working with spirit

Something that really bugs me is the way ghosts and spirit are portrayed in the media. They are shown to be sensational, a source of entertainment and even something to be hounded and hunted.
This is a very sad state of affairs in my opinion for obvious reasons. The ghost or spirit is a person.
Would you expect to see a living person treated in the same way for the purpose of entertainment?
A ghost is different from a spirit, that is true. A ghost is the spirit of a person that has become stuck in the ether of the earth. They are unable to move on to their spiritual home because of their mental state, their emotions, their attachment to a place or person or perhaps because of a very quick death that has left them confused. I have met ghosts who have died unexpectedly and are shocked to find themselves unable to relate to the physical world as they once did. With such isolation enforced upon them they then become frantic in many cases and their mental state worsens. The key to working with them and understanding them is simply to treat them as you would a living person, they are no different and deserve compassion and respect.
There is nothing to fear from spirit or ghosts, they usually only want help. Some might resist though and that's when you need a medium to intervene, someone who can communicate and "hear" the voice of the spirit.
I don't believe that a spirit or ghost should be accepted as living with you in a home either. They belong in their own dimension and should not be lingering here with us, it does them no good and delays their progress and that of their soul group.
I hear of many people who seem to accept that they have a ghost living with them, that they talk to them, are comfortable with them around. I say that if a spirit is hanging around you, watching you dress, at intimate times, giving you their thoughts uninvited, getting into bed with you - you have a major problem.
In the same way that we should respect spirit they should in turn respect us. They must not pry, spy or influence us in any way and if they are doing so it is unhealthy and wont be a spirit who has passed over to the higher realms of life but an earthbound soul who is living through you, experiencing things through your body and emotions as it feeds from your emotional energy. This situation can also lead to negative overshadowing where the spirit can become anchored in the aura (to the mental and emotional bodies of you) and influences your choices, tastes, behaviour, humour and actions. (There is a form of overshadowing that is allowed by the medium and the energy bodies are shared with spirit but this is done properly, with guidelines in place and chaperons to facilitate a safe demonstration). This is not a healthy relationship as it would not be in a normal human interaction. Would you have a stranger living in your home and telling you what to do, what to feel, how to act? I doubt it.
Always apply logic and normal thinking to a spiritual situation, keep your reasoning simple, question everything and use your gut instinct to be successful at reading situations, spirit and living people and you won't go far wrong.