Families:
Years ago I used to push to have everyone in the family come if a child/teen was the focus of concern. Then I became a parent myself. I'm more pragmatic now. Sometimes I still like to meet everyone, but I often work with subsets of the family.
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Typically, I mix individual sessions with the child/teen, sessions with the parent(s), and sessions with the child and parent(s). Often I do this within a single session to facilitate getting critical updates from a parent. I welcome input from both parents if there has been a divorce, and from stepparents, too.
Couples:
When working with a couple, regardless of gender/sexual orientation, I strongly prefer to have both come to the first session. This reduces the risk of my being perceived as already having taken “sides” when I meet the person’s partner/spouse. I find it counterproductive to assign percentages of blame. I’d rather focus on what each person can do to foster change.
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Therefore, I work from the position that each person contributes 50% to what isn’t working well in the relationship and 50% to what is working well.
Individuals:
I work on a wide range of presenting issues. Over the years, I have chosen not to work with alcohol/drug issues or eating disorders. My clients come with challenges facing them at home, in the work place, with relatives or friends, and frequently the critical self-talk in their own heads that impacts self-worth, self-esteem, self-confidence, etc.
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Sometimes the issue is a new one, sometimes it has been present for many, many years. I see my job as being to help you find solutions that help you feel and function better. Towards that end, here’s a head start with two concepts I frequently invoke with clients. If you are where you can say what follows out loud, please say each sentence several times, emphasizing a different word each time. You’ll notice (a) if it sounds true, and (b) if there is one form of it that really resonates:
I give myself permission to (still) be a work in progress.
I give myself permission not to already know what I haven’t yet learned.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
For adults, there are several pencil-and-paper questionnaires I frequently use. Several are free. The cost for the other major one I use is usually less than $75. Most of the forms can be completed at home. The information helps me ensure I'm not overlooking something important. I'll discuss the results with you.
For children/teens, I like to have parents complete a couple of questionnaires. If there are concerns about behavior at school or academic performance I like to have the teacher(s) complete a similar questionnaire. I'll discuss the results with you. There is usually no charge for these questionnaires. With some older teens I will administer additional pencil-and-paper tests. Again, the cost is minimal, usually less than $50-75.
Psycho-educational testing to rule out learning problems falls under a different category. Please see “Evaluation of Learning Disabilities” for more information about this kind of testing.
HYPNOSIS – THERAPY AND CONSULTATION
With many of my clients I find that hypnosis can serve as an important catalyst for the work they are doing. I use it both as a diagnostic tool and to enhance the pace and effectiveness of psychotherapy. Let's take a look at what hypnosis is, and isn't. (Some of the information on this page is adapted from the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.)
A definition of hypnosis:
To keep things simple, I use the words “hypnosis” and “trance” interchangeably. The more you become absorbed in some activity, the more you are putting yourself into a trance state. This is true whether you are focused on something happening around you (like watching TV, playing a video game, or mesmerized listening to a speaker), or whether you are internally absorbed (like reminiscing, problem-solving, day-dreaming, etc.)
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Most people experience mild trance many times a day, but we don’t usually call it hypnosis. All of us have been so absorbed in thought – while reading a book, or riding a bus or train to work – that we fail to notice what is happening around us. While we were zoned out, another level of consciousness, which we refer to as our unconscious mind, took over. These are very focused states of attention similar to hypnosis.
Because hypnosis allows people to use more of their potential, self-hypnosis can be thought of as a way of paradoxically enhancing self-control.
Can I be hypnotized?
Most likely you can. Research suggests that in the range of 75% to 98% of adults can utilize hypnosis. In my own experience, I can't remember the last time I had someone who was unable to use hypnotic techniques successfully for the intended purpose in therapy.
But the question as I posed it is one of the reasons many people fear hypnosis. I don't "hypnotize" people.
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I help them go into trance. All hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. In my office, I teach people different ways to put themselves in trance on purpose, instead of going into trance by mistake. Hypnosis/Trance is analogous to a car with a full gas tank: Where do you want to go with it? What do you want to do with it that it is easier to do than without it?
