For Clinicians

Thank you for your interest in our work at the Windbridge Research Center. This page was designed for licensed clinicians (e.g., medical and mental health professionals).

For those treating dying clients/patients

2-sided Folded Pamphlet (PDF):
End of Life Experiences: What to Expect

Journal Article (PDF):
End-of-Life Experiences: Advice for Caregivers by Patricia Pearson, MSc

Video (Watch on YouTube):
Passing On is an original PBS documentary “comprised of compelling, sensitive, and personal stories that frankly discuss the topics of death, dying, and end-of-life planning.” (57 min)

Community Resource:
Share The Care is a system used by caregivers and their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances that lets everyone share responsibilities. The simple, easy-to-follow system includes seven guiding principles and 23 forms to help create and maintain a caregiver network.
[Visit Share The Care website]

Contact with the deceased: Normal and usually healthy

Experiences of contact with the deceased are called After-death Communication experiences or ADCs. The primary clinical issue around ADCs is how they can alleviate grief and not whether or not they reflect actual communication with the deceased.

Journal Article (PDF):
The introduction to this article discusses the ubiquitous, healthy nature of spontaneous ADCs.
citation: Beischel, J. (2014). Assisted after-death communication: A self-prescribed treatment for grief [Extended abstract]. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 32, 161–165.

These references discuss ADCs in more detail:

Journal Article (PDF):
Beischel, J., Mosher, C. & Boccuzzi, M. (2014-2015). The possible effects on bereavement of assisted after-death communication during readings with psychic mediums: A continuing bonds perspective. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 70(2), 169-194. doi: 10.2190/OM.70.2.b

Journal Article (PDF):
Beischel, J. (2019). Spontaneous, facilitated, assisted, and requested after-death communication experiences and their impact on grief. Threshold: Journal of Interdisciplinary Consciousness Studies, 3(1): 1–32.

How is this possible?

How to talk about the afterlife with clients/patients

A positive association between spirituality and health has been established and the topic of religion and spirituality (RS) can be ethically integrated into psychotherapy. MHPs may feel reluctance toward and/or lack training for assessing and addressing spirituality in general. The SRRT two-phase afterlife assessment guide for MHPs provides introductory guidelines for assessing and addressing afterlife beliefs and spiritual experiences in the psychotherapy setting.

Journal article (PDF):
Christopherson, B., & Beischel, J. (2018). Assessing afterlife beliefs in psychotherapy. Threshold: Journal of Interdisciplinary Consciousness Studies, 2(1), 50–74.

Fact sheet (PDF):
Assessing afterlife beliefs in psychotherapy

Explore more:

Journal article (PDF):
The Afterlife as an Extension of Lifespan Development by Pamela Rae Heath, MD, PsyD

Fact Sheet (PDF):
Support for the Survival of Consciousness Explanation

For those treating bereaved clients/patients

Though the traditional psychotherapeutic model of grief recommended severing bonds with the deceased, the current Continuing Bonds model encourages ongoing relationships with the deceased (Klass & Steffen, 2018).

Journal Article (PDF):
Beischel, J., Mosher, C. & Boccuzzi, M. (2014-2015). The possible effects on bereavement of assisted after-death communication during readings with psychic mediums: A continuing bonds perspective. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 70(2), 169-194. doi: 10.2190/OM.70.2.b

Fact Sheet (PDF):
The Potential Therapeutic Benefit of Mediumship Readings in the Treatment of Grief

Online article:
Should I get a reading?

Reference:

Klass, D. E., & Steffen, E. (Eds). (2018). Continuing bonds in bereavement: New directions for research and practice. London, UK: Routledge.

Grief and After-death Communication

For those treating clients/patients getting mediumship readings

The results of current and future research must be reviewed before readings with mediums can be ethically recommended as a treatment option. The combination of traditional psychotherapy and mediumship readings may prove to be more beneficial than either intervention separately.

We suggest that:

“It would be beneficial for healthcare providers, counselors, caregivers, social workers, mental health professionals, chaplains, grief workers, palliative and hospice care professionals, volunteers, and other supportive individuals to be aware of the basics regarding the relationship between mediumship readings and grief in order to best serve the bereaved population.” (Beischel, Mosher, & Boccuzzi, 2014-2015, p. 170)

The evidence collected to date regarding the efficacy of mediumship readings for the bereaved:

Journal Article (PDF):
Beischel, J., Mosher, C. & Boccuzzi, M. (2014-2015). The possible effects on bereavement of assisted after-death communication during readings with psychic mediums: A continuing bonds perspective. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 70(2), 169-194. doi: 10.2190/OM.70.2.b

Fact Sheet (PDF):
The Potential Therapeutic Benefit of Mediumship Readings in the Treatment of Grief

Web Page:
List of Windbridge Certified Research Mediums

To learn more about the phenomenon of mediumship:

Online article:
What does the scientific community know about mediums?

Online article:
Are all mediums frauds?

Web page:
Interviews and other media

External online article:
Beischel, J. (2018). Mental mediumship research. Psi Encyclopedia.

Resources appropriate to share with clients/patients:

Online article:
Should I get a reading?

Fact Sheet (PDF):
Receiving a Mediumship Reading: Recommendations for Sitters

Web Page:
List of Windbridge Certified Research Mediums

Mediums’ health issues

Early stage research suggests that people who self-identify as mediums may have higher incidences of diseases and other conditions including autoimmune disorders as compared to the incidences reported in the general US population or in non-medium populations of similar ages and genders.

Fact Sheet (PDF):
Disease Burden in Mediums

In addition, self-identified mediums report a higher incidence of childhood trauma than do non-medium populations of similar ages and genders. Because of the established relationship between childhood trauma and adult physical disease and our research finding that a single mediumship reading did not cause any changes in various hematological and psychophysiological factors in participants (Beischel, Tassone, & Boccuzzi, 2019), we have concluded that the increased incidence of disease in mediums is related to the increased incidence of childhood trauma and that it is not mediumship that causes an increase in disease but trauma that causes both disease and mediumship (Beischel, 2015).

Citation: Beischel, J., Tassone, S., & Boccuzzi, M. (2019). Hematological and psychophysiological correlates of anomalous information reception in mediums: A preliminary exploration. EXPLORE: The Journal of Science & Healing, 15(2), 126–133. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2018.04.009z
[View on PubMed]

Citation: Beischel, J. (2015, May). Assessing hematological and psychophysiological correlates of anomalous information reception in mediums. 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Scientific Exploration, Rockville, Maryland.

Publications are currently in progress to report on these findings in more detail. More information will be posted here as soon as it becomes available.

Other resources

Palliative or Hospice Care

Journal article (PDF):
“End-of-Life Experiences: Advice for Caregivers” by Patricia Pearson, MSc (article in Threshold)

Video:
Passing On is an original PBS documentary “comprised of compelling, sensitive, and personal stories that frankly discuss the topics of death, dying, and end-of-life planning.” (57 min)

Clinical Parapsychology
The anthology Perspectives of Clinical Parapsychology: An Introductory Reader edited by Wim H. Kramer, Eberhard Bauer, and Gerd H. Hövelmann is available on the Parapsychological Association (PA) website as a free PDF download from the publishing Foundation. For more info, visit Wim Kramer’s blog on the PA site here.

Mediumship Research Findings
For a brief overview of our mediumship research findings, see “Major Research Findings.”

For a more detailed discussion, see “Mediumship Research at the Windbridge Research Center by Director of Research, Julie Beischel, PhD.

Even more resources:

Resources

Educational Materials