ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a basis for willing professionals from various backgrounds to begin to understand the phenomenon of medium ship and its potentially therapeutic relationship to grief. Pharmaceutical antidepressants are often ineffective for acute grief responses due to the extended time it takes for them to reach full efficacy. The chapter suggests that a similar unbiased awareness regarding assisted after-death experiences gained during readings with psychic mediums—one based on research rather than historical stereotypes or popular culture depictions—would be equally helpful in clinical settings. Methods of healing from grief outside of a therapeutic scenario include the bereaved experiencing communication with the deceased. A discrepancy exists between the potentially serious risks of complicated grief and the presence of effective treatments that may be offered to the grieving. In contrast to psychotherapeutic and pharmaceutical therapies, non-traditional interventions and experiences have repeatedly demonstrated positive, sometimes dramatic impacts on bereaved individuals.
