A new study, led by an Adelaide University researcher, has demonstrated that a brief, targeted therapy can significantly reduce symptoms of grief in bereaved adults.
The study analysed Induced After-Death Communication (IADC) therapy, which has been adapted from eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) techniques and using bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements or tapping).
Clinical psychologist Dr Tom Nehmy, a Visiting Research Fellow from the School of Psychology at Adelaide University, oversaw the project with an international team, delivering the therapy in just two 90-minute sessions to 43 bereaved adults.
Assessments were conducted at four time points, where the research team observed large reductions in the participants’ grief, sadness, and depression.
“Two-thirds of participants who exceeded the clinical cutoff score for prolonged grief disorder at baseline scored below this threshold at follow-up,” Dr Nehmy said.
“We found that the treatment effects were comparable whether they were delivered in person or online and were beneficial for people who had suffered loss recently or some time ago.”
The research has been published in OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying.
Seventy-nine per cent of participants also experienced an after-death communication (ADC) - the experience of perceiving the presence of a deceased person in some way, which is a prominent phenomenon associated with the IADC treatment protocol.
“ADCs are subjective and usually internal sensory experiences such as seeing an image of the deceased in one’s mind’s eye, or perceiving the deceased’s voice, and even tactile sensations such as a sense of being touched or hugged,” explained Dr Nehmy.
“They are a very common, spontaneously occurring phenomenon in the general population, with reports of between 30 per cent and 80 per cent of people experiencing them, especially following bereavement.
“For our study’s participants, those who had an ADC during therapy reported a stronger sense of the continuing presence of their loved one a month after the treatment.
“This represents a secondary and additional therapeutic effect – prior to the therapy, the idea of a continuing presence was associated with feeling sad, whereas after it was not.”
Grief Australia CEO Christopher Hall said the impressive results of the study were incredibly encouraging.
“The combination of strong clinical outcomes, especially the substantial reductions in grief and depression symptoms, with the brief nature of the intervention is compelling,” Hall said.
“And the high proportion of participants reporting after-death communication experiences, along with a deepened sense of continuing presence, speaks so powerfully to the human need for connection beyond loss.”