In this fascinating trip to the Victorian era we learn about a world in which people had a much healthier relationship with death than we have today, and the roots of what became the popular practice of commercial mediumship in the UK and the U.S. Our guest Jennifer Ingraham collects, buys and sells antiques specfically related to death and mourning in the Victorian period. Her collection of unique objects includes memorial hair wreaths, clothing, post-mortem photography, viewing coffins, and a ...
Mar 23, 2025•55 min•Ep. 44
Barbara Karnes, RN is an award winning end of life educator, award winning nurse, NHPCO Hospice Innovator award winner 2018 & 2015 International Humanitarian Woman of the Year. While at the bedside of hundreds of people during the dying process, Hospice Pioneer Barbara Karnes noticed that each death was following a near identical script. Each person was going through the stages of death in almost the same manner and most families came to her with similar questions. These realizations led Bar...
Oct 13, 2024•51 min
Today's interview with writer/director/producer Stephen Z. Berkley touches on a vast spectrum of topics related to interdimensional communication, mediumship and bereavement, as addressed in his award-winning documentary, Life With Ghosts. While Stephen has worked in multiple capacities inside the media industry for more than 30 years, Life With Ghosts is his first fully self-produced feature film. The story idea came with the death of Stephen’s father, when shortly afterwards, his mother began ...
Sep 27, 2024•46 min
Ever since his 2015 TED talk , Christopher Kerr MD had rapidly risen to become a household name in the field of death and afterlife studies. His background in research has evolved from bench science towards the human experience of illness as witnessed from the bedside, specifically patient’s dreams and visions at the end of life. The results of his studies generated enormous response in the non-medical community, both nationally and internationally, through coverage that has included the New Yor...
Jul 22, 2024•13 min
Dr. Joshua Black is one of the presenters at our upcoming 2024 Conference on Death, Grief and Belief (online August 24, 2024). His reasearch on the dreams of the bereaved provides a foundation for helping grieving individuals use new tools for processing loss. Dr. Black holds a MA and PhD in Psychology. He is a grief and bereavement researcher, speaker, educator, and host of the Grief Dreams podcast. His work focuses on dreams and continuing bonds after loss, including prenatal and pet loss. As ...
Jul 19, 2024•12 min
We are very honored to have Professor Richard Groves with us today, and as part of our roster for the 2024 Conference on Death, Grief and Belief , which takes place ONLINE on August 24. Richard is an internationally respected teacher of the sacred art of living and dying. A chaplain for more than twenty five years, Richard speaks nine languages and has earned graduate degrees in theology, ethics, world religions and law. Richard and his wife, Mary, are the founders of the Sacred Art of Living Ce...
Jul 18, 2024•11 min
We are thrilled to have Dr. Shushan with us again this year. His body of work in the field of near-death studies is unrivaled on near-death experience is unrivaled. He is a historian of religions, an award-winning author, and the leading authority on near-death experiences and the afterlife across cultures and throughout history. His books include The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife , Near-Death Experiences in Indigenous Religions , and Near-Death Experience in Ancient Civ...
Jul 13, 2024•15 min
In support of our upcoming Summer 2024 Death, Grief and Belief Conference, one of our esteemed speakers, Dr. Ken Doka, spoke with us about two phenomena that often occur as death approaches... terminal lucidity and nearing-death awareness. For an overview of Dr. Doka's stellar credentials, click HERE. TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER AND STAY INFORMED ABOUT UPCOMING WORKSHOPS, EVENTS AND PODCAST EPISODES, CLICK HERE....
Jul 03, 2024•19 min
Ep. 439 Medical Aid in Dying: A Chaplain’s Perspective with Rev. Dr. Terri Daniel This episode aired on 1/22/24 on Dr. Karen Wyatt's END OF LIFE UNIVERSITY podcast. This episode includes: . The history of medical aid in dying in Oregon . How EOLCOR (End-of-Life Choices Oregon) assists people who want to utilize medical aid in dying . The wide variations in hospice policies around medical aid in dying . Dilemmas around communicating with family members who don’t support MAID . How MAID differs fr...
Jan 29, 2024•59 min
Dr. Deborah Aronson is a Philadelphia veterinarian who has a unqiue background for her work in end-of-life care for animals and grief support for the people that love them. At one point in her career, after she'd had a private veterinary practice for several years, she trained as chaplain in a human hospital to develop her spiritual care skills. Observing the suffering of dying patients on life support created a stark contrast with the compassion we show to our pets when they face life-threateni...
