Kim Penberthy is a clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia with research interests in psi and spirituality.
Contents
Career
Penberthy is the Chester F Carlson Professor in the Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia’s Department of Psychiatry & Neurobehavioral Sciences. Penberthy is a founding member of the UVA Contemplative Sciences Center that studies the therapeutic components of contemplative practices including mindfulness and meditation, both in terms of the healing abilities of these practices and their impact on human performance.
Penberthy co-directed the Effective Coping and Communication Skills for Physicians program, a national initiative that aimed to improve physician interpersonal skills. Her PhD was completed at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Fellowship at UVA. Recently, Penberthy was awarded a grant by the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation to research the effect of psilocybin on grief disorder.
Spirituality in Psychiatry
In an article in Psychiatric Times, Penberthy and colleagues explored the extent to which spirituality, as opposed to religiosity, is integrated into psychiatric practice, highlighting its relevance across several DSM-5 diagnoses (including persistent depressive disorders, prolonged grief disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder). The article discussed terror management theory alongside an alternative approach-oriented framework for addressing mortality awareness. The authors emphasized how direct confrontation with death fostered personal growth and existential well-being. Neuroimaging research revealed involvement of the default mode network and salience network in spiritual experiences.
The authors recommended structured spiritual assessments such as the FICA tool to enhance holistic psychiatric care, along with therapeutic modalities including meaning-centred psychotherapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions.1Pehlivanova et al (2025b).
Prolonged Grief Disorder and Psychedelics
In this 2025 publication, Penberthy and coauthors give an overview of the efficacy of psychedelics for prolonged grief disorder (PGD). This is distinct from, yet related to, non-pathologic grief, depression, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder, with prevalence up to 10% in bereaved populations. A promising treatment avenue may be represented by psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA, which have been shown by randomized clinical trials to alleviate severity in depression and psot-traumatic stress disorder symptoms respectively. Certain subjective effects often produced by psychedelics such as transcendence, mystical experiences and sense of oneness may be uniquely relevant to existential distress experienced in PGD. No randomized clinical trials on safety and efficacy of psychedelics for PGD have been conducted thus far, though initial survey-based studies and an open-label trial have begun shedding light on possible benefits.
Meditation and Paranormal Experiences
Penberthy and colleagues compared meditation with physical exercise in terms of psychological characteristics and paranormal experiences in a randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration. The researchers randomly assigned seventy-two participants who had not meditated before to either an eight-week structured meditation programme (n = 45) or an exercise control group (n = 27). Both interventions were delivered online with weekly guidance sessions.
Both groups demonstrated improvements in anxiety and general health measures. The meditation cohort exhibited significantly higher scores in openness (p = 0.001) and, unexpectedly, extraversion (p = 0.001) compared to exercisers. Meditators also reported significantly more paranormal experiences. Approximately half considered these experiences important or meaningful. Attempts to influence a random number generator during group meditation sessions yielded non-significant results in both cohorts.
The study included several limitations: a relatively small sample size, short intervention duration, and predominantly non-Hispanic white female participants. The authors concluded the study provided preliminary support for meditation enhancing paranormal experiences, warranting further research with larger samples and longer interventions.2Penberthy et al (2024).
Fear of Death and Dying Interventions
Penberthy and colleagues from the University of Virginia and Boston College examined interventions for thanatophobia (fear of death and dying) in a systematic review published in Mortality. The review analysed fifteen studies from 2009-2019 exploring four intervention categories: psychotherapy, mindfulness, psychedelic drugs, and virtual reality.
The authors also examined such interventions for thanatophobia, analyzing 15 studies carried out between 2009 and 2019 in four categories: psychotherapy, mindfulness, psychedelic drugs and virtual reality. Psychotherapy approaches, including meaning-centred and life review therapies that strengthened belief in an afterlife, were shown to reduce death anxiety, although these findings were weakened by small samples and absence of control groups. Mindfulness exercises were found to reduce anxiety but typically without altering afterlife beliefs.
Psychedelic drugs (LSD and psilocybin) showed promise in dissociating mind from body and reducing death anxiety, although access to these is limited by government regulations. Virtual reality simulations of out-of-body experiences appeared effective, possibly by strengthening afterlife beliefs. The authors found benefits in all four approaches and recommended that future research explore their mechanisms in larger, more diverse populations.3Blomstrom et al (2020).
After-Death Communications
Penberthy and colleagues discussed the psychological impact of after-death communications (ADCs) – spontaneous experiences in which living individuals reported contact with deceased persons – in a publication in OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying. A large international survey of experiencers provided systematic data on the psychological and spiritual effects of these encounters.
The research demonstrated that ADCs were typically perceived as positive life events, bringing measurable changes in worldview: reduced fear of death, increased belief in an afterlife and in the possibility of communication with the deceased, and heightened self-reported spirituality. The intensity of these effects varied based on specific characteristics of the experience. Physical contact with the deceased – whether actual or desired – and the emotional response to the encounter played moderating roles. These determined how profoundly the experience affected the individual’s beliefs and attitudes.
The findings indicated ADCs represented more than isolated anomalous experiences, appearing to function as transformative events that reshaped experiencers’ fundamental perspectives on mortality and spiritual matters.4Penberthy et al (2023).
Mindfulness Training and Psi
Penberthy and her DOPS colleagues assessed the frequency and impact of meditation training on paranormal experiences and on performance on psi tasks. Participants undergoing meditation training showed increased mindfulness scores and a greater number of paranormal experiences compared with controls (p = 0.001). However, meditation training showed no effect on the performance of psi tasks.5Penberthy et al (2020).
Michael Duggan
Literature
Blomstrom, M., Burns, A., Larriviere, D., Penberthy, J.K. (2020). Addressing fear of death and dying: traditional and innovative interventions. Mortality.
Ehrenkranz, R., Agrawal, M., Penberthy, J.K., & Yaden, D.B. (2024). Narrative review of the potential for psychedelics to treat Prolonged Grief Disorder. International Review of Psychiatry 36/8, 879-90.
Penberthy, K., Hodge, A., Hook, J., Delorme, A., Pehlivanova, M., & Vieten, C. (2020). Meditators and nonmeditators: A descriptive analysis over time with a focus on unusual and extraordinary experiences. Journal of Yoga and Physiotherapy 8, 555744.
Penberthy, J.K., Pehlivanova, M., Kalelioglu, T., Roe, C.A., Cooper, C.E., Lorimer, D., Elsaesser, E. (2023). Factors Moderating the Impact of After Death Communications on Beliefs and Spirituality. OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 87/3, 884-901.
Penberthy, J.K., Garcia Claro, H., Kalelioglu, T., Centeno, C., Ladoni, A., Ragone, E., Rowley, C., Hanchak, E. (2024). Impact of Meditation Versus Exercise on Psychological Characteristics, Paranormal Experiences, and Beliefs: Randomized Trial. Journal of Scientific Exploration 38/1, 28-40.
Pehlivanova, M., Weiler, M., Penberthy, J.K., Cozzolino, P.J. (2025). Psychiatry and Spirituality: Exploring the Intersections of Meaning and Mental Health. Psychiatric Times, August 2025.