523. Barbara & Charles Whitfield

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Barbara Whitfield was a researcher at the University of Connecticut Medical School with psychiatry professor Bruce Greyson. Together they researched the after-effects of people who have had a Near-Death Experience. She taught at Rutger’s University’s Institute for Alcohol and Drug Studies School for 12 years, served on the board and executive board of The International Association for Near-Death Studies and was president of the Kundalini Research Network. She’s been a guest expert on Larry King Live (twice), The Today Show, Man Alive, Donahue, Unsolved Mysteries, PM Magazine, Good Morning America, Oprah, Joan Rivers, Sonya Freeman, CNN Medical News, and Alabama Public Television, Imus, and All Things Considered. She also writes self-help books and provides workshops and speaking engagements on topics of recovery, near-death experiences and natural spirituality.

Charles L Whitfield MD was a physician, psychotherapist, and internationally recognized expert on mental illness, behavioral problems, and recovery. He was an associate professor of medicine at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine for 4 years and then taught medicine and addiction medicine as associate professor of medicine, psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine for eight years. He has been on the faculty of the Rutgers University Summer Institute of Alcohol and Drug Studies since 1978, and in the private practice of medicine and psychotherapy since 1976. He has been voted by his peers as one of the Best Doctors in America every year since 1994.

Barbara and Charles had a private practice in Atlanta, Georgia helping adults who have been repeatedly traumatized, who are having problems in living, who want to come off of psych drugs and/or opiates, and who may have had a spiritually transformative experience.

Charles L. Whitfield, M.D. died December 9, 2021, at age 83. His obituary says he died peacefully, surrounded by Barbara and family. Fischer Funeral Care
Barbara Harris Whitfield died January 13, 2026, at age 82. Her obituary says she spent her final days surrounded by four generations of family and friends. IANDS reports that she died of pancreatic cancer. Dignity Memorial

They were well known for their work on childhood trauma, codependency, addiction, spiritual emergence, and near-death experiences. Barbara herself had an NDE in 1975 and became prominent in IANDS; Charles wrote Healing the Child Within and numerous other books.

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