Here's one way to get an idea about your own ability to use hypnosis. You'll have to have someone watch you while you do this; keeping your head level, roll your eyes up towards the ceiling as if you are attempting to look at a spot directly above your head. Have the other person notice how much of the white of your eyes is visible on the underside of your iris (the colored part of your eye.) If there is absolutely none, you might have trouble utilizing hypnosis. Generally speaking, the more of it that shows, the more the person is genetically hard-wired to be able to utilize (self-)hypnosis. If your iris disappears completely when you roll your eyes up, you're one of the very few for whom hypnosis will likely be very, very easy.
What if I don't want to be hypnotized?
When I was getting my first training in hypnosis in the early 1980s, I discovered I had the same question. I volunteered to let the trainer demonstrate a particular hypnotic technique on me. Despite his best efforts, I didn't go into trance. After he demonstrated the technique on someone else, I let my seminar partner use the technique on me. Then I realized what had happened: I had demonstrated that if I didn't want to go into trance, it was unlikely that someone else was going to “make me.” More importantly, if you don't want a therapist to use hypnosis with you, just say so.
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It's another thing entirely to get advertisers on TV to stop using the power of suggestion! Try this yourself and notice the many subtle visual cues which are incorporated into advertisements. Turn down the volume and notice what you see. Try videotaping the ad and replaying it several times. Notice the dominant colors chosen for an ad, the implications about competency, status, or intimacy, or the mood which the ad evokes. For example, Hallmark is famous for its “feel good” commercials.
Therapists do three main things with hypnosis. They encourage the use of imagination. Mental imagery is very powerful, especially in a focused state of attention. The mind seems capable of using imagery, even if it is only symbolic, to assist us in bringing about the things we are imagining. For example, a client with ulcerative colitis may be asked to imagine what her distressed colon looks like. If she pictures it as being like a tunnel with very red, inflamed walls that are rough in texture, the client may be encouraged in hypnosis (and in self-hypnosis) to imagine this image changing to a healthy one.
Another basic use of hypnosis is to present ideas or suggestions to the client. In a state of concentrated attention, ideas and suggestions that are compatible with what the client wants seem to have a more powerful impact on the mind.
Finally, hypnosis may be used for exploration, to better understand underlying motivations or identify whether past events or experiences are associated with a current problem. Hypnosis avoids the critical censor of the conscious mind, which often defeats what we know to be in our best interests.
Myths About Hypnosis
In hypnosis, the client is not under the control of the hypnotist. Hypnosis is not something imposed on people, but something they do for themselves. The therapist simply serves as a facilitator to guide them.
People often fear that being in trance/hypnosis will make them lose control, surrender their will, and result in their being dominated, but a hypnotic state is not the same thing as gullibility or weakness.
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Many people base their assumptions about hypnotism on stage acts but fail to take into account that stage hypnotists screen their volunteers to select those who are cooperative, with possible exhibitionist tendencies, as well as highly trance-capable. Stage acts help create a myth about hypnosis that discourages people from seeking legitimate therapy that utilizes hypnosis.
Another myth about hypnosis is that people lose consciousness and have amnesia. A small percentage of subjects who go into very deep levels of trance will fit this stereotype and have spontaneous amnesia. The majority of people remember what occurs in hypnosis. This is beneficial, because most of what we want to accomplish in hypnosis may be done in a medium depth trance, where people tend to remember everything.
Will I remember what happens when I come out of trance?
Most people remember as much about what took place while they were in trance as they do from ordinary conversations. (If you've ever asked your children or your spouse to do something while they were watching TV, you know what I mean about memory lapses during trance!)
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A few people are able to go so deep in trance that they have no conscious memory afterwards of what took place. The work I do with hypnosis doesn't require this depth of trance. Further, I offer to tape record (or videotape) all hypnosis work that I do with my clients in case they want a tape for later use. In fact, I often send clients home with a CD or flash drive so that they can use the recording to practice.
Are the things people experience in trance always real memories?
No. Having said that, let me elaborate a bit. The more important question is, "When does it matter whether trance experiences are of real past events?" Just as dreams sometimes provide people with useful insights about a problem, hypnotic imagery often works the same way.
