Spiritually Transformative Experiences and After-Death Communication: A Literature Review Interrupted by Post-Operative Recovery
- Lavavoth
- Jun 10
- 13 min read
Updated: Jun 11
A quick jaunt to Southwest Cove, a nude/clothing-optional beach on Lake Willoughby, while still dealing with a minor post-operative infection that lasted roughly 24 hours. I instinctively knew that time in nature would help heal me, and it did. By that evening, the fever and redness had lifted. Video recorded on June 3, 2026, at 5:14 p.m.
Introduction
Spiritually transformative experiences (STEs) have long challenged conventional boundaries of psychology, spirituality, and lived experience. Kason (2019) coined STE in 1994 “as an umbrella term to encompass [a] broad range of experiences happening to people today, which all tend to cause a ‘spiritual awakening’ in the experiencer—changing the experiencer’s values and attitudes in a more spiritual and altruistic direction” (p.2). These life-altering events that expand or deepen one’s sense of self and reality, are often accompanied by profound meaningfulness and identity shifts. STEs could also be positioned within the larger category of exceptional human experiences, noting that such encounters move beyond ordinary perception and often extend into transpersonal realms of consciousness (Palmer & Hastings, 2013).
Within the broader landscape of spiritually transformative experiences, after-death communication (ADC) appears both widespread and personally significant. Streit-Horn (2011) synthesized 35 studies that estimated between 30–35% of the general population report at least one ADC across the lifespan and that nearly 70–80% of the recently bereaved report an ADC within the first year. Likewise, Beischel (2019) notes that “roughly one-third of adults in the U.S. have had after-death contact” (p. 2), drawing on LaGrand’s (2005) work, which emphasizes that such spontaneous contact often function as extraordinary experiences (EEs) of the bereaved that foster personal and spiritual growth, reduce fear of death, and generate new purpose in life. Bereavement studies characterize ADC as a common aspect of grieving (e.g., Beischel, J, 2019; Clay, 2011; Cronin, 2010; Daggett, 2005; DeGroot, 2018; Elsaesser et al., 2022; Hill, 2011; Kwilecki, 2011; LaGrand, 2005; Parker, 2004; Streit-Horn, 2011; Todaro-Franceschi, 2006), while qualitative analyses underline their comforting, meaning-restoring qualities (Hill, 2011; Kwilecki, 2011). While mainstream psychology has often pathologized or dismissed such events, research has increasingly affirmed that ADC is not only common but can profoundly impact identity, relationships, and meaning-making (e.g., Guggenheim & Guggenheim, 1996; Beischel, 2019).
STEs are life-changing events that reorient a person’s sense of self, world, and meaning. Holden (2012) argues that “it might be more accurate to refer to experiences… not as ‘spiritually transformative’ but as ‘transpersonal experiences’—those that … involve transcendence of the usual personal limits of space, time, and/or identity—and that hold the potential for spiritual development and/or transformation” (p. 66), often catalyzing new psychological or spiritual identities. Grof (1973) places STEs within the broader category of exceptional human experiences, defining them as events that “involve an expansion or extension of consciousness beyond the usual ego boundaries and the limitations of time and space” (pp. 48-49, as cited in Palmer and Hastings, 2013, p. 334). Such experiences may include NDEs, mystical states, and other anomalous events.
Among these, ADC is one of the most widely reported and most personally meaningful. ADC encompasses a wide range of experiences in which individuals perceive direct contact with the deceased, whether through visions and dreams (e.g., Daggett, 2005), apparitional experiences (e.g., Barušs, 2023; Kwilecki, 2011), telepathic communication (e.g., Barušs, 2023; Guggenheim & Guggenheim, 1996), synchronicities (e.g., DeGroot, 2018), “lost-things found” (Daggett, 2005, p. 200), felt sense (Barušs & Mossbridge, 2017; Daggett, 2005; DeGroot, 2018; Streit-Horn, 2011; Tatarsky, 2016) or other extraordinary phenomena (e.g., Kwilecki, 2011; Streit-Horn, 2011; Guggenheim & Guggenheim, 1996). In their landmark survey, Guggenheim and Guggenheim (1996) estimated that millions of Americans have experienced some form of ADC, and subsequent studies have confirmed its prevalence across cultural and religious contexts. Beischel (2019) found that ADC experiences can bring lasting comfort, reduce grief, and enhance meaning-making, demonstrating their psychological and spiritual significance.
