AFTERLIFE ENCOUNTERS ARE THERAPEUTIC

“Whether real or imagined, paranormal beliefs enhance mental health.” So concludes Diane Arcangel, former director of the Elizabeth Kubler-Ross Center in Houston, in her book, “Afterlife Encounters (Hampton Roads), which describes the results of her five-year international survey with regard to encounters with those who have passed on. Based upon analysis of the responses of almost l,000 individuals, 59 of whom reported having such encounters, she has found that “simply believing in the hereafter is life enhancing. Experiencing an afterlife encounter is a significant element for transcending loss. It, furthermore, offers a leap forward to enlightenment.”

Research on the international facilitation of such encounters has been reported by Allan L. Botkin, Psy.D., in his book “Induced After Death Communication: A New Therapy for Healing Grief and Trauma (Hampton Roads).” His method involves using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). To use this method to induce communication with a deceased loved one, Dr. Botkin asks the patient to experience the grief of the loss of this person while rhythmically performing eye movements to the left and right while focusing on this troubling feeling. The author has compiled the research on his new approach to bereavement counseling at http://induced-adc.com.

My husband’s father had a heart attack and seemed to be recovering. Then he came in a dream and with great emphasis in his voice said, “It is all true, there is an afterlife and it is wonderful here.” He repeated these words twice. In the morning we received the call confirming that he had indeed passed on. When my mother-in-law passed on two years later, a dream forewarned us of the event. In the dream she was sitting at a table with a group of others whose faces were misty. We had invited her to visit us while we were living in Hawaii. In the dream she was enthusiastically waving at us and said “Florence (her daughter) and I cannot come after all and here everything is so beautiful. An early morning call confirmed the event of her transition.