Can Children See Ghosts?

 I have often heard it said that children are more in touch with the paranormal than adults.  Children are certainly more receptive to the idea of ghosts than adults and ghost stories can spread through a group of children like wildfire.   One could argue, that children are more open to the wanderings of imagination than adults and that they are prone to believe in many fictional things with a fiery passion.  They lack the skepticism that has grown in a more mature mind and they are prone to report encounters with the paranormal because of these factors.  Yet, my new baby has recently made me revisit the question of children and ghosts.

My little one spends a considerable amount of time staring at nothing and laughing and smiling.  He'll stare at a spot on the couch that is empty or a place behind my head where nothing is happening.   I have to ask myself, is it possible he sees things I don't see?  I found an interesting study on Ghoststudy.com that evaluated the very questions I have had.  The study was done by Nicole Leader who presented several surveys to parents of children of various ages in order to determine if children were in fact more receptive to the paranormal world than adults and if so, at what ages does this ability peak and fade.    The results of the study found that most parents did believe their children were more receptive to the paranormal and that children's encounters with ghosts usually began between the ages of six months and 4 years. Children seem to be naturally born with the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, according to this research.   The study also found that over time children cease to communicate with the other side. A few children maintain their abilities into adulthood, but this is rare. The researcher believes that this may be caused not only by a lessening of ability to communicate with the other side but also by parents steady discouragement of such communication.    The research also found that children most commonly have contact with the ghosts of deceased loved ones.  If you would like to read the entire study you can at http://ghoststudy.com/new8/studies/children.htm .

Another paper I read discussed a child psychologist who indicated that at least a third of his patients believe they see ghosts (Mark Hall via HubPages.com).  This paper focused more on the terror created by children's connection to the other side and ways to banish such terror.   If what it suggests were true, perhaps the reason children have a more profound fear of the dark is because they are more able to sense the unseeable spirits that lurk in the shadows.  As adults, we have shed our connections with the other side and have lost our fear of things we can no longer sense.

   When I worked as a child therapist, I certainly found that children are sensitive to many things that adults have learned to tune out.  Children are deeply observant on a level adults are not.  They lack the inner dialogue that distract adults from being completely present in the now and that opens them up to observations adults, who are lost in their own thoughts, are not able to make.  For example,  if I saw eight children and their parents in one day, every child would notice and comment on my new tattoo while most adults would just focus on the business that had brought them into my office.   To me, this very trait in children would make them more open to encounters with the paranormal.

I'm not alone in this belief, any kind of review on the topic of children and ghosts seems to show a consensus that if ghosts are real, children see them more frequently and are more open to them than adults.  What does this mean?  It means that if your child is afraid of the dark or says there's a monster in the closet, maybe next time you shouldn't completely ignore them.  Maybe they are just seeing something you can't and hearing whispers you are unable to understand.

The Link Between ADHD and the Ability to See Ghosts

I am reading an interesting book by Caren B. Goode right now called Kids Who See Ghosts.  I'm not very far into the book, but it is well written and well researched.  It brings up some interesting neurological research that I was unaware of in the first chapter.  According to Goode,
          "Brain mapping using EEG topography has found that creativity and intuition are associated with theta waves usually linked with daydreaming or fantasizing.  Theta waves are calm states in which intellectual activity at the conscious level isn't occurring. Children and adults with ADHD produce excessive theta waves.  Most people, children and adults alike, who see ghosts experience theta waves or brain-wave states of relaxation and meditation.  People who practice psychic skills have learned to concentrate in these states and master their psychic ability."

One of my constant concerns when I was working as a child therapist was the over medication of young children.  As a therapist,  I wasn't given an opportunity to question the psychiatrists who are given most of the control in the field, but the standard of care for children who have any problems was to diagnosis them almost exclusively with ADHD and medicate them.  Every child I saw in therapy was also being medicated for ADHD, despite the fact that research shows that this medication suppresses growth and causes other side effects.  In my opinion,  many of the children being medicated for ADHD didn't actually even have it.  They had PTSD or adjustment disorders etc., but of course that is another matter.  The ones who did have ADHD were often high functioning and performing well in school, but their behavior was a problem so they were medicated because it is a quick and easy fix to children who don't conform.

This research brings to light other questions.  In a world where ADHD is diagnosed in every other child,  could we be suppressing children's potential.   There have been links seen between ADHD and creativity and if is Good is right then perhaps there also might be links between ADHD and psychic abilities.  Are we suppressing our children's potential when we medicate them into silent, compliant behavior?   Are we shutting out the portion of their mind that might let them see beyond the concrete into a more abstract and deep world of ghosts and beauty?