Alexander Moreira-Almeida, MD, is professor of psychiatry at the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF). He is founder and Director of the Research Center in Spirituality and Health – NUPES-UFJF, Brazil. He is co-editor of two anthologies, Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship and Spirituality and Mental Health Across Cultures.

Here he describes his research with spirit mediums in Brazil. While many mediums exhibit symptoms that are sometimes designated as signs of psychosis, he notes that they typically live productive and meaningful lives showing no signs of pathology. Experimental tests with the famous medium, Chico Xavier, indicated that letters he transmitted to grieving relatives from their deceased loved-ones were well over 90% accurate with regard to details unknown to the medium.

(Recorded on October 19, 2021)

Published on November 5, 2021