. 2016;89(2):194-210.
Grimby A. Bereavement among elderly people: grief reactions, post-bereavement hallucinations and quality of life. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1993;87(1):72-80.
Kamp KS, O'Connor M, Spindler H, Moskowitz A. Bereavement hallucinations after the loss of a spouse: associations with psychopathological measures, personality and coping style. Death Stud. 2019;43(4):260-269.
Carlsson ME, Nilsson IM. Bereaved spouses' adjustment after the patients' death in palliative care. Palliat Support Care. 2007;5(4):397-404.
Longman AJ, Lindstrom B, Clark M. Sensory-perceptual experiences of bereaved individuals. Additional cues for survivors. Am J Hosp Care. 1988;5(4):42-45.
Olson PR, Suddeth JA, Peterson PJ, Egelhoff C. Hallucinations of widowhood. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1985;33(8):543-547.
Frith CD. The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia. Hove: Psychology Press; 1992.
Halligan PW, Marshall JC. The wise prophet makes sure of the event first: hallucinations, amnesia and delusions. In: Halligan PW, Marshall JC, eds. Method in Madness: Case Studies in Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. Hove: Psychology Press; 1996. 237-266.
Steffen E, Coyle A. Sense of presence experiences and meaning-making in bereavement: a qualitative analysis. Death Stud. 2011;35(7):579-609.
Kwilecki S. Ghosts, meaning, and faith: after-death communications in bereavement narratives. Death Stud. 2011;35(3):219-243.
Houck J. The universal, multiple, and exclusive experiences of after-death communication. J Near-Death Stud. 2005;24(2):117-127.
Jahn DR, Spencer-Thomas S. Continuing bonds through after-death spiritual experiences in individuals bereaved by suicide. J Spiritual Ment Health. 2014;16(4):311-324.
Chan CL, Chow AY, Ho SM, et al. The experience of Chinese bereaved persons: a preliminary study of meaning making and continuing bonds. Death Stud. 2005;29(10):923-947.
Sabucedo P, Evans C, Gaitanidis A, Hayes J. When experiences of presence go awry: a survey on psychotherapy practice with the ambivalent-to-distressing "hallucination" of the deceased. Psychol Psychother. 2020. doi:10.1111/papt.12285
Parker JS. Extraordinary experiences of the bereaved and adaptive outcomes of grief. Omega (Westport). 5;51(4):257-283.
Putsch RW 3rd. Ghost illness: a cross-cultural experience with the expression of a non-western tradition in clinical practice. Am Indian Alsk Native Ment Health Res. 1988;2(2):6-26.
Baethge C. Grief hallucinations: true or pseudo? Serious or not? Psychopathology. 2002;35(5):296-302.
Kersting A. The psychodynamics of grief hallucinations - a psychopathological phenomenon of normal and pathological grief. Psychopathology. 2004;37(1):50-51.
Field NP, Filanosky C. Continuing bonds, risk factors for complicated grief, and adjustment to bereavement. Death Stud. 2010;34(1):1-29.
Nagel JK. Unresolved grief and mourning in Navajo women. Am Indian Alsk Native Ment Health Res. 1988;2(2):32-40.
Matchett WF. Repeated hallucinatory experiences as a part of the mourning process among Hopi Indian women. Psychiatry. 1972;35(2):185-194.
Stevenson I. Do we need a new word to supplement 'hallucination'? Am J Psychiatry. 1983;140:1609-1611.
MacDonald WL. Idionecrophanies: the social construction of perceived contact with the dead. J Sci Study Relig. 1992;31(2):215-223.
Sanger M. When clients sense the presence of loved ones who have died. Omega (Westport). 2009;59(1):69-89.
Kalish RA, Reynolds DK. Phenomenological reality and postdeath contact. J Sci Study of Religion. 1973;12(2):209-221.
Klugman CM. Dead men talking: evidence of post death contact and continuing bonds. Omega (Westport). 2006;53(3):249-262.
Troyer JM. Older widowers and postdeath encounters: a qualitative investigation. Death Stud. 2014;38(6-10):637-647.
Bennett G, Bennett KM. The presence of the dead: an empirical study. Mortality. 2000;5(2):139-157.
Conant R. Memories of the death and life of a spouse: the role of images and sense of presence in grief. In: Klass D, Silverman PR, Nickman SL, eds. Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. London: Taylor & Francis; 1996: 179-196.
Doran G, Downing Hansen N. Constructions of Mexican American family grief after the death of a child: an exploratory study. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2006;12(2):199-211.
Epstein R, Kalus C, Berger M. The continuing bond of the bereaved towards the deceased and adjustment to loss. Mortality. 2006;11(3):253-269.
Yamamoto J, Okonogi K, Iwasaki T, Yoshimura S. Mourning in Japan. Am J Psychiatry. 1969;125(12):1660-1665.
