A bereaved patient mentions feeling that someone is with them. Before revealing the answer, decide how you would explore this.

Ask specifically whether they actually see, hear, or feel anything, or whether it is purely a felt sense that someone is there, since a sense of presence is not attributed to any single sense at all. Ask about the location of the felt presence, since it often has a clear sense of location, such as just behind or beside the person. Ask about the context in which it occurs — grief, extreme fatigue, or physically demanding survival situations are all recognised contexts in which this experience is frequently reported by people with no psychiatric illness whatsoever, so establishing this context helps frame the experience appropriately rather than treating it automatically as a sign of illness. Approach the topic with sensitivity, since patients may be reluctant to disclose it for fear of being thought unwell.