Abstract
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.
Highlights
Hallucinations and other unusual sensory experiences are often associated with a psychiatric disorder
Such experiences occur in nonclinical populations and in response to specific life events. These include bereavement, where a range of sensory experiences is reported as well as quasi-sensory “feelings” or “nonspecific awareness of presence.” 1–3 Prevalence estimates of having at least one of these experiences range from 47% to 82% across several studies.[1,2,4,5,6,7]
These phenomena are sometimes referred to as “hallucinations,” 2,4,5,8 research on this topic uses various terms, often reflecting differing theoretical assumptions and encompassing a wider range of phenomena than most uses of the term “hallucination”.9(p68),10(p242)For instance, a sign, message, or dream visitation might be said to involve a perception-like experience of receiving a communication from the deceased, as well as a sense of the deceased’s presence.[11]
Summary
Hallucinations and other unusual sensory experiences are often associated with a psychiatric disorder. SED range from clear and distinct experiences to subtle or partial impressions (see tables 2 and 3 for examples and an overview of prevalence, respectively), which can be placed on a continuum of vividness.60(p160) For example, the quasi-sensory feeling of presence is sometimes described as a diffuse “feeling” that the deceased is there and at other times as a clearly locatable sense of presence, as exemplified here: “It was as if he was sitting next to me really.” 11 In addition, auditory SED may include both sounds (eg, footsteps) and auditoryverbal experiences (eg, hearing the deceased calling one’s name).[7,37] This variety mirrors that of “hallucinations” in psychiatric contexts, eg, auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVHs). Sense of Presence aIncludes hearing the deceased’s voice and/or speaking to/with the deceased
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