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Discussion » Questions » Religion and Spirituality » Past life therapy: valid therapy or charlatanism?
Benedict Arnold

Past life therapy: valid therapy or charlatanism?

Dr Raymond Moody used hypnosis to lead patients back into what they believed was a past life in which they could find the cause of present problems. 

In Moody's system it didn't matter if the experiences were real or whether they were, more-or-less, a kind of hypnotic dream. If the problems worked out that way he considered them valid. 

He did NOT believe in reincarnation or past lives when he began his therapy and, after writing a book on the subject, said the jury was still out. But, he said, the evidence points a little more toward reincarnation than away from it. 

What's your opinion about this kind of therapy?

Posted - March 31, 2017
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Responses


  • Pure hokum woo.
      March 31, 2017 5:28 PM MDT
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  • He didn't insist that it was real. If he can create a scenario in which the patient is able to play out and resolve a problem, is it still hokum? 
      March 31, 2017 5:37 PM MDT
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  • Even more so.    Leave it to a psychologist.
      March 31, 2017 5:42 PM MDT
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  • I suspect "past lives" is charlatanism.
      March 31, 2017 5:54 PM MDT
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  • Then you and Glis are in agreement. :)
      March 31, 2017 6:23 PM MDT
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  • I believed that in my past life and will continue to believe it in my future incarnations. 
      March 31, 2017 6:43 PM MDT
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  • Mostly charlatans.. But yet... You read the literature and there are recorded cases of people knowing of past people that they shouldn't know... An open mind here.
      March 31, 2017 6:59 PM MDT
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  • Wise!
      March 31, 2017 9:01 PM MDT
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  • I don't really believe in past lives and yet I know someone who did go through the regression and from what he said it was very interesting. He described two past lives, in one he was a soldier wearing a uniform that was obviously from long ago and he said he was hiding behind a tree when he heard the zing of an arrow and then everything went black.  I asked him how he knew it was him and he said you just know.
      March 31, 2017 10:14 PM MDT
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  • In 1968 I was experimenting with age regression using hypnosis. Mrs Didge was 28 at the time. I regressed her five years at a time and asked her to sign her name. 

    At age 18 she used her maiden name. At 13 and 8 her writing was clearly a younger person's hand. And at age 3 she scribbled on the page, held it up to show me, a big happy smile on her face, and said, "See!"

    Then I took her back another five years. But three minus five doesn't work out at minus two.

    She described a desert life. Arabs, horses, tents, an oasis.

    We didn't think of it as a past life as much as a hypnotic dream. But we didn't rule it out either. It was an interesting experiment that neither of us has ever forgotten. 

    I might fill that out a bit more and blog it. Thanks for bringing it to mind. 
      March 31, 2017 11:17 PM MDT
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  • That's really interesting especially the part about the handwriting.
      April 1, 2017 12:17 AM MDT
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  • 13395
    Woman I know of had developed an extreme fear of being buried alive for unknown reason, she thought maybe it was foreboding a fate in store for her. She saw a psychologist trained in hypnotism and it was revealed that some person directly related to her had been buried alive at some point in the past.
    Inherited memory.
      April 1, 2017 1:13 AM MDT
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  • That's an interesting angle, Kittigate. I hadn't considsered "inherited memory". That opens up a whole other line of discussion. Thanks for the answer.

      April 1, 2017 12:12 PM MDT
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  • 5808
         I went through a past life regression therapy session  once.
    After I was born I was put in a cardboard box and left at a bus station.
    During my session, Was going back and back until I got
    to the place where I was in the box. Instead of keeping me above it all
    as an observer, and crossing over to the last past life,  the therapist let me get into the box and have a frightful
    experience of that situation again, I was screaming my head off because it was so traumatic.
         Since I have had experiences with past teachers that had left their bodies
    and were on the other side, I understand when they have contacted me
    and I have had conversations with some of them and in one occasion
    even was taken to another level of consciousness by One of
    my teachers Neem Karoli Baba, so was really bummed out that
    my therapist had not kept me above it all, and observing it all.
    instead of getting involved.
         All that being said, my advice is to find an authentic Therapist
    for past lives if this is what someone wants and video tape the whole session.
    And be the only one having the session.
         I was part of a two people session,
    in which the therapist was interested in the girl and sort of forgot about me.     
    He chewed me out royally for interrupting the session with my screaming from the box.
    BUT...after I explained to him that he didn't keep me above it all
    and he let me get into that box, He apologized profusely
    and He realized that he was more into the girl
    and forgot about me.
         This was 40+ years ago
    and even after buying a course in past life therapy
    I have never had a desire to check it out anymore
    being totally comfortable with where I am,
    and realizing that it is not needed for me anymore.

      April 3, 2017 12:59 PM MDT
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