30 Years Among the Dead (ePub)

Dr. Carl A. Wickland (1861-1945) was an early 20th-century psychiatrist, a pioneering spiritist, and an author known for his forays into research on what he considered to be spirit obsession and possession. He penned the influential book '30 Years Among the Dead', published in 1924, which provides an extensive account of his work with mental patients who he believed were afflicted by discarnate spirits. Wickland was born in Sweden and later emigrated to the United States, where he eventually settled in Chicago. He studied at Durham University in the UK before practicing psychiatry. Wickland's approach to treatment was unconventional for his time; he employed the practice of disincarnate spirit communication and exorcism through the use of a 'spirit medium', his wife Anna Wickland, to converse with and relieve patients of their spiritual attachments. His work represents a unique intersection of psychiatry and the burgeoning spiritualist movement of the early 1900s, bridging the gap between scientific inquiry and metaphysical exploration. '30 Years Among the Dead' is an intriguing narrative of case studies that reflect Wickland's methods and the prevailing attitudes towards mental health and spiritualism during that era. His literary style was expository and personal, providing transcripts of sessions and discussions of his theories and experiences in a style that was both clinical and accessible to the lay reader. Wickland's contributions to the fringe field of psychical research and spirit therapy have remained of interest to those studying the history of psychiatry and spiritualism.