May 10, 2023•46 min
CONTENT WARNING! This conversation addresses bodily death and disposition, and contains graphic descriptions of what happens to a body during death, mortuary care, decomposition, cremation and more. If these topics are uncomfortable for you, listen with caution (or skip this episode). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Daniel talk with Michaelene Dowers, an Indiana-based funeral director who is licensed in seven ...
Apr 16, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Dr. Korie Leigh is a child life specialist and grief counselor whose new book What Does Grief Feel LIke is for chidren who are grieving, and includes a guide for parents and caregivers on how to support a child's journey through loss and grief. In this episode Dr. Leigh addresses an array of topics, incuding pet death, preparing children for attending funerals, the best (and the worst) language to use when talking to children about death, and the importance of death education in early childhood....
Mar 03, 2023•36 min
Rev. Caffie Rishe r is a Christian pastor and grief counselor who is deeply aware of the presence of toxic theology in scripture and in the teachings of the church. She infuses her ministry for the bereaved with clear, critical thinking and a non-dogmatic approach to spirituality in the process of grief and mourning. Caffie has early recollections of walking dirt roads in the south with her grandmother Jessie Mae where they would take care of relatives and community members when there was a deat...
Dec 09, 2022•29 min
In the field of death and bereavement studies, Dr. Ken Doka is one of today's premiere thought leaders and researchers (his publications and credits are too numerous to list, but you can find them all HERE ). To name just a few, he's written and/or co-authored numerous books that are used as required texts in college courses on psychology and grief, including: . Dying & Death: Life & Living . When We Die: Extraordinary Experiences at Life’s End . Living with Grief since COVID-19 . Intima...
Dec 03, 2022•34 min
We are very excited to presesnt this interview with Robert A. Neimeyer, Ph.D ., who is among the leading researchers in the field of death and bereavement. His work is legendary, and when you listen to this podcast, you'll find him to be extremely compassionate, articulate and wise. Dr. Neimeyer is a professor in the department of psychology, University of Memphis, and also serves as director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition , which offers training and certification in grief the...
Nov 30, 2022•42 min
Hello friends! In preparation for a training program I'm designing for a local hospice, I've decided to record this commentary on the "stage theory" of grief so that this information can be easily accessible to students. It's a short episode, and it's loaded with important information for anybody who works professionally with bereavement, or for any bereaved person who wants to better understand the mourning process. Here are some of the supportive materials I mentioned in the podcast. Perhaps t...
Oct 23, 2022•13 min
When a child is terminally ill, parents agonize over how to tell the child about their prognosis, and how to decide when to stop treatment when a cure is no longer possible. Their anguish is fueled by a range of ethical, emotional and spiritual dilemmas, and there is never an easy or an obvious answer. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Steinhorn, an academic pediatrician who practices intensive care and hospice medicine for children. He led the Judith Nan Joy Integrative Medicine Research Initia...
May 12, 2022•51 min
Since the beginning of human thought, we've pondered the great metaphysical question, "What happens when we die?" But now, thanks to modern medical technology, a new question has emerged that has practical, down-to-earth implications... "What happens when we don't die?" In today's episode, Dr. Karen Wyatt and Dr. Terri Daniel explore an aspect of end-of-life care that is not often discussed, and may even be a bit difficult to listen to. Because today we're talking about about the horrors of life...
Apr 09, 2022•55 min
Rev. Peter Panagore has been pronouced dead twice; once after freezing to death while ice climbing, and again, years later, after a heart attack. Both times he returned with memories of a detailed out-of-body journey. Peter now hosts Not Church: Mysticism. No Doctrine. No Dogma on his YouTube Channel, where he deconstructs The Bible in light of his near-death experiences. In this episoide, Peter describes -- in great detail -- the exact process of dying, which in itself is quite stunning. But be...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 19 min
Joshua Bowen PhD graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2017 with a Ph.D. in Assyriology and a minor in Hebrew Bible, and specializes in the Sumerian, Akkadian, and Hebrew languages. In this interview, he educates us about the ancient texts that pre-date the Hebrew bible and provided the myths and stories upon which biblical narratives were built. We talk specifically about the Exodus story, and the methods used by scholars to determine what is historically accurate and what is not. For anyb...
