RELIVING PAST LIVES: The Evidence Under Hypnosis

by Helen Wambach ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 9, 1978

Helen Wambach is a psychologist and psychotherapist who began to experiment with hypnosis-induced recollections of past lives a decade or so ago. The idea came to her in the course of treating autistic and other disturbed children, and was later fostered in working with young adults in the heyday of LSD bad trips. Little by little her abilities at hypnosis and her interest in the paranormal led to the research reported here, based on over a thousand case studies. Her technique was to induce a trance state in groups of adults, encouraging them to focus on particular times past. Most participants reported one or more past existences in which the individual's sex, social class, skills, happiness, and mode of death often varied widely from one ""life"" to another. While Wambach adduces some facts and figures to suggest that her hypnotees were not fantasizing but actually recalling past incarnations, they are not convincing. Most past lives reported are banal; the scenarios no better than class B Biblical epics, swashbuckler/wench/knights-in-shining-armor stuff. What is interesting about the study is what Wambach has to say about hypnosis: who can be hypnotized, the process of induction, the association of rapid eye movements with the trance state, etc. Moreover, the use of hypnosis, with due regard for ethical considerations (of which Wambach is clearly aware), appears to be of some therapeutic value. Reincarnation or not, what a subject chooses to bring forth about ""past lives"" can shed light on what forces shape the present existence. So: evidence of reincarnation, no; but an interesting account of hypnotic techniques by a sensitive therapist, yes.

Pub Date: Aug. 9, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION