Bereavement
Grimby, Agneta Hallucinations Following the Loss of a Spouse: Common and Normal Events Among the Elderly
Abstract
In a widowhood intervention study of elderly Swedish citizens, ratings of grief reactions showed a high proportion of postbereavement hallucinations and illusions. Most common was the feeling that the deceased was present (illusion). Claiming to speak to, and to hear and see the dead spouse (hallucinations) was rather common. Very few had tactile hallucinations. Former marital harmony, loneliness, and severe crying are related to the incidence of hallucinations/illusions. Subjects had a dualistic attitude to the phenomena, as they were considered ridiculous sensations, but a pleasant and comforting rendezvous with the lost beloved one.
Rees, WD (1971), The hallucinations of widowhood, British Medical Journal, Oct p38
Comments
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Hi, After a very close friend of mine past away i found it very difficult to come to terms with. I would get very emotional and sit rocking and crying for hours talking out loud asking 'why'. The particular night i had gone to bed and found myself in floods of tears, incapable of consoling myself, in the end i got up and went to the kitchen where i sat on the side and proceeded to cry uncontrolably, again talking out loud to my friend asking why she had gone and if she was ok.........an hour went by and i had eventually calmed enough to return to bed. While getting comfortable i turned on my side and out of nowhere somebody whispered in my ear 'i'm here'..........i felt the breath move my hair and the cold air on my ear!!!!! hiding under the duvet i shut my eyes tight and fell asleep........the morning after i woke with an amazing sense of peace and calmness about myself, with the experience of the night before fresh in my mind i tried to rationalise it and came to the conclusion that it must have been my friend that whispered in my ear......although scaring the life out of me at the time it worked and gave me the peace i so badly required. I still talk to her in my mind but have never experienced anything since......(and hope that i dont because it was very frightning at the time).