Coast to Coast AM - Oct 19 2011 - Deathbed Visions & Grief

Host: George Noory
Guests: Carla Wills-Brandon, Jeff O'Connell

Hour 1 - Writer Jeff O'Connell talked about the increasing diabetes epidemic in the US.

One out of three Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes, but only 25% are aware of their condition, he cited. Some of the warning signs include frequent urination, extreme fatigue, headaches, and excessive hunger or thirst. Changes in diet, such as eating less carbs, processed & fast foods (which tend to have a lot of sugar), as well as daily exercise, can help combat the problem, he noted.

Hours 2, 3 & 4 - Licensed Marriage and Family therapist, Carla Wills-Brandon, discussed her work documenting and compiling evidence of contact with the afterlife through deathbed visions.

Such visions of the dying typically include conversations and visitations from deceased loved ones or relatives, as well as religious figures, and beloved pets. If they have a first language that isn't English, the dying often revert to it for these conversations, she noted. They think that those with them in the room can also see the people they're conversing with, and indeed there have been some cases where family members witness deceased relatives as well, she reported.

Family members and health care workers sometimes think the patient is having hallucinations or medication side effects. But Wills-Brandon said there is a remarkable consistency to these reports (as well as NDE accounts) that suggest the dying person is having a profound experience, and that physical death is not the end of one's existence entirely. Dr. Karlis Osis studied deathbed visions and found no evidence that the dying were having hallucinations. 100 years ago when people typically died at their homes, these kinds of deathbed visions were commonly accepted, she added.

Wills-Brandon also talked about her work with grief counseling. When a person loses a loved one, the first year of grieving can be a kind of "terrible fog," and it isn't until the second year that they can really deal with the pain, she detailed. Certain events or items that remind a person of the deceased can trigger intense grief feelings, she commented. Interestingly, she's noticed that those who are closed minded about the existence of the afterlife, often have unresolved grief they have not made peace with.