Children are more likely than their parents to have a paranormal experience—and these strange happenings could help heal a child’s autism or epilepsy, a study has suggested.
Adults—the child’s parents, teachers or doctor—often downplay the experience, and this dismissal robs it of its healing potential, say researchers from the University of Central Lancashire in the UK.
They interviewed 16 children who had a paranormal experience, and four of these had a medical condition, including epilepsy, autism and narcolepsy, the ‘sleeping disease’. Whether their experiences had been positive or negative, the children reported that they had stopped taking medication afterwards or felt more connected to themselves and others.
A paranormal experience—otherwise known as an anomalous experience—includes a range of occurrences from seeing visions, having an out-of-body experience, being clairvoyant or experiencing a near-death experience.
(Source: Explore, 2021; available online, September 6, 2021)
