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Results Achieved With Two Groups of Subjects Who Underwent Treatment by Regression Therapy: 1998 – Herminia Prado Godoy, N. S. Carmalho, Lucia T. Maeda (Is.18)

by Herminia Prado Godoy, N. S. Carmalho, Lucia T. Maeda
Abstract

This work presents the results achieved by Regression Therapy treatment on two groups of subjects. The same procedures were applied on the two groups. Treatment consisted in performing eight psychotherapeutic sessions. Anamnesis was conducted during the first session, with a listing of problems; the second session was set aside for the establishment of the therapy’s contract and listing of grievances: emotional, physical, mental and thoughts, related to the problem chosen for therapy. From session three to seven, sessions were held using those regressive techniques adequate to the problem accessed. The closing of the case was made in the eighth session. Most of the subjects were female, holders of a university degree, considered themselves spiritualists, and stated that those problems presented for this work had not improved through other therapeutic approaches. Most complaints presented were emotional problems, phobias, physical problems, depression, and obesity. It was observed that seven cases of the first group and six cases of the second group showed total remission of symptoms after treatment.

Past-Life and Interlife Reports of Phobic People: Patterns and Outcome -Thelma B. Freedman (Is.15)

Thelma B. Freedman, Ph.D. Saybrook Institute, 1997

 In a study of 37 participants with 81 phobias between them, hypnotically-facilitated past-life and/or interlife reports of people with simple and social phobias and/or agoraphobia were examined when the participant’s “Upper Mind” in hypnosis said they were causal of the phobias. Also, earlier experiences in some participants’ (present) lives that they reported in hypnosis as causal of their phobias were examined. Three participants with 11 phobias between them were unable to reach the required levels of hypnosis, and received no deliberate treatment. Their phobias became an ad hoc control group for Research Question Two. Because many participants suffered from more than one phobia, sometimes of different types, for purposes of analysis the phobias themselves were used as the units of study rather than the participants. Two research questions guided the study:

1) Were there any significantly phobia-differentiating patterns in the phobia-related past-life or interlife reports, and

2) Was accessing these past lives and/or interlives therapeutic?

Past-Life Therapy for Phobias: Patterns and Outcome – Thelma B. Freedman (Is.13)

by Thelma B. Freedman, M.A.

The following paper presents the results of a small research study that the author carried out in partial fulfillment of the requirements for her Ph.D. at Saybrook Institute. The author examined the past-life and interlife reports of phobic people, looking for any significant patterns and also for therapeutic outcome. Her results seem heartening to our field.

 Introduction

I became interested in examining past-life therapy for phobias in part because I had seen its effectiveness in my own practice. Treatment of phobias is mentioned by almost all writers on past-life therapy methods, and Clark (1995) found, in her survey of therapists, that nearly all (93%) placed phobias high on their lists of successes.

However, this was all anecdotal: There had never been a satisfactory formal study of this reputed success with phobias. But I knew that outcome with phobics could actually be measured, unlike some other conditions, because the symptoms of phobia are well-known and can be found on numerous scales and checklists, as well as in all the DSM’s. In fact, phobias are often the choice for researchers in all fields precisely because the symptoms are so easy to measure. So it was not hard to design a pre/post test study for the therapeutic results of past-life therapy with phobic people, using pre/post test scales to measure their phobia symptoms. These scales would give me real numbers that could be analyzed for significance.

Agoraphobia: Trauma of a Lost Soul? – Dr. Marianne de Jong (Is.10)

by Dr. Marianne de Jong

APRT is, indeed, fortunate to count among its members a growing number of colleagues in other countries who bring new understanding and perspectives to our work. We welcome their contributions. Dr. de Jong presents the reader with an exciting theory based on her work with agoraphobia.

As a psychotherapist with many phobic clients, I have found regression therapy to be an effective method for overcoming a specific fear. Agoraphobia, however, puts special demands on the therapist.

Staats (1975) defines a phobia as a defective stimulus or response control. For example, if the stimulus is a quiet street and the response is panic, fear, avoidance, and running away, clearly the response is not one that is normally elicited by such a stimulus. It would be a normal response, however, if the stimulus were a face-to-face confrontation with a roaring lion.

In regression therapy I try to find the “roaring lion” stimulus situation that elicits the out-of-control response of the phobic client. Thus, after attenuating the affect by flooding, implosive therapy, and, in some cases, cognitive restructuring (see glossary), I reinstate a correct stimulus control. The reincarnation concept offers an almost unlimited variety of roaring-lion situations, matching the out-of-control fears of clients.

Past-Life Therapy with Difficult Phobics – Johannes M. Cladder (Is.2)

by Johannes M. Cladder

There are many books and articles dealing with regressions in trance to so-called past lives. Some include fascinating case histories using past-life therapy. Others attempt to establish the authenticity of reincarnation and the reality of past lives, though the question of whether reincarnation is or is not a possibility can best be determined by lines of investigation other than hypnotic regression, such as the work of Stevenson. Systematic research to determine the possible use of past-life regression with certain kinds of patients is just beginning.

 

Experimenting with past-life regressions in the hypnotherapy of difficult phobics gives the impression that patients are flooded with traumatic material from the hypothesized past lives and cannot avoid experiencing strong anxiety in this one. Case histories suggest that remission in regression therapy can be explained in terms of known therapeutic principles like emotional catharsis, desensitization cognitive restructuring, and post-hypnotic suggestion.

Humanistic Considerations in Regression Therapy – Edward Reynolds (Is.2)

by Edward Reynolds

 

The humanistic approach to therapy, as developed by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, shifted the focus in the therapeutic process from the patient as an object to be “fixed,” to the relationship between therapist and patient as a powerful agent in producing therapeutic results. Nearly half the research in psychotherapy and thirty-five years of observing and documenting the process, ground these humanist assumptions. In a new modality such as regression therapy where the dominant legacy comes from an authoritarian approach, namely, hypnotic induction, it is important that the gains in psychotherapy as a total field are not overlooked or lost.

In every stage of regression work there is a choice between the non-authoritarian humanistic approach and authoritarian techniques. Even in the actual philosophical hypotheses and psychotherapeutic assumptions, before the patient ever enters the picture, the contrast between the two approaches is salient. It is difficult to be effective in regression work without some kind of philosophical stance, but it is easy even here to set forth postulates that have an authoritarian and non-humanistic flavor. When I explored possible hypotheses, I found myself returning to two simply stated but profound assumptions which Maslow stressed: that human beings seem to have an innate desire to grow on many levels, and that love in some form seems to facilitate the growth process.