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For example, Olympic competitors and professional athletes sometimes use hypnosis to help them rehearse a particular movement or sequence. (For a more detailed look at one such use of hypnosis, you might want to read the article on Waking Dreams, or preview the book that evolved from the article, The Hypnotic Use of Waking Dreams: Exploring Near-Death Experiences Without the Flatlines.) When hypnosis is used in this manner, the question of whether the imagery is real is typically a moot point.
However, hypnosis is sometimes also used to help people remember events from when they were younger. There are two situations where it may not be wise to do so. (1) Many courts around the country do not allow people to testify about an event if they have had hypnosis used to help them "refresh" their memories. In such cases the rule of thumb is not to use hypnosis without first obtaining careful consultation from an attorney if there is any chance that the client might be involved in legal action (now, or in the future) related to the events to be explored with hypnosis. (2) A second rule of thumb is not to use hypnosis to help retrieve childhood memories with clients who think they may have been abused. Why?
The 1990's saw an incredible uproar in the field as different camps erupted about (a) whether it is possible to "repress" memories; and (b) under what conditions, if any, it is possible to create "false memories". While the debate continues, some excellent research on memory has emerged. For purposes of this discussion, the research has begun to make important distinctions between normal memory and traumatic memory. Some excellent studies have demonstrated that it is indeed possible for someone to completely dissociate (which is not the same thing as "repress") a traumatic memory for years, only to have it re-emerge at a later time. Other studies have also demonstrated that it is possible to create false memories, though not as easily as some have feared. The message for therapists who work with trauma clients is to get good training to reduce the risks.
There are five kinds of memory which I find helpful to describe (drawn from the work of Lenore Terr, MD):
True memory - An accurate recall of a real event
True memory with false detail - in remembering a real event, the person may give one or more details which are not accurate. For example, a witness to a car accident may misremember the color of one of the cars.
In one famous case Dr. Terr researched, a man thought his entire home town knew about his childhood rape from newspaper reports of the court case. They didn't. His name had never been released as having been the victim. He also misremembered the time of year when it occurred and his actual age at the time. Dr. Terr found news reports which verified the correct age and time of year.
Another more common example occurs when a parent misremembers an event involving one child when it actually happened to another child in the family. The event was a real event, but it happened to a different child.
Absolutely false memory - The event which the person is describing never took place. It is this kind of "memory" which some therapists have been accused of "implanting" because of leading questioning or the use of suggestive hypnosis.
Lying - Just what it sounds like. The person knows the information is false but presents it as if it were true.
False memory with true details - For example, a person describes a rock concert he believes he once attended. The rock concert really took place and the man has accurate memories of the concert (perhaps from having seen film footage of the event), but he didn't actually attend it.
For a more detailed discussion of this, see the related web page on Trauma Treatment.
The concept of “state dependent memory” is also a useful one to understand. Sometimes a person's memory of an event is stored in the brain in a way that it is indexed according to certain components of the original event. At a later time, the memory may come into awareness because it is "triggered" by something which is linked to the original memory. For example, the smell of a certain after shave lotion can still trigger abuse memories for one of my clients. Another client used to be triggered if she sat at the desk in her bedroom with her back to the door. She stopped getting anxious after she moved the desk to another wall. The trigger was her position relative to the door of the bedroom.
Because people tend to be more suggestible when in trance (hypnosis), and because people with a history of serious childhood trauma tend to be more suggestible than average, the rule of thumb is that therapists do not use hypnosis to help such a client attempt to remember childhood memories.
Hypnosis has many excellent clinical applications, but retrieving memories of traumatic events is not one of them as a general rule. My experience has been that memories surface on their own in therapy when the client is ready to deal with them. When a client suspects there may be something in their past that may need to resurface, I use a very different method of testing for that that does not involve hypnosis.
Uses of Hypnosis in Medicine and Psychotherapy
There are many areas where hypnosis has been shown to provide significant improvement. A few of these include: Phobias, anxiety and stress management, asthma, bed-wetting, depression, sports and athletic performance, smoking cessation, obesity and weight control, sleep disorders, Raynaud’s disease, high blood pressure, sexual dysfunctions, concentration, and test anxiety. Here are more:
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Childbirth: Approximately two-thirds of women have been found capable of using hypnosis as the sole analgesic for childbirth. This eliminates the risks that medications pose to both mother and child, and it is often found that the average duration of labor is reduced by two to four hours. Ask me about one woman who came to me to help her with her first pregnancy.
