Friend talks to dead, I need help

[Yahzi]

She appears to completely believe that an Idaho psychic, for $50 a call, is talking to her dead husband.

Why would he talk to some floozy in Idaho?

Teach your aunt how to contact her dead husband herself. Put her in a trance, have her chant some magic formula, and let the "spirit" of her husband talk directly to her.

At least it will save her $50.

 

[BPScooter]

Hey everyone,

I'm glad to see responses here, just to be clear--here are some previously stated, mostly inferred, and some new facts on the OP:

This person is the wife of a friend of mine (now deceased), not my aunt.
I have only seen her rarely in the last 10 years.
She has aunts, and such, that she brought up with glittery-eyed vigor in her recounting of the tale.
This recounting was done 6 months after the highly emotional death.
I was momentarily silenced in my JREF-itude. I probed with kind questions with the intent to discover whether she was seriously at-risk or only mildly deceived.
I came up with "mildly deceived" and left it alone for the time being.

However, I do think she is lonely and sad. She was prescribed anti-depressants and was wise enough, on her own, to realize they were interfering with her emotions and thoughts and discontinued them. Perhaps the ultimate JREF counseling regimen will include distraction and companionship, good conversation, healthy curiosity about the world, and travel.

For my friend, who I'm not sure how many of those things are possibilities, I now see that it's just the distraction/companionship part that I could supply. We'll invite her over and Mrs. Scooter and Kid Scooter can distract her.

 

[BPScooter]

Follow-up after re-reading these great responses.

Definitions as I used and understood them:
Hot=psychic definitely has non-paranormal specific information.
Warm=psychic has generalities, good guesses but many and persuasive
Cold=psychic has guesses and feedback

From the way my subject/friend talked, I was suspicious and assumed it was a Hot situation although couldn't readily or tactfully suggest this. (Hey, your phony Idaho broad is a scammer!). I introduced conversational and sober comments, like "there are professional magicians who do this for a living" and "there are ways of making it seem like you know things about other people."

I'm happy that this topic and situation inspire response. I'll continue with the general middle-of-the-road therapy: Don't burst the bubble all at once.