Rominger (2013) emphasizes that while STEs (e.g., ADC) can destabilize identity, they are not inherently pathological. He defines integration as “assimilation, transformation, and change” (p. 136) that becomes part of the experiencer’s identity and organizing principle. Healthy integration is marked by expansion, compassion, and growth, whereas unhealthy integration may manifest as contraction, denial, or arrested development. This framework provides a useful lens for understanding ADC as experiences that demand integration rather than dismissal (Rominger, 2004, 2013).
Positioning ADC in this way allows me to explore my ongoing encounters with Hans not as aberrations, but as meaningful phenomena within a recognized psychological and transpersonal framework. By linking the scholarship on STEs and ADC, I am able to frame these experiences as legitimate events that shape identity, relational life, and sense of meaning.
Defining Spiritually Transformative Experiences
Spiritually transformative experiences (STEs) have been defined as profound events that shift a person’s perception of self, world, and meaning in ways that often endure across a lifetime. Yvonne Kason, who first introduced the term spiritually transformative experiences (STEs) in the 1990s, emphasized their transformative impact on consciousness. Reflecting on her own mystical experience, she wrote that it “seemed to have a transformative effect upon my consciousness… I seemed to have new clarity of perception… I also discovered an increased desire and increased ability within myself to forgive” (Kason, 1994, p. 146). Her clinical work underscored the diversity of STEs, including mystical encounters, near-death experiences, kundalini awakenings, psychic events, and moments of sudden spiritual insight. What unites these varied phenomena is not their form but their capacity to alter how people perceive themselves and their world. Building on Kason’s contribution, later scholars have refined the definition of STEs.
Holden (2012) emphasizes that not every extraordinary or anomalous event is transformative, but when transformation occurs, the experiencer often reports “transcendence of the usual personal limits of space, time, and/or identity… hold[ing] the potential for spiritual development and/or transformation” (p. 66). This element of transcendence situates STEs not only as anomalous experiences but as catalysts for psychological and spiritual growth. Likewise, Krippner (2012) likewise situates STEs within a broad, cross-cultural history of transformative phenomena, noting that dreams, apparitional experiences, and visionary states have long been recognized as vehicles of spiritual awakening. Krippner (2012) notes that spiritual experiences “are a potent means by which a person’s attitudes and behaviors may be changed, usually (but not always) in benevolent ways” (p. 79), underscoring their capacity to bring enduring shifts in how individuals live and perceive the world.
Contemporary scholarship places STEs within the larger category of exceptional human experiences (EHEs). Rather than being dismissed as anomalies, these experiences are studied for their meaning and transformative potential. Palmer and Hastings (2013) note that “many of these experiences prompt positive actions in life that might not otherwise have been taken. Writing about experiences helps the integration of these experiences into a new identity and lifeview” (p. 339). By framing STEs in this way, scholars emphasize their potential for positive transformation while also acknowledging the challenges they may pose. Rominger (2013) highlights this dual potential, noting that “healthy integration involves such phenomena as expansion, healing, compassion, connection, growth, and development. Unhealthy integration involves such phenomena as contraction, lack of compassion, unhealthy partitioning off of oneself or one’s subgroup, and arrested development” (p. 136).