Simon-Buller S, Christopherson VA, Jones RA. Correlates of sensing the presence of a deceased spouse. Omega (Westport). 1989;19(1):21-30.
Keen C, Murray CD, Payne S. A qualitative exploration of sensing the presence of the deceased following bereavement. Mortality. 2013;18(4):339-357.
Cooper CE. Considering anomalous events during bereavement as evidence for survival. In: Klass D, Steffen EM, eds. Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge; 2018: 201-213.
Lindstrøm TC. Experiencing the presence of the dead: discrepancies in "the sensing experience" and their psychological concomitants. Omega (Westport). 1995;31(1):11-21.
Daggett LM. Continued encounters: the experience of afterdeath communication. J Holist Nurs. 2005;23(2):191-207.
Sormanti M, August J. Parental bereavement: spiritual connections with deceased children. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1997;67(3):460-469.
Shepard GH Jr. Three days for weeping: dreams, emotions, and death in the Peruvian Amazon. Med Anthropol Q. 2002;16(2):200-229.
Taylor AC. Remembering to forget: identity, mourning and memory among the Jivaro. Man. 1993;28(4):653-678.
Simon NM, Wall MM, Keshaviah A, Dryman MT, LeBlanc NJ, Shear MK. Informing the symptom profile of complicated grief. Depress Anxiety. 2011;28(2):118-126.
Shimizu K, Kikuchi S, Kobayashi T, Kato S. Persistent complex bereavement disorder: clinical utility and classification of the category proposed for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition. Psychogeriatrics. 2017;17(1):17-24.
Hastings A. Effects on bereavement using a restricted sensory environment (psychomanteum). J Trans Psychol. 2012;44(1):1-25.
Persinger MA. The neuropsychiatry of paranormal experiences. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2001;13(4):515-524.
González D, Carvalho M, Cantillo J, Aixalá M, Farré M. Potential use of ayahuasca in grief therapy. Omega (Westport). 2019;79(3):260-285.
Sidgwick H, Johnson A, Myers FWH, Podmore F, Sidgwick EM. Report on the census of hallucinations. Proc Soc Psyc Res. 1894;34:25-394.
Freud S. Mourning and melancholia. In: Strachey J, ed. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. XIV. London: Hogarth Press; 1917: 252-268.
Bowlby J. Attachment and Loss. Loss: Sadness and Depression. London: Pimlico; 1998.
Parkes CM. Bereavement: Studies of Grief in Adult Life. London: Tavistock; 1972.
Steffen E, Coyle A. "Sense of presence" experiences in bereavement and their relationship to mental health: a critical examination of a continuing controversy. In: Murray C, ed. Mental Health and Anomalous Experience. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers; 2012: 33-56.
Steffen E, Coyle A. Can "sense of presence" experiences in bereavement be conceptualised as spiritual phenomena? Ment Health Relig Cult. 2010;13(3):273-291.
Castelnovo A, Cavallotti S, Gambini O, D'Agostino A. Post-bereavement hallucinatory experiences: a critical overview of population and clinical studies. J Affect Disord. 2015;186:266-274.
Sabucedo P, Evans C, Hayes J. Perceiving those who are gone: cultural research on post-bereavement perception or hallucination of the deceased. Transcult Psychiatry. https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/ perceiving-those-who-are-gone-cultural-research-on-postbereaveme.
Kamp K, Spindler H. Sorghallucinationer eller sanseoplevelser? Psyke & Logos. 2019;39(1):110-126.
Keen C, Murray C, Payne S. Sensing the presence of the deceased: a narrative review. Ment Health Relig Cult. 2013;16(4):384-402.
Austad A. "Passing away - passing by": A qualitative study of experiences and meaning making of post death presence [PhD thesis]. Oslo: MF Norwegian School of Theology; 2015.
Tyson-Rawson K. Relationship and heritage: manifestations of ongoing attachment following father death. In: Klass D, Silverman PR, Nikman S, eds. Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Bristol, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1996: 125-145.
Grimby A. Hallucinations following the loss of a spouse: common and normal events among the elderly. J Clin Geropsychol. 1998;4(1):65-74.
West DJ. A mass-observation questionnaire on hallucinations. J Am Soc Psych Res. 1948;34(644-645):187-196.
Hayes J. Experiencing the presence of the deceased: symptoms, spirits, or ordinary life? [PhD thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2011.
McCarthy-Jones S, Thomas N, Strauss C, et al. Better than mermaids and stray dogs? Subtyping auditory verbal hallucinations and its implications for research and practice. Schizophr Bull. 2014;40 (Suppl 4):S275-S284.
Nayani TH, David AS. The auditory hallucination: a phenomenological survey. Psychol Med. 1996;26(1):177-189.
