There is no question that taking a client back to a “past life” can be therapeutic. But does that mean that the client actually returns to a previous life, tens or hundreds of years ago? No. The trip is similar to believing that you have been abducted in a flying saucer and impregnated by aliens. Past life therapy is a tribute to the human imagination. And a metaphorical way of dealing with current problems. After all, it is patently absurd to think that because you remember being hypnotized by an arrow in the neck when you were with Robin Hood, it can cure you of a mysterious neck pain today. However, this metaphorical time travel can have beneficial results (neck pain relief, for example), but unfortunately, “The use of past life therapy among professionals…can undermine the credibility of licensed professionals.” *
This is the conclusion of two South Korean researchers whose experiments, published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis,show how strongly influenced hypnotic subjects are by their culture and belief systems when hypnotized back to a supposed “past life”.
While there isn’t a shred of evidence that people actually return to a past life (and plenty of evidence that they do not — see, for example, the famous story of Bridey Murphy**), there is no doubt that many people who have experienced hypnotic regression strongly believe that they actually returned to a previous life.
The researchers found that the “previous life” is strongly influenced by culture and religion. For example, some of the Korean study subjects reported being animals in a past life, while none of the 110 subjects in a Canadian study*** reported being an animal in a past life.
I was surprised by the finding that prior past life belief was not correlated with increased production of past life memories. Non-believers produced past life “memories” at the same rate.
Much of what is seen or thought in a client’s mind comes from the hypnotist’s suggestions, along with the background and nationality of the hypnotized person.
Past life hypnotic therapy creates fantasies. And that is why it can be effective in treating a current problem. Once the human imagination is activated (ie hypnosis), the possibilities are endless. If you believe that something in a past life affects you in your current life, then “visiting” that past life (in your imagination, of course), can provide the metaphorical basis for a real solution. Hypnotherapy is based on the concentrated use of the imagination.
So fantasy can and does affect reality.
References
*Pyun, YD and Kim, YJ, (2009). Experimental production of past life memories in hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 57, 269-276.
** Direct drug
***Spanos, NP et al. (1991). Secondary identity performances during hypnotic past life regression: a sociocognitive perspective.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology61, 308-320.
