Can trying to contact a deceased loved one ease the pain of grief and bereavement? The answer is yes, according to research conducted by psychology professor Arthur Hastings, at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California. Dr. Hastings and his research team took 27 persons through a three hour process with the intention of contacting a friend or loved one who had died. After the experience almost all the individuals had significantly less grief, guilt, sadness, loss, and need to communicate compared to their previous feelings. Half of the participants said they had felt the presence of the person they sought. The research has just been published in the winter issue of Omega, a professional journal on death and dying, and is the first to scientifically measure this process. (Next: Introduction->)