Larøi F. The phenomenological diversity of hallucinations: some theoretical and clinical implications. Psychol Belg. 2006;46(1-2):163-183.
Jones SR. Do we need multiple models of auditory verbal hallucinations? Examining the phenomenological fit of cognitive and neurological models. Schizophr Bull. 2010;36(3):566-575.
Leudar I, Thomas P, McNally D, Glinski A. What voices can do with words: pragmatics of verbal hallucinations. Psychol Med. 1997;27(4):885-898.
Leudar I, Thomas P. Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity: Studies of Verbal Hallucinations. Leudar I, Thomas P, eds. London: Routledge; 2000.
Romme M, Escher S, Dillon J, Corstens D. Living With Voices: 50 Stories of Recovery. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS books; 2009.
Ratcliffe M. Real Hallucinations: Psychiatric Illness, Intentionality, and The Interpersonal World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2017.
Ratcliffe M. Sensed presence without sensory qualities: a phenomenological study of bereavement hallucinations. Phenomenol Cogn Sci. 2020. doi:10.1007/s11097-020-09666-2
Simonds JF. Hallucinations in nonpsychotic children and adolescents. J Youth Adolesc. 1975;4(2):171-182.
Balk D. Adolescents' grief reactions and self-concept perceptions following sibling death: a study of 33 teenagers. J Youth Adolesc. 1983;12(2):137-161.
Asai M, Akizuki N, Fujimori M, et al. Psychological states and coping strategies after bereavement among spouses of cancer patients: a quantitative study in Japan. Support Care Cancer. 2012;20(12):3189-3203.
Field NP, Packman W, Ronen R, Pries A, Davies B, Kramer R. Type of continuing bonds expression and its comforting versus distressing nature: implications for adjustment among bereaved mothers. Death Stud. 2013;37(10):889-912.
Foster TL, Gilmer MJ, Davies B, et al. Comparison of continuing bonds reported by parents and siblings after a child's death from cancer. Death Stud. 2011;35(5):420-440.
Fernández-Alcántara M, Zech E. One or multiple complicated grief(s)? The role of kinship on grief reactions. Clin Psychol Sci. 2017;5(5):851-857.
Norichika H. Continuing bonds in the Tohoku disaster area. J Relig Jpn. 2016;5(2-3):199-226.
Larøi F, DeFruyt F, van Os J, Aleman A, Van der Linden M. Associations between hallucinations and personality structure in a non-clinical sample: comparison between young and elderly samples. Pers Individ Dif. 2005;39(1):189-200.
Wulff DM. Mystical experience. In: Cardenã E, Lynn SJ, Krippner S, eds. Varieties of Anomalous Experience. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2000: 397-440.
Klass D. Continuing conversation about continuing bonds. Death Stud. 2006;30(9):843-858.
Holden JM, Lankford C, Holmes L. After-death communication and the biblical fruits of the spirit: an online survey. Spiritual Clin Pract. 2019;6(1):15-26.
Cooper CE. Spontaneous post-death experiences and the cognition of hope: an examination of bereavement and recovery [PhD thesis]. Northampton, UK: University of Northampton; 2017.
Suedfeld P, Geiger J. The sensed presence as a coping resource in extreme environments. In: Ellens JH, ed. Miracles: God, Science, and Psychology in the Paranormal: Parapsychological Perspectives. Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers; 2008: 1-15.
Geiger J. The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible: Edinburgh, UK: Canongate; 2009.
Shelley RA. Sleep Paralysis: Night-Mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection. Adler SR, ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press; 2011.
Davies P, Thomas P, Leudar I. Dialogical engagement with voices: a single case study. Br J Med Psychol. 1999;72 (Pt 2):179-187.
Deamer F, Wilkinson S. The speaker behind the voice: therapeutic practice from the perspective of pragmatic theory. Front Psychol. 2015;6:817.
Steffen E, Coyle A. "I thought they should know ... that daddy is not completely gone": a case study of sense-ofpresence experiences in bereavement and family meaningmaking. Omega (Westport). 2017;74(4):363-385.
Park CL, Benore ER. "You're still there": beliefs in continued relationships with the deceased as unique religious beliefs that may influence coping adjustment. Int J Psychol Relig. 2004;14(1):37-46.
Benore ER, Park CL. Death-specific religious beliefs and bereavement: belief in an afterlife and continued attachment. Int J Psychol Relig. 2004;14(1):1-22.
Valentine C. Identity and continuing bonds in cross-cultural perspectives. In: Klass D, Steffen EM, eds. Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge; 2018. 231-245.
Vachon ML, Rogers J, Lyall WA, Lancee WJ, Sheldon AR, Freeman SJ. Predictors and correlates of adaptation to conjugal bereavement. Am J Psychiatry. 1982;139(8):998-1002.
