Article Keyword: agoraphobia

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 … Read the rest

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

by 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 … Read the rest

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 … Read the rest