Healthcare
March 6, 2026
Fabio D’Antoni, Fabio Mattiussi, Cristiano Crescentini
2 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), particularly Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, improve grief-related distress, depressive symptoms, and psychological well-being in bereaved individuals. These interventions reduce rumination and experiential avoidance while increasing self-compassion and emotion regulation. Evidence from 17 studies, however, remains preliminary due to small sample sizes, varied outcome measures, and limited long-term follow-up. MBIs appear promising as adjunctive support in bereavement care, targeting acceptance, decentering, and self-compassion. High-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to establish efficacy and clarify mechanisms.
Psychology International
April 27, 2026
Claudio Lalla, Fabio D’Antoni
Emergent Post-Loss Experiences (EPLEs)—reported in therapies like Reparative Experience-Based Grief Therapy and Induced After-Death Communication Therapy—are structured, multisensory experiences involving a sense of contact with the deceased, altered space-time perception, and comforting, meaning-related effects. A mixed-method study of 64 former patients developed a 22-item EPLE Scale. The scale showed satisfactory internal consistency (ω = 0.79) and moderate-to-strong correlation with the Near-Death Experience Scale (ρ = 0.62). Network analysis revealed a policentric organization. EPLEs appear to play a reparative role in complicated grief, and the scale offers a concise global measure for research and clinical use.
Psychology International
September 26, 2025
Claudio Lalla, Fabio D’Antoni
Most people who undergo induced after-death communication (IADC) therapy report experiences that closely resemble near-death experiences (NDEs). In a study of 59 participants who had completed IADC therapy, 86% scored at or above the established threshold for an NDE on the NDE Scale, with an average total score of 14.69. The strongest features were transcendental and affective elements, such as perceiving otherworldly environments, encountering deceased loved ones, and profound peace, while paranormal aspects were less prominent. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that IADC experiences share a core phenomenology with NDEs, helping to explain how the therapy may work.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
January 20, 2022
Fabio D’Antoni, Alessio Matiz, Franco Fabbro et al.
A single 40-minute session of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting (BSP), or Body Scan Meditation (BSM) each reduced the subjective disturbance (SUD scores) of distressing memories in 40 healthy adult psychologists and medical doctors. EMDR and BSP produced significantly lower disturbance than BSM and a book-reading control condition, both immediately after the session and at follow-up. BSM also lowered disturbance more than book reading. EMDR and BSP additionally shortened the time participants spent telling the memory. The study suggests that even one session of these interventions can help process distressing memories in a non-clinical sample.
Journal of Trauma & Dissociation
June 2, 2021
Fabio D’Antoni, Susanna Feruglio, Alessio Matiz et al.
A 7-week Mindfulness Oriented Meditation (MOM) training reduced dissociative tendencies, increased dispositional mindfulness, and improved interoceptive awareness (not-worrying, self-regulation, body listening) in healthy adults compared to a waiting-list control group. Greater increases in mindfulness skills correlated with greater reductions in dissociation and improvements in interoceptive awareness. More home meditation practice was linked to larger gains in mindfulness skills. The findings suggest mindfulness meditation may cultivate voluntary processes that provide psychological safety and integration, contrasting with the involuntary nature of dissociation.