Who hasn’t dreamed of a loved one who passed away during a particularly emotional night? A dream so real you’d swear you had a conversation, a touch, an exchange of smiles. What if it wasn’t just our imagination? What if these dreams told us more than we think? This fairly common phenomenon is as intriguing as it is relaxing. Here’s a look at a topic that affects us all, at one time or another.
When our deceased “return” in our dreams
According to Patrick McNamara, professor of neurology and psychiatry at Boston University, there’s a very specific name for these dreams: “visitation dreams.” A name that says it all. McNamara believes this type of dream occurs when grieving people dream of a deceased loved one, who in their dreams is alive and well, sometimes even in better shape than before.
According to neuroscience, these “visitations” are not supernatural. They are, in fact, a way our brain copes with a significant loss, processes grief, and finds its way to inner peace.
A Bridge Between Grief and Healing
McNamara, a scientist by training, says he dreamed of a visitation after his parents’ death. It was a dream so vivid that it shook his skepticism. “Even though I was a rational person, I had the strange feeling that I had actually communicated with them,” he says.
And he’s not alone. A study published in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care in 2014 reveals that these dreams are frequent, intense, and, above all, beneficial for grieving. They can soothe pain, create a sense of ongoing connection with the deceased, and sometimes strengthen faith in life after death.
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