#124- DGB Newsletter - May 2025

END-OF-LIFE, AFTERLIFE AND BEREAVEMENT

Death, Grief and Resilience

From the Endwell Project

"Recently, we began to wonder if, in a world increasingly defined by rapid technological and societal transformation, political polarization, and loneliness, the often-avoided subjects of death and grief might offer a surprising anchor. So, we asked our community of clinicians, doulas, caregivers, therapists, and more if being in touch with grief and making friends with mortality are actually superpowers in this rapidly changing world? Here’s what they said." READ MORE...

A Psychiatrist's View of Medical Aid in Dying

by H. Steven Moffic, MD

"Occasionally, I am stopped short by a news item that seems to have profound social psychiatric impact. Usually, it also has major personal meaning. Yesterday, I came across such an article.

“'There’s a Lesson to Learn From Daniel Kahneman’s Death'” ran the title of the New York Times’ guest essay yesterday by two philosophy professors. What was this lesson I should learn, I wondered? I am turning 79 shortly, and my wife and I are in the midst of more medical problems and facing the ever-shortening of time to live.

I had been thinking enough of my own death that I have written evolving versions of my own eulogy over the last decade, the last one being posted in Psychiatric Times on July 24, 2023." READ MORE...

Editor's note: Are you interested in what Catholic priests think about medical aid in dying?

Read our recent blog post

Science Continues to Seek

Physical vs. Metaphysical Reasons for NDEs

"An incredible 5 to 10 percent of the general population reports memories of an NDE. Oftentimes, people’s recollections are similar: perceiving separation from the body and viewing it from above, passing through a tunnel and seeing a light, encountering deceased loved ones or compassionate entities and being overcome by ineffable wisdom and a feeling of profound peacefulness. Many people describe these memories in crisp detail and say that they felt 'more real than real.'

"How a person’s faltering consciousness produces such fantastical experiences is unknown. But scientists have been piecing together hypotheses, constructed from interviews with survivors, studies in animals and experiments in which people were given certain psychedelic drugs. Now one of the preeminent research groups investigating NDEs has published what it describes as the first comprehensive neuroscientific model for the phenomena." READ MORE...

Grief Counselors Wanted for Research Project

Request from Marco Dehnert, PhD, Assistant Professor,

Department of Communication, University of Arkansas:

I am recruiting grief counselors and clinical and relational therapists who regularly encounter grief in their day-to-day practice to participate in an interview study on the topic of griefbots. Griefbots are (sometimes AI-driven) chatbots trained on texts, messages, and other data from a deceased person designed to help mourning individuals through the grieving process.

If you are interested in participating in a Zoom interview (no longer than 60 – 90 minutes), please click on this link to learn more about the study, respond to a few demographic questions, and reach out to the principal researcher (the survey will take no more than 5 minutes).

Study requirements: Grief counselors or clinical or relational therapists or those who regularly encounter grief and grieving individuals in a therapeutic, counseling, and/or clinical setting.

Participants who meet the study requirements and complete the interview will receive a $25 Amazon or Walmart gift card.

If you have any questions, reach out to me at mdehnert@uark.edu or find additional contact information in the survey link above.

SACRED ACTIVISM

Spiritual Activists Build an Interfaith Altar

at Philadelphia ICE Office

Clergy representing over 30 Pennsylvania religious groups rallied on April 3 outside of Philadelphia’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office against President Trump’s order allowing immigration arrests at houses of worship. To make their point, they built an interfaith altar at ICE’s doorstep and offered to break bread with ICE agents, appealing to their shared humanity and values. READ MORE...

We Should All be Paying Attention NOW

by John Pavlovits

Activism is no longer optional for good humans in America and here’s why:

People are disappearing… today… right now. In the very state you live in, if not the very community, there are people who quite recently were there but no longer are—and not because they chose to leave. They are college students taken from the streets in broad daylight without cause. Fathers rounded up, beaten, and jailed without due process. Legal residents rejected at airports and sent back to places they no longer call home. Foreign spouses of citizens unlawfully detained and harassed. Families taken from their homes and businesses with no warning. READ MORE...

WORKSHOPS, CLASSES

AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Grief Therapy Training Retreat in Washington State

If there's a chance you can get to the Pacific Northwest this summer, you won't want to miss this opportunity to study with the great Dr. Robert Neimeyer and a stellar list of renowned teachers in a multi-day retreat on beautiful Bainbridge Island near Seattle. The content addresses a wide range of in-depth topics in grief research and therapy approaches (a detailed outline of the program and be found here).

Editor's note: I took this training myself two years ago, and my certification in Family-Focused Grief Therapy has been incredibly valuble for me. I highly recommend this program!

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE

UPCOMING EVENTS - MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

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971-236-1541

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