Feit AJ. Continuing Bonds and Adjustment to Bereavement in a Sample of Conjugally Bereaved Older Adults [PhD thesis]. Palo Alto, CA: Pacific Graduate School of Psychology; 2009.
American Psychological Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013. https:// dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi /book/10.1176/appi. books.9780890425596. Accessed June, 14 2020.
Prigerson HG, Horowitz MJ, Jacobs SC, et al. Prolonged grief disorder: psychometric validation of criteria proposed for DSM-V and ICD-11. PLoS Med. 2009;6(8):e1000121.
World Health Organization. Prolonged Grief Disorder Criteria. World Health Organization; 2018. https://icd.who. int/dev11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/1183832314. Accessed July 15, 2020.
Milman E, Neimeyer RA, Boelen PA. Problematic grief. In: Chapple HS, Servaty-Seib HL, eds. Handbook of Thanatology. 3rd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Association of Death Education and Counseling; (in press).
American Psychological Association. View and Comment on Recently Proposed Changes to DSM-5. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2020. https://www. psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/proposed-changes. Accessed July 14, 2020.
Boelen PA, Eisma MC, Smid GE, Lenferink LIM. Prolonged grief disorder in section II of DSM-5: a commentary. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2020;11(1):1771008.
Boelen PA, Hoijtink H. An item response theory analysis of a measure of complicated grief. Death Stud. 2009;33(2):101-129.
Lee SA. The persistent complex bereavement inventory: a measure based on the DSM-5. Death Stud. 2015;39(7):399-410.
Paulik G. The role of social schema in the experience of auditory hallucinations: a systematic review and a proposal for the inclusion of social schema in a cognitive behavioural model of voice hearing. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2012;19(6):459-472.
Stephane M, Kuskowski M, McClannahan K, Surerus C, Nelson K. Evaluation of speech misattribution bias in schizophrenia. Psychol Med. 2010;40(5):741-748.
Karlsson L-B. "More real than reality": a study of voice hearing. Int J Soc Welf. 2008;17(4):365-373.
Garrison JR, Moseley P, Alderson-Day B, Smailes D, Fernyhough C, Simons JS. Testing continuum models of psychosis: no reduction in source monitoring ability in healthy individuals prone to auditory hallucinations. Cortex. 2017;91:197-207.
Glick ID, Weiss RS, Parkes CM. The First Year of Bereavement. Oxford, England: John Wiley & Sons; 1974.
Klass D, Steffen EM, eds. Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge; 2018.
Klass D, Silverman PR, Nickman SL, eds. Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis; 1996.
Hermans HJM. The Dialogical Self: Meaning as Movement. Kempen HJG, ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1993.
Hermans HJM, Gieser T. Introductory chapter: History, main tenets and core concepts of dialogical self theory. In: Hermans HJM, Gieser T, eds. Handbook of Dialogical Self Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012: 1-22.
Hermans HJ. Between Dreaming and Recognition Seeking the Emergence of Dialogical Self Theory. Lanham, MD: University Press of America; 2012.
Sluzki CE. Saudades at the edge of the self and the merits of 'portable families'. Transcult Psychiatry. 2008;45(3):379-390.
Shimabukuro KP, Daniels J, D'Andrea M. Addressing spiritual issues from a cultural perspective: the case of the grieving Filipino boy. J Multicul Couns Dev. 1999;27(4):221-239.
Aguilar I, Wood VN. Aspects of death, grief and mourning in the treatment of Spanish-speaking mental patients. Paper presented at: 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropology Association; 19-24 November 1974; Mexico City.
Taylor SF. Between the idea and the reality: a study of the counselling experiences of bereaved people who sense the presence of the deceased. Couns Psychother Res. 2005;5(1):53-61.
Hayes J, Steffen EM. Working with welcome and unwelcome presence in grief. In: Klass D, Steffen EM, eds. Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice. New York, NY: Routledge; 2018: 163-175.
Steffen EM, Wilde D, Cooper C. Affirming the positive in anomalous experiences: a challenge to dominant accounts of reality, life and death. In: Brown NJL, Lomas T, Eiroá- Orosa FJ, eds. The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Positive Psychology. London, UK: Routledge; 2018: 227-244.
Byrne GJ, Raphael B. A longitudinal study of bereavement phenomena in recently widowed elderly men. Psychol Med. 1994;24(2):411-421.
McKiernan F, Spreadbury J, Carr T, Waller G. Psychological aspects of bereavement in adults: preliminary development of the bereavement experiences index. J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care. 2013;9(1):7-26.
Larøi F, Van der Linden M. Normal subjects' reports of hallucinatory experiences. Can J Behav Sci. 2005;37:33-43.
Gondar-Portasany M. Romeiros do Alén. Vigo: Xerais; 1989.
