Past-Life Therapy: The State of the Art by Rabia Lynn Clark, Ph.D.

Reviewed by Chet B. Snow, Ph.D
In JRT Issue 13, 1995

 

Dr. Rabia Lynn Clark, a counselor in Texas and a former Board member and Secretary of APRT, has filled a much-needed gap in the growing body of literature on reincarnation and regression therapies. And she has done so with an easy-to-read style and a painstaking attention to detail that should prove highly valuable to researchers and therapists alike. Past-Life Therapy: The State of the Art belongs in the library of anyone concerned with the ongoing evolution of the therapeutic arts and sciences as we end this second Western Millennium.

Originally published as her Ph.D. Dissertation at the Fielding Institute, the book is divided into three parts. The first section deals with the twin questions “What is past-life therapy as it is practiced today?” and “Is past-life therapy a new and unique therapy, or merely a re-working of other, more traditional, psychotherapeutic techniques?” Along with a very thorough review of literature on past-life therapy, she discusses its relationship to other transpersonal fields such as age-regression, hypnosis, and subpersonalities work.

In the second section, Dr. Clark reviews the results of an extensive (117 questions) research questionnaire completed by 136 experienced APRT therapists who include past-life techniques in their practices. That 136 therapists took the time to respond, often with lengthy comments on their own experiences, which Dr. Clark happily includes, is amazing. It testifies to the importance these busy professionals attach to the past-life model in their search for effective healing modalities.

Finally, the last section includes one of the most complete bibliographies of regression therapy-related materials in English this reviewer has ever seen. We are given statements from APRT, a reprint of the questionnaire, and all the raw statistical results so that future researchers can review and replicate the study. This section, surprisingly readable due to Dr. Clark’s excellent summaries of the therapists’ replies to her series of pertinent questions, makes the book an invaluable reference work.

Dr. Clark’s discussion of just what defines past-life therapy today is both historical and analytical. Based on her thorough review of the current literature in the field, she delves into theory and often unresolved issues such as “Are past lives real?”; “What is the effect of the therapist’s expectations in past-life therapy?”; and “Does imagery play an essential role in healing?” Eschewing facile conclusions, she identifies and presents leading arguments on each side of these questions. As she aptly states, “(Past-life therapy) is a rapidly evolving type of therapy, and is creating its (own) identity” and “(because) it deals with a world of images and emotions, (it) is more like art or drama than science.”

Each of the 136 APRT therapists who completed Dr. Clark’s questionnaire had a minimum of five years professional experience with past-life therapy. They answered her questions on such subjects as their philosophical beliefs about reincarnation, interview techniques, induction methods, use of past-life and other imagery, and what types of problems they have successfully treated by past-life therapy or by a mix of past-life therapy and other related therapies. Unsurprisingly, 99% felt that past lives affect the present and 93% accept reincarnation as fact. While 75% felt some past-life images are real but others are merely symbolic, only 60% agreed that spirit releasement is an integral past of past-life therapy and just 31% said they routinely release birth traumas when doing past-life therapy. Personal relationships, phobias, and “finding (life’s) meaning and purpose” were the conditions most successfully treated with past-life therapy; addictions, weight problems, and depression were cited as the least successful.

Often an area ignored by readers, Dr. Clark’s appendices are some of her book’s unique treasures. I particularly recommend Appendix F, “New PLT Techniques,” where over sixty leading practitioners share ideas they’ve developed but not yet discussed in standard past-life therapy literature. As most of them graciously allowed Dr. Clark to identify their responses, it is a rare treat to see the concepts one’s own mentors are currently exploring. Other useful appendices include “Describing PLT to Clients,” “Other Ways of Dealing with Resistance,” and “Changes Recommended in PLT.” The “References” section is probably the most complete listing of English-language sources on PLT available today and includes books, articles, and tapes from APRT’s extensive collection of conference lectures and workshops.

In short, both Dr. Clark and the APRT Board of Directors, who cosponsored the study, have provided both interested lay readers and professional therapists and researchers a sound, well-documented, and very readable overview of past-life therapy as it is practiced in English-speaking countries today.

Although many different points of view are discussed in Past-Life Therapy: The State of the Art, I am ultimately struck by the unanimity expressed that our field is fundamentally spiritual. Ninety-eight percent of Dr. Clark’s respondents stated that “having a spiritual focus” was an important parameter in past-life therapy’s success, while 62% felt it was the major factor. This was the highest “always” response in that part of the questionnaire and possibly more than any other single factor distinguishes past-life therapy from other contemporary psychotherapies. In a time of increasing doubt and uncertainty about common human values, it is refreshing to discover that spirituality and science can and do cooperate within our past-life therapy community, healing the past, enlightening the present and improving the future.