Experimental production of past-life memories in hypnosis.

To explore the nature of past-life memories in hypnosis, 64 normal male adults aged 21 to 23 were selected using the Korean version of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS:K) and a simple belief in past-life scale. They all received hypnotic past-life regression 3 times. The influence of HGSHS:K scores on the production rate of past-life memories was statistically significant; however, the influence of belief was not. The percentage of subjects who responded to hypnotic past-life regression increased with hypnotizability. Content analysis showed that cultural background and religious concepts influenced past-life memory production. Animals as past-life identities, for example, were reported whereas all past-life identities were human in a Canadian study.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2009 Jul;57(3):269-78. Pyun YD, Kim YJ. Pyun Neuropsychiatric Clinic, Seoul, South Korea. pyunyd@naver.com