Together, these perspectives establish STEs as events with deep significance that often redirect identity and worldview. Rominger (2013) characterizes STEs as “an event or group of events that may lead to dramatic attitudinal, belief, behavioral, emotional, and/or psychospiritual changes within an individual and are often subjectively perceived as spiritual in nature” (p. 136), which centers their integrative consequences rather than any single phenomenology. Among the many forms of STEs, near-death experiences (NDEs) are the most extensively described because of their intensity and well-documented aftereffects; Holden (2008) describes NDEs as “profound psychological events with transcendental and mystical elements [that are] followed by certain common aftereffects” (as cited in Holden, 2012, p. 67). Kason (1994) reports that the experience “seemed to have a transformative effect upon my consciousness, [adding] I seemed to have new clarity of perception [and] an increased desire and increased ability within myself to forgive my father” (pp. 146-147). More broadly, Krippner (2012) notes that spiritual experiences are “a potent means by which a person’s attitudes and behaviors may be changed, usually (but not always) in benevolent ways” (p. 79), reinforcing why NDEs are often treated as a central case within the wider STE literature.
While NDEs dominate the scholarly landscape, other modalities, particularly ADC, are also widely reported and carry equally transformative potential. Kwilecki (2011), in her study of grief narratives, identified two primary functions of ADCs: “for all 20 writers—even non-believers—ADCs provide instantaneous pain relief. Second, in 14 narratives, ADCs reinforce comforting religious beliefs” (p. 238). She further observed that ADCs often foster continuing bonds with the deceased, contributing to the restoration of meaning and coherence during bereavement. Daggett (2005) reached a similar conclusion, reporting that widows who experienced ADCs described “an emotional peace and conviction that the spiritual life of the deceased continued” (p. 193).
Together, these findings suggest that ADC, though less studied than NDEs, can be just as impactful in reshaping identity, alleviating suffering, and expanding one’s worldview. For this reason, ADC represents the central focus of this review, offering a lens for exploring lived relational bonds with the deceased and the role of integration through creative practice.
Defining After-Death Communication
The term after-death communication (ADC) was first coined by Bill and Judy Guggenheim (1995) in their landmark book Hello from Heaven! Based on interviews with over 2,000 people, they defined ADC as “a spiritual experience that occurs when someone is contacted directly and spontaneously by a deceased family member or friend” (p. 15), without the use of psychics, mediums, rituals, or devices. Their work marked the first large-scale attempt to name and normalize the phenomenon, distinguishing it from facilitated, assisted and requested ADC while highlighting its spontaneous and ordinary occurrence.
Subsequent research has refined and systematized this definition. Streit-Horn (2011), in her systematic review of ADC studies, describes ADC as “spontaneously occurring encounters with the deceased” (p. 7) that may involve “visual, auditory, tactile, sense of presence, olfactory, dream, symbolic, deathbed vision, and telephone” (p. 51). She emphasizes both the prevalence of ADCs and their tendency to offer comfort and reassurance, while also noting that stigma often leads experiencers to remain silent.
LaGrand (2005) frames ADC within the broader category of extraordinary experiences (EEs) of the bereaved, defining them as experiences that are “a life-changing part of the mourning process for many, and need to be honored and given their own specific identity” (p. 6). He identified 14 categories of EEs, including sense of presence, visual apparitions, auditory communication, tactile contact, symbolic signs, visitation dreams, synchronicities, and crisis apparitions. Crucially, LaGrand stressed their therapeutic implications, noting that “motivation to reinvest in life is often due to the belief that the deceased has reached out to give comfort” (p. 5).
Other scholars have expanded the scope of ADC research to explore its modalities, psychological impact, and cultural dimensions. Beischel (2019) emphasizes that ADCs are “common and normal among many different types of people” (p. 2) and categorizes them as spontaneous, facilitated, assisted, or requested. Daggett (2005) documents how “all participants who experienced ADCs found the events to be a source of comfort, a chance to say good-bye, or an opportunity for reassurance of the well-being of the deceased.” (p. 204). DeGroot (2018) frames ADC through her model of transcorporeal communication, emphasizing its role in sustaining ongoing relational bonds beyond the body. Parra and Corbetta (2014) highlight how anomalous spiritual experiences like ADC can catalyze personal transformation, while Kwilecki (2011) situates ADC narratives within meaning-making and religious coping, identifying “instantaneous relief from painful grief symptoms and reinforcement of a consoling religious worldview” (p. 219) as core functions. She also shows how ADCs can forge “a postmortem relationship” (p.237), sustaining bonds with the deceased.