Surgery/Anesthesiology (In unusual circumstances, hypnosis has been used as the sole anesthetic for surgery, including the removal of the gall bladder, amputation, cesarean section, and hysterectomy. Reasons for using hypnosis as the sole anesthetic may include: situations where chemical anesthesia is contraindicated because of allergies or hyper-sensitivities; when organic problems increase the risk of using chemoanesthesia; and in some conditions where it is ideal for the patient to be able to respond to questions or directives from the surgeon)
Pain (back pain, cancer pain, dental anesthesia, headaches and migraines, arthritis or rheumatism)
Burns: Hypnosis is not only effective for the pain, but when hypnotic anesthesia and feelings of coolness are created in the first few hours after a significant burn, it appears that it also reduces inflammation and promotes healing. We believe that a second degree burn can often be kept from going third degree if hypnosis is used soon after the injury.
Nausea and Vomiting associated with chemotherapy and pregnancy (hyperemesis gravidarum)
Hemophilia: Hemophilia patients can often be taught to use self-hypnosis to control vascular flow and keep from requiring a blood transfusion.
Victims of Abuse (incest, rape, physical abuse, cult abuse)
How can I choose a therapist who uses hypnosis?
As in choosing any health care professional, care should be exercised in selecting a hypnotherapist. Hypnosis and the use of hypnotic therapies are not regulated in most states, and “hypnotherapists” are, in most cases, not state licensed in hypnosis. Lay hypnotists are people who are trained in hypnosis but lack medical, psychological, dental or other professional health care training.
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A lay hypnotist may be certified and claim to have received 200 or more hours of training, but licensed health care professionals typically have seven to nine years of university coursework, plus additional supervised training in internship and residency programs. Their hypnosis training is in addition to their medical, psychological, dental or social work training. Careful questioning can help you avoid a lay hypnotist who may engage in fraudulent or unethical practices.
Ask if the person is licensed (not certified) in their field by the state. If they are not legitimately licensed, they probably lack the education required for licensure. Find out what their degree is in. If it is in hypnosis or hypnotherapy, rather than a state-recognized health care profession, the person is probably a lay hypnotist. Check for membership in the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis or the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (which, to my knowledge, are the only nationally recognized organizations for licensed health care professionals using hypnosis) as well as membership in the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the American Psychological Association, etc. Contact a state or local component section of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis to see if the person is a reputable member. If you have doubts about their qualifications, keep looking.
I first encountered the concept of reincarnation in 1987. I have encountered few concepts that seem to engender stronger responses from people than this one. In my work as a clinical psychologist, I routinely hear clients relate experiences that challenge the idea that life is “fair”. Having grown up with a solid belief that God exists, I was increasingly challenged to hold on to the idea of a fair, loving God.
The idea that our souls live many, many lifetimes provided me with a new paradigm. My journey since 1987 has had profound impact personally and professionally. Some of this is described in my journal articles [AJCH, AJCEH] and in my second book. Here is an overview:
What is past life therapy?
I believe that "past life therapy" is based on a simple but critical set of assumptions:
People have a soul.
The soul continues to exist independent of the physical body.
Some souls choose to experience more than one physical lifetime (reincarnation).
It is possible to access events which occurred during other physical lifetimes of the soul.
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Just as the origins of some current problems can be traced back to childhood, sometimes the origins can be traced to events from other lifetimes. In clinical terms, these are referred to as “state dependent memories.”
Many of the same strategies for change which are used in other forms of therapy are similarly helpful when dealing with problems/traumas from other lifetimes.