Mar 19, 2022•1 hr 8 min
Dr. Clint Heacock gives us a sneak peek at the the presentation he'll be giving at our 2022 CONFERENCE ON DEATH GRIEF AND BELIEF , in which he will share a practical roadmap for the deconstruction journey. This information is relevant -- and critical -- for a growing segment of our population. In Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults described themselves as Christians, down 12 points over the past decade. Similarly, the number of people who identify as at...
Mar 18, 2022•49 min
If you identify as “spiritual but not religious,” you are not alone. Do you know there’s now an acronym for that? It’s called S.B.N.R., and it’s a new buzzword that signals a growing trend In this audio excerpt from the 2022 Symposium on Death and Bereavement Studies , Dr. Terri Daniel explains what it means to be “Spiritual But Not Religious." As more and more Americans relinquish specific religious identities , the movement has earned its own acronym… SBNR . Along with the designation of SBNR,...
Mar 06, 2022•59 min
Meet Seth Andrews, a former Christian broadcaster and believer of 30 years who escaped the bonds of fundamentalism to become one of the leading voices for atheism and free thought. His podcast The Thinking Atheist , is one of the most popular atheist communities on the internet, offering a relaxed environment and a rage-free challenge to the religious beliefs that defined his youth. Firmy rooted in his faith (and with a perfect radio voice), Seth hosted a show on Christian radio from 1990 to 200...
Feb 11, 2022•1 hr 13 min
This episode will introduce you to the most in-depth research available to date on NDEs throughout history and across cultures... with some fascinating information about how those accounts have influenced religoius beliefs and cultural practices over time. Our guest Gregory Shushan PhD is the leading authority on near-death experiences in historical reports. He points out, among other things, that stories of NDEs over thousands of years have contributed to the establishment of religious beliefs,...
Feb 05, 2022•58 min
This is a special bonus episode where Dr. Karen and Dr. Terri interview each other . We decided it was time to do some self-disclosure so that our listeners could learn more about the unique experiences that inspired us to pursue careers in end-of-life care. If you've ever wondered what would make someone want to spend their time in the presence of death and grief, you'll find a lot of answers in this episode. Our backstories are very different, but come from a similar source... an instinct to p...
Feb 02, 2022•58 min
Dan is one half of the brilliantly funny team that hosts the THANK GOD I'M ATHEIST podcast, which recently marked its 500th episode! Co-host Frank Feldman wasn't available for the interview unfortunately, but Dan did a fantastic job of educating us about all things ExMo (Ex-Mormon), and the absurdities of bibical literalism, blind allegiance to faith doctrines and the "unapologetically cheesy" videos used by Mormons to convert people via Facebook. Both Frank and Dan grew up as Mormon kids in Sal...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Today Dr. Death speaks with Pesach Eisen, MCH-LP, a psychotherapist and researcher focusing primarily on the intersection of religious disaffiliation and mental health. He was raised in an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish faith community, from which he departed during his 20s. In his current role at a non-profit organization called Footsteps , he offers individual and group psychotherapy to those who have left or are contemplating leaving Orthodox Jewish communities. Both personally and professiona...
Nov 27, 2021•57 min
Today we are delighted to be speaking with Johanna Lunn, director of the film In the Realm of Death & Dreaming, which is the first of four documentaries in a series entitled When You Die. In the film, Johanna asks the big question... Does consciousness continue after death, or is it lights out? Johanna guides viewers on a personal journey to find answers by exploring stories of near death experiences, deathbed visions and mystical journeys. She also speaks with leading clinicians and researc...
Jun 09, 2021•23 min
We've had many conversations here on Ask Doctor Death about a variety of religious views, but have rarely touched on Jewish beliefs and practices around death, dying and bereavement. In this episode, we are honored to present Rabbi Sarah Rensin, a hospice chaplain with a very progressive perspective on Judaism. Rabbi Sarah was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion California in 2015. After ordination, she used her background in fine art and teaching to create a dynamic Jewish education cur...
May 10, 2021•55 min
Today's guest is Rev. Kevin Bradley, who serves on the board of the Final Exit Network , an organization that supports the human right to a death with dignity. The Final Exit Network (FEN) believes that mentally competent adults who suffer from a terminal illness, intractable physical pain, chronic or progressive physical disabilities, or who face loss of autonomy and selfhood through dementia, have a basic human right to choose to end their lives when they judge their quality of life to be unac...
May 01, 2021•48 min
