Past life Hypnotic regression just a con game or is it real?

Question

Past life Hypnotic regression just a con game or is it real?

Answer 1

Neither.

A lot of people sincerely believe in it, but unfortunately, all cases that have been investigated break down. My own half-sister believed she had a past life as a Gestapo officer - unfortunately, though, in World War 1.....similarly, lots of people seem to believe they were someone famous - almost no-one believes they lived uneventful lives working in a rice paddy, or in a coal mine, or died when they were still young.

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Answer 2

I like Jodie Gs answer and since she is a therapist, I will completely defer to her answer as the best one in here! Its a dandy.

Answer 3

Sometimes it is a con game.  Sometimes people believe they can do it, (see some of the above), but are sadly mistaken.  If people had past lives and they can remember them through dreams or hypnosis, then there would be countless clinically documented cases of this occurring.  They would be set up to ask questions the person is very unlikely to know, but that can be checked out.  No one has ever succeeded at this.  the claims that people have, are always suspect.

Hypnosis was believed to help people recover lost memories and was wildly popular in UFO abduction stories.  John Mack based a whole book on it.  Of course, as a Harvard professor, he never subjected his work to peer review, which is unforgivable.

Hypnosis also became popular in cases of supposedly recovered memories of childhood abuse that the person somehow "repressed."  Numerous innocent people were imprisoned on the basis of it.  Since then, hypnosis has been critically examined and found to be extremely unreliable.  It just cannot do the magical things people think it can.  It is invalidated by the power of suggestion.  People "remember" things that never happened, and this is repeatedly proven.  Virtually all of those convicted on the basis of hypnosis have been exonerated and released, but not until after their kids unwittingly destroyed their lives.

Answer 4

Hypnosis is certainly real and can be used for behavior modification and pain management.

Society of Psychological Hypnosis

Division 30 - American Psychological Association (link below).

However, hypnosis is a state of suggestiveness and it is not an accurate memory recall device for child abuse, satanic rituals, alien abductions, or past lives.

This is not to say that it can not be useful in healing people  that experienced traumas or have phobias it has shown effectiveness in this regard. So, in that regard it is not a con game. Used as proof for a past life it is at best highly questionable.

Answer 5

My impression is that PLR, for the most part, is not so much a con game as an exercise in folly.  Hypnotism can place a person in a very suggestible state.  The person conducting the PLR can "lead" the person in any number of directions.  Just asking the question, "What were you in a past life?" would lead the person into possibly fabricating an answer.

There is no reason to think it is real.  I have come across no verifiable information (i.e. names, dates, locations, etc.) by which this can be tested.  I imagine if someone was asked for details while hypnotized they would provide nothing verifiable.

Check the link for a better and more detailed answer.

Answer 6

i think its a game. I think people only get one shot at life.

so  they should worry about this one.not if theres another one

Answer 7

I'm a hypnotherapist, and I've done these.

My take on this is that you probably aren't recalling past lives. Instead, you are reframing the problems you have now by seeing them in a different way, which makes it easier to identify them and use that knowledge to make your life better.

However, for those people who take comfort in the idea of past lives, I'm OK with that, too; I can't prove it one way or another.

Answer 8

No one can actually recall events from a past life when under hypnosis. Just think of all the unlikely things that would have to happen.

1. Something undetectable which can carry a person's memories would have to survive death.

2. It would somehow have to move into the body of another, possibly newborn, person.

3. That person would have no knowledge of this thing, and would live a regular life. What is this thing? a parasite?, a soul? Is it immortal?

4. The memory-carrying thing can be activated or awakened by hypnosis, and then it goes back to sleep again. Oddly, the thing only recalls one past life, but it should be able to recall dozens or hundreds.

None of this seems to be remotely feasible or possible, and there is certainly no evidence that it happens. The seemingly convincing stories that people tell about their past lives are invariably confabulations.

Answer 9

it depends in what culture you were raised or what culture you embrace as the most suitable for you.

i, personally, believe it's just a delusion.

it is, sometimes, convenient, for some. but, regarding regressive hypnosis, hypnotists admit that people are very open to suggestions and, if asked, they'll imagine anything, in great variety of details.

i have an irrational fear of knives pointing at me, but i doubt i was killed by a knife in my previous life.