I began exploring the clinical implications of reincarnation in 1987 as one of many different approaches for helping people resolve their presenting problems - especially when traditional psychotherapy strategies were unsuccessful. Because the assumptions on which this form of therapy is based sometimes challenge an individual's strongly held religious beliefs about life and life after death, I found it very important to be able to explain why therapy of the “past life” type often seems helpful even if the assumptions on which it is based happen to be invalid. My thinking on the subject, which has continued to evolve over a number of years, took the form of a lengthy article published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis in 1999. (This article is available for reading and down loading from the Articles page. Look for The Benefits of Working with a "Dead" Patient: Hypnotically Facilitated Pseudo Near Death Experiences. You may also wish to read another article that explores a theoretical basis for past life therapy: Family/Systems Therapy in the Fourth Dimension: A Theoretical Model for Past Life Therapy. The article is available in two forms. The first uses clinical vignettes from my own practice. (This version was published in the Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis in 2009, 37(2), 192-217.) The second uses Dr. Brian Weiss' case study of Catherine from his book, Many Lives, Many Masters. In 2006, Crown House Publishing released my second book, The Hypnotic Use of Waking Dreams: Exploring Near-Death Experiences Without the Flatlines. The book uses a case studies approach to elaborate on the concepts presented in the article. You may order the book from me, from Amazon, or any book outlet.
What if the assumptions which underlie past life therapy are wrong?
In clinical practice I find that the question,“Are these images real or fictional?” is a moot point. Here's why I believe this is so. Let us assume for a moment that the imagery which the person experiences is purely fictional. I refer to this kind of imagery as a “waking dream.” For more than a century many well-known therapists, such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Fritz Perls, have worked with dream material.
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One difficulty with dream interpretation is the simple reality that many people have trouble remembering the content of their dreams in detail after they awaken. This problem is eliminated by having the client “dream” during the therapy session, thus the term “waking” dream). Further, by working with the dream content in real time it is much easier to explore its embedded significance.
Dream interpretation and waking dreams
Therapy which utilizes the interpretation of dreams also has its core assumptions:
Dream imagery is generated by the individual from some part of the mind outside of conscious awareness.
Different dreams have varying levels of significance. Some dreams appear to include snippets of events from the day's activities. Repetitive dreams are believed to include more personal significance. Dreams which include images of various archetypal themes are also believed to have personal significance.
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The same dream image may have different meaning for different people.
Analysis of dream content can sometimes help a person gain new insight, perspective, or understanding about an issue.
Waking dream therapy parallels past life therapy with one critical distinction. The imagery is arbitrarily deemed fictional. The dream is experienced as an internally generated movie, typically multi-sensory and often quite vivid. One intriguing difference from night time dreams is that the individual is always someone else in a waking dream. This phenomenon allows the waking dream to include many of the components of a true near-death experience (NDE), but without the flat line; i.e., without any cardiovascular distress. The research on NDEs consistently points to the transformative potential of such experiences. The problem with NDEs, of course, is that most of the people who have them do not live to tell about them! Towards the end of a waking dream I typically invite the individual to move to the end of the dream character's life. Without any further suggestion on my part, most clients spontaneously move through the death of the dream character. This transition initiates many of the characteristics of a near-death experience beginning with the sense of floating out of the body of the dream character. As is the case with a true NDE, the life review process which follows affords an excellent opportunity for resolving such issues as guilt or shame, identifying and correcting faulty beliefs or assumptions, and formulating new strategies or solutions. I invite you to read the full article for a more detailed discussion of the ways in which waking dreams can be useful, including some case study examples.
If people really can remember other lifetimes, is there a way to tell the difference between true recall and a fictional waking dream?
Some writers in the field believe there are ways to tell the difference. I discourage my clients from getting caught up in the fascination of trying to prove one vs. the other. The following anecdote may be helpful.
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In an earlier session one client had met a “guide” named Thomas who had a wonderful sense of humor. Through the client I asked “Thomas” if there was a way to tell the difference between real past life imagery and imagery which is just metaphorical. The client reported the following response from Thomas:
Client: Yes (pause), but we aren't going to tell you how to tell the difference (pause), because we don't want you to get distracted. (Pause) And, by the way, today's imagery will be just imagery.
The remainder of the session contained a “past life” type experience which the client reported was just as vivid and just as clinically useful in addressing his presenting issues as had been his previous experiences. Since the client believed in reincarnation when he initially came for therapy, the suggestion is that “Thomas” did not want the client to miss the therapeutic potential of the symbolic imagery by dismissing it as not real. Note, however, that if the client's unconscious created Thomas as well as the imagery, it also did a nice job of staying “meta-” to the question we had posed by reminding him to focus on the relevancy of the imagery about to be presented! (Thomas' use of “we” also suggested the client had more than one guide assisting him!)
