Two Cases Reporting Past-life Identity during Hypnosis

Park, Hee Gwan

Abstract

During hypnosis patients sometimes fantasize entire complex scenarios and later define these experiences as memories of actual events rather than as imaginings. This article examines 2 cases reporting past-life identity during hypnotic trance state. In each case, elicitation of the past-life events is associated with social constructions, hypnotic procedures and structured interviews which provide demands for the requisite experiences, and which then legitimate the experiences as past-life identities. These 2 cases show their own idiopathic psychodynamics symbolically through past-life regression during hypnosis. This article supports the hypothesis that recall is reconstructive and organized in terms of current expectations and beliefs.