These perspectives define ADC as an often spontaneous, life-changing human phenomenon characterized by its relational, consoling, and transformative qualities. At the same time, they play a critical role in bereavement by affirming continuity of relationship, reducing fear of death, and generating new frameworks of meaning.
Impact on Experiencers: Identity, Meaning, Stigma, and Potential Pathologization
Rominger (2013) stresses that integration can be destabilizing precisely because it reorganizes identity and social positioning. As he notes, “difficulties may be due in part to how the newly emerging being or being-ness or identity of the person who has had the STE conflicts with pre-experience being and relationships” (p. 139). At the same time, he frames STEs as developmental catalysts. This is often accompanied by a redefinition of self; in Rominger’s words, “through the sudden expansion and/or transcendent connection, the post-experience definition of the self-construct changes, incorporating more than previously known/experienced/believed” (p. 141). LaGrand (2005) similarly observes that ADCs are “seeds of change… [that can] enhance the quality of life” (p. 17) and provide motivation for mourners to reinvest in life. These findings align with the continuing bonds framework, in which ongoing relationships with the deceased are understood as adaptive rather than pathological.
At the same time, experiencers often face social stigma and risk of pathologization. Brook (2019) found that many report struggles integrating intense spiritual experiences due to fear of being misunderstood or dismissed, which can lead to silence or withdrawal. Harris, Rock, and Clark (2015) underscore that some crises traditionally labeled as psychosis may actually be spiritual emergencies, that is, transformative experiences misinterpreted through a pathological lens. This highlights the thin boundary between illness and awakening in how ADCs are perceived by clinicians.
Parra and Corbetta (2014) document that experiencers not only report changes in spirituality but also increases in personal resilience, life purpose, and acceptance of mortality: “70% of participants say they have a purpose in life as a result of their paranormal or transcendent experience… 37% are certain there is life after death; 54% became significantly more spiritual or religious; and 54% were helped to understand and accept death better”(p. 79). Such outcomes challenge pathologizing frameworks by demonstrating tangible benefits of ADCs. Still, as Daggett (2005) noted, bereaved individuals often hesitate to disclose experiences due to fear of being considered mentally ill.
These findings make clear that ADCs are identity-shaping events with both transformative potential and social risks. For experiencers like myself, integration often requires not only personal meaning-making but also expressive outlets that allow experiences to be shared in symbolically safe ways.
Relevance to Psychology: Transpersonal and Bereavement Perspectives
From a psychological standpoint, ADCs sit at the intersection of transpersonal psychology and bereavement research. Transpersonal frameworks validate these experiences as legitimate, framing them as opportunities for growth rather than pathology. Krippner (2012) highlights that spiritually transformative experiences, including ADCs, often result in enduring changes in attitudes, behaviors, and values, placing them squarely within the field’s concern for expanded states of consciousness. Rominger (2004) expressive arts can support integration, bridging psychology with creative practice to help individuals process the aftereffects of ADCs.
Bereavement research, meanwhile, increasingly affirms the role of continuing bonds. DeGroot’s (2018) model of transcorporeal communication builds on this, theorizing ADCs as dialogical exchanges that maintain relational continuity beyond death. Kwilecki (2011) echoes this, showing how ADC narratives restore meaning to the bereaved by reaffirming spiritual beliefs and sustaining bonds.
This situates ADCs as phenomena of both clinical and existential importance. They complicate grief models, as Holden (2012) notes, by introducing a “sense of unity that underlies/pervades and/or transcends the world of physical and mental objects, a transcendence of space and time, a sense of reality, profoundly pleasurable emotions that typically include peace and bliss, and a sense of the sacred and/or divine” (p. 67) that defy conventional categories of loss.
By grounding ADC within both bereavement and transpersonal psychology, this review underscores its relevance not as fringe or anomalous but as vital to understanding how humans navigate loss, meaning, and identity. For my own project, this framing connects directly to the main research question: how spiritually transformative experiences, particularly ADC with my spirit husband Hans help frame lived experiences and how creative practices can serve as vehicles for integration.
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