There is a growing body of excellent research done by investigators who examine claims of memories from other lifetimes. I would refer the reader to the numerous books and articles by Ian Stevenson, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia who researched the evidence for reincarnation from the 1970's until his retirement just a few years ago. Many of his books are listed in the bibliography elsewhere on this web site. For a detailed discussion of the criteria which might “prove” the case for reincarnation, I would refer the reader to two books written by Robert Almeder, Ph.D., whom I had the pleasure to meet while he was on faculty in the Department of Philosophy at Georgia State University. Dr. Almeder is now on the faculty of Hamilton College in New York. Both of his books are listed in the bibliography.
What kinds of problems lend themselves to having origins in a different lifetime?
Perhaps the most common problem which emerges in the past life therapy literature is that of the simple phobia. Phobias are typically seen as irrational fears for which there is no historical basis. One example would be a person with a fear of drowning who has never had a scary experience involving water.
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In everyday psychotherapy the treatment of choice for dealing with phobias is called “systematic desensitization”, derived from the same concept which is used to help people overcome allergies. Past life therapy explores the possibility that the individual really did have a traumatic experience involving water in another lifetime. Brian Weiss, MD reported such a case in his well-known book, Many Lives, Many Masters. His client, Catherine, had several intense phobias which had not resolved despite some 18 months of intensive psychotherapy. Yet they resolved quickly and durably in a few past life therapy sessions. Her fear of drowning resolved after she recalled a lifetime in which she drowned in a tidal wave that wiped out her village. This vignette is described in an unpublished article I wrote about Weiss' work with Catherine.
Neither Weiss nor Catherine had previously broached the topic of past life therapy or reincarnation. His instruction to her at the start of the session in which this imagery emerged was simply, “Go back to the time from which your symptoms arise.” The imagery she began to describe next caught him “totally unprepared.” Excerpting from what followed, Catherine related this information:
I see white steps leading up to a building, a big white building with pillars, open in front. There are no doorways. I'm wearing a long dress. . . a sack made of rough material. My hair is braided, long blond hair.
I am eighteen. I see a marketplace in front of the building. There are baskets. . . You carry the baskets on your shoulders. We live in a valley. . . There is no water.
[Moving several years ahead] There are trees and a stone road. I see a fire with cooking. My hair is blond. I'm wearing a long, coarse brown dress and sandals. I am twenty-five. I have a girl child whose name is Cleastra. . . She's Rachel. [Weiss notes Catherine and her niece Rachel have always had an extremely close relationship.] It's very hot.
There are big waves knocking down trees. There's no place to run. It's cold; the water is cold. I have to save my baby, but I cannot. . . just have to hold her tight. I drown; the water chokes me. I can't breathe, can't swallow . . . salty water. My baby is torn out of my arms. [Weiss noted that Catherine was gasping and having difficulty breathing at this point. Suddenly her body relaxed completely, and her breathing became deep and even.]
I see clouds . . . My baby is with me. And others from my village. I see my brother (p. 27-28).
Weiss reported that the following week, "She happily announced that her lifelong fear of drowning had disappeared. Her fears of choking were somewhat diminished. Her sleep was no longer interrupted by the nightmare of a collapsing bridge" (p. 35). It is clear that however the imagery is best interpreted, there was a strong correlation between the imagery and symptom reduction. The improvements she reported remained intact four years later.
More than 30 years ago, Dr. Stevenson outlined a variety of conditions/circumstances for which reincarnation may better account for the evidence than other hypotheses. In his 1977 article (The explanatory value of the idea of reincarnation. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 164(5), 305-326) he offered case studies of previous lives which could be categorized along several factors:
phobias and philias (strong interests) of childhood
skills not learned in early life (such as xenoglossy -- speaking in a foreign language with no prior exposure or training)
abnormalities of child-parent relationships
vendettas and bellicose nationalism
childhood sexuality and gender identity confusion
birthmarks, congenital deformities, and internal diseases
differences between members of monozygotic (identical) twin pairs
abnormal appetites during pregnancy
In my own clinical experience, the most common conditions I encounter with clients are phobias, intense reactions to a specific person (pleasant or unpleasant), and strong emotional issues such as guilt/shame, feeling unloved or unworthy, and other long-standing beliefs which hamper the client's well-being.
