Reuters photographer Sheng Li reports on “death experience therapy” at Ruoshui Mental Health Clinic in Shenyang, China:
Then I met 42-year-old Mr. Yang, who had booked his therapy appointment for that day. During the psychological preparation talk, I learned that Yang had lost his mother when he was only 11 months old. Lacking maternal love and constantly being insecure in his childhood made him unable to cope with the pressure of work and daily life, and thus he became profoundly pessimistic.
With his wife’s accompaniment, he followed the therapist’s instructions and got in the coffin while the funeral music began. Maybe it was the music – I found myself completely absorbed in the atmosphere, and felt somewhat sad during the entire process. Mr. Yang told me later that for a few seconds he really felt as if he were dead inside the coffin, and his desire to keep on living became stronger. And when he heard his wife reading a letter to him, he cried. He said that it was so strange that when he was “dead,” he actually felt closer to his wife and loved ones.
Since the clinic’s opening in 2009 more than one thousand people have “attended their own funerals”, as it were, each one lasting between four and five hours, during which the “patient” lies in the coffin listening to eulogies prepared by family and friends. Tang Yulong, a therapist at the clinic, says many burst into tears upon their “resurrection”.
A slightly different (and less expensive) form of “coffin therapy” can be found in Eastern Europe, where one coffin maker allows patrons to settle in and “slowly get used to eternity”.
December 19th, 2012 | 11:23 am
So it really is possible to be late for one’s own funeral!
December 19th, 2012 | 11:27 am
From the article: “On the wall there was a poster of Jesus holding a newborn baby illuminated with gloomy blue lights.”
You can see the poster in one of the photos and even though it’s small, it’s clearly the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. I wonder if the author made a typo, or if she actually thought it was a picture of Jesus?
December 19th, 2012 | 12:06 pm
I can’t help but be reminded of those Dutch “memento mori” paintings. And NPR has run a story in the last few months about people “meeting” their digitally aged selves — it turns out that the experience helps them save for retirement….
December 19th, 2012 | 1:02 pm
There is a lot more to the human mind than science knows. We’re still on the level of trail and observation in spite of claims for MRIs.
December 19th, 2012 | 2:18 pm
Since the clinic’s opening in 2009 more than one thousand people have “attended their own funerals”, as it were, each one lasting between four and five hours, during which the “patient” lies in the coffin listening to eulogies prepared by family and friends. Tang Yulong, a therapist at the clinic, says many burst into tears upon their “resurrection”.
Are we supposed to disapprove? If this exercise prompts family members to evaluate and express what the “dearly departed” means to them, I can see that it might be a very effective means of “family therapy.” If we would all stop and think how we would be affected by the deaths of those we take for granted, we might treat them better and not say, after they die, “If only I had said (or not said) that . . . If only I had listened more . . . If only . . . “
December 19th, 2012 | 4:01 pm
I don’t think approval/disapproval is what is considered here but simple observation. Is this pseudo science? How would we tell? It doesn’t seem to pretend to be science. It provides a modified ritual that may provide a different perspective to the participant and thereby help them in getting past some of their preconceptions. That’s about the extent of it.
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