Ask Doctor Death

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 professionally, he has wrestled with themes such as dignity, faith, humanity, identity, loss, meaning, morality, mortality, religion, spirituality, trauma, values, death, grief, and belief.
Pesach holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and neuroscience, as well as a Master of Arts degree in mental health counseling.
Our interview covers a lot of fascinating topics, including:

• Do we really have a choice about our inherited religion if we're never taught to develop critical thinking skills or inner resources?
  
• Can grief be managed by customs and traditions rather than allowing it to follow its natural trajectory toward healing?
  
• Do the benefits of living in a supportive community outweigh the cost of suppressing our authentic self?
  Films about Orthodox Judaism:
  ONE OF USTREMBLING BEFORE G-DUNORTHODOXSHTISEL

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, and conversely, those beliefs also influence what we experience in our NDEs.

Gregory is a research fellow of the Parapsychology Foundation, and was formerly Perrott-Warrick Researcher at University of Oxford's Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion; Scholar-in Residence at the Centro Incontri Umani (The Cross Cultural Centre), Ascona, Switzerland; and Honorary Research Fellow at the Religious Experience Research Centre, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He has lectured at universities in the UK, Ireland, and Switzerland and has given numerous talks on his research in nine countries, and has appeared on the History Channel.

GREGORY'S WEBSITES:
Article on how near-death experiences inform afterlife beliefsGregoryShushan.comNew book! The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the AfterlifeMEET GREGORY AT THE 2022 CONFERENCE ON DEATH, GRIEF AND BELIEF!
www.deathgriefandbelief.com

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 therapy. Since completing his doctoral training in 1982, he has published 30 books, including a series of volumes on Techniques of Grief Therapy and Grief and the Expressive Arts, the latter with Barbara Thompson, and serves as Editor of the journal Death Studies.
He has published more than 500 articles and book chapters, and is currently working to advance a more adequate theory of grieving as a meaning-making process, both in his published work and through his frequent professional workshops for national and international audiences.
Neimeyer served as president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), and chair of the International Work Group for Death, Dying, & Bereavement. In recognition of his contributions, he has been granted the Eminent Faculty Award by the University of Memphis, made a fellow of the clinical psychology division of the American Psychological Association, and given Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Association for Death Education and Counseling and the International Network on Personal Meaning.
Related Links of Interest:
The Portland Institute for Loss and Transistion
Robert Neimeyer website
Robert Neimeyer's books
Symposium on Death and Bereavement Studies
Marian University Thanatology Program

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
. Intimacy and Sexuality during Illness and Loss
. Aging America: Coping with loss, dying, and death in later life
. Transforming Loss: Finding Potential for Growth
. When Grief Is Complicated,
. The Longest Loss: Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
. Helping Adolescents Cope with Loss
... and many more.
In addition to these books, he has published over 100 articles and book chapters. Dr. Doka is editor of both Omega: The Journal of Death and Dying and Journeys: A Newsletter to Help in Bereavement. He has an ongoing blog for Psychology Today entitled Good Mourning.
We are delighted to welcome him as a presenter in our upcoming
SYMPOSIUM ON DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT STUDIES.