How does past life therapy begin?
One of the first steps in most forms of therapy is the taking of a careful personal/family history and a discussion of the client's goals for therapy. The same is true for past life therapy. In addition to this I ask my clients to complete a few self-report questionnaires. This information helps me quickly screen a number of areas in the person's life that may be worthy of a more detailed look.
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I do not use past life therapy with a majority of my clients as other forms of therapy (family therapy, cognitive therapy, hypnosis, etc.) seem to offer the best fit for their presenting issues. Even when the issues do lend themselves to including past life therapy, I utilize additional treatment strategies as indicated.
I like to schedule a 90 minute first session for clients who request past life therapy. I use the first half to get background information and a sense of the person's treatment goals. Many come just to take their curiosity about reincarnation a step farther. Having read some books on the topic, they are ready to experience past life phenomena first-hand. The second half of the session is used for an initial exploration of past life imagery. Most of the time, new clients are able to experience imagery of the past life type during this first session. Those who need additional time to begin experiencing this type of imagery seem to cluster in three groups: (1) those who can be described as “too eager” and have trouble relaxing, (2) those who define themselves as “control freaks”, and (3) those with personal histories of what I call “trust abuse.” These latter two groups sometimes take longer to shed the illusion that hypnosis means surrendering control to the therapist (which it doesn't).
What is the role of hypnosis in past life therapy?
Hypnosis and trance, synonymous in many ways, involve selective, focused attention. Almost everyone goes into trance a number of times throughout the day. Ever look at the face of a child (or a spouse) who has been watching TV for awhile? That glazed look is characteristic of a mild trance. When we daydream we are in trance. Long distance truck drivers know the risks of “highway hypnosis.” As my clients get involved in the internal imagery,
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they naturally become more focused and relaxed, two common characteristics of trance. A deep hypnotic state is not needed for past life therapy or waking dreams. Clients typically have as much recall at the end of a past life session as they do when I am using other forms of therapy. I always give clients the option to record their sessions, though, in case they want to be sure they will have recall for everything they say.
In the previous section I mentioned the illusion that hypnosis means surrendering control. It doesn't. However, some people need to prove that for themselves (as I did in my early training!) Without getting too technical, some writers refer to command hypnosis vs. permissive hypnosis. An example of the former would be, “Your left hand is getting lighter and lighter.” An example of the latter would be, “I wonder if you will notice your one of your hands becoming lighter or heavier, or warmer or cooler, or some other change in sensation.” Command hypnotic language tells the client what to experience. Permissive hypnotic language permits/allows the client to let an image or experience emerge. Each has its applications, but I strongly prefer permissive language when I am doing past life therapy. Note that even with command language, if the client doesn't want to let his or her hand get lighter, he/she doesn't have to. Permissive language helps keep the experience of control more clearly with the client.
The spiritual, metaphysical side of past life therapy
Past life therapy is some of the most profound work that I have seen clients do in the three decades I have been in clinical practice. Connecting with what appear to be experiences from other lifetimes is fascinating, but it pales with the intensely spiritual aspects of what often happens in this kind of work.
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I routinely take clients through the death of the person (never the person's own death in this lifetime). Following the death of the physical body of the person from the other lifetime, clients almost always report phenomena which are consistent with the near-death experience (NDE) literature. (For a much more detailed discussion of this, please see the article: The Benefits of Working With a “Dead” Patient: Hypnotically Facilitated Pseudo Near-death Experiences)
In the NDE-like experience, which happens without any of the physiological distress to the body, clients often report meeting spirit guides or other entities who help with a non-judgmental life review. This part of the therapy experience often serves to release guilt or shame, to discover and correct faulty assumptions, and to experience unconditional love, acceptance and support. The guides that clients often meet during this process have usually been working with them for their entire lifetime, and remain available to them in the future.
Clients meet their guides in many ways, not just at the end of a past lifetime. Some meet them while imagining walking on a beach or along a path in the woods. I find guides are quick to answer questions when asked, and never impose their point of view on the client. They offer guidance, but never insist on a particular course of action. Most clients report that by the time I run through my standard series of questions with a newly encountered guide, the guide is chuckling (e.g., “Are you available 24 - 7 or do you keep office hours?”)
Not all guides take on physical form. Some present as birds, animals, dolphins or sparkling lights. Some have been with the client for multiple lifetimes, some for just a brief period. One client met a new male guide while she went through surgery. He arrived about a week before and told her he would remain with her during her recovery process. She was aware of his presence on a number of occasions over the next six weeks. About five weeks after her surgery, and well into her recovery, he presented to her one day and told her his work with her was complete. After some parting comments and assurances that her healing would continue, he bid her goodbye and left.
Remember, while I have talked in this section about these guides as being real, I am first and foremost a pragmatic clinician. If these experiences are purely fictional creations of the client's unconscious mind rather than real metaphysical encounters, the very positive therapeutic benefits that result are just as real. I leave my clients free to decide for themselves, including leaving the question unanswered and focusing on the results.
A borrowed metaphor for the skeptic A borrowed metaphor for the skeptic
When new clients call to request past life therapy, I am clear with them that it is very unlikely that we will be able to scientifically prove whether the imagery they experience in therapy is really from another lifetime or just metaphorical fiction (a waking dream).
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As I have discussed earlier, I find the use of imagery to be a powerful tool in therapy, independent of this distinction. For those whose model of life precludes the possibility of multiple lifetimes for the soul, I offer an excerpt from one of my favorite books. It was first introduced to me by one of my high school math teachers with whom I later spent nearly an hour playing a single game of four-dimensional tic-tac-toe. (You are welcome to e-mail me if you would like to know how to set up the 4-D game.)
In the late 19th century, a Shakespearean scholar wrote a social parable titled Flatland: A Parable of Spiritual Dimensions (Abbott, 1884). The allegorical tale is narrated by a square, an inhabitant of a two dimensional world known as Flatland. Social standing in Flatland is determined by the number of sides one has, with circles holding the highest status. As a new millennium arrives, the square is visited by a sphere from Spaceland. The sphere’s ability to seemingly change size (as a function of its intersection with the plane of Flatland), and even to disappear and reappear at will, frightens the square. The sphere struggles at length to explain the concept of the third dimension, having initially expected it to be easy:
“Just look up,” the sphere suggested. “But where is up?” asks the square.
The sphere tries a mathematical proof of the existence of the third dimension:
Square: And what may be the nature of the Figure which I am to shape out of this motion which you are pleased to denote by the word “upward”? I presume it is indescribable in the language of Flatland. Sphere: Oh, certainly. But I will describe it to you. We begin with a single Point, which of course – being itself a Point – has only one terminal Point. One Point [moving in a single direction] produces a Line with two terminal Points. One Line produces a Square with four terminal Points [corners]. Now you can give yourself the answer to your own question: 1, 2, 4, are evidently in Geometrical Progression. What is the next number? Square: Eight...And how many solids or sides will appertain to this Being whom I am to generate by the motion of my inside in an “upward” direction, and whom you call a Cube? Sphere: How can you ask? And you a mathematician! The side of anything is always, if I may say so, one Dimension behind the thing. Consequently, as there is no Dimension behind a Point, a Point has 0 sides; a Line, if I may say, has two sides; a Square has four sides; 0, 2, 4; what Progression do you call that? Square: Arithmetical. Sphere: And what is the next number? Square: Six. Sphere: Exactly. Then you see you have answered your own question. The Cube, which you will generate will be bounded by six sides, that is to say, six of your insides. You see it all now, eh? Square: Monster, be thou juggler, enchanter, dream, or devil, no more will I endure thy mockeries. Either thou or I must perish.
Eventually, the sphere lifts the square out of its world. The square is suddenly able to see every side of a square at once, where it had never been able to see more than two sides from a two dimensional perspective. Even more shocking to the square, it is able to look inside all the two dimensional objects in its world. The square quickly comprehends the implications of this new perspective. Turning to the sphere it entreats him to show it what the three dimensions of Spaceland look like from the perspective of the fourth dimension. The sphere confidently answers, “There is no such land. The very idea of it is utterly inconceivable.”
Here is a table showing the arithmetic and geometrical progression:
