Measuring the Therapeutic Effects of

Past-Life Regression

by Heather S. Friedman Rivera, R.N., J.D., Ph.D.

Abstract:

Previous research on the healing benefits of past-life regression is mainly

based on anecdotal and individual case studies. There is a need to collect
and analyze a broad cross-section of data on past-life regression and
therapeutic results. A study is being conducted to collect and analyze the
beneficial outcomes and healing reported by past-life experiencers. For this
study, a web-based survey was created and launched for wide exposure
to a broad audience. To date, 180 confidential surveys from respondents
of various ages, gender, religious upbringing, and experiences have been
obtained and analyzed. Analysis revealed that there are measureable and
consistent beneficial effects as a direct result of past-life regression. The
analysis also revealed the major types of benefits, degrees, and
demographic influencers. The most prevalent beneficial outcome reported
thus far by respondents is that death no longer holds as much fear for
them. Religious and/or cultural upbringing does not appear to significantly
affect reported benefits. The number of past-life experiences appears to be
the major influencer of benefits realized.

Introduction

An independent research study is being conducted in order to quantify the

healing benefits and beneficial outcomes that many have reported resulting
directly from the past-life experience. The goal is to evaluate the subject’s direct
experience and what, if any, healing resulted from it. To date, 200 surveys have
been received from around the world. This article discusses some of the results
from the initial 180 survey respondents.

At the onset, here is a clarification of terms used throughout this writing. The
author discussing her original research is, from this point on, referred to as
Principal Investigator (P.I.). The words subject, client, patient, or experiencer
may be used interchangeably to represent the individual that has had the past-
life experience. Respondent refers to the individual who took the survey. The
use of the word “remembering” or “memory” refers to the subject’s past-life
experience. This word choice is used for ease in discussion and does not
represent the P.I.’s belief or disbelief in reincarnation. Survey Section 1 refers
to the demographic or background questions provided by the subjects. Survey
Section 2 refers to the 25 statements and 1 fill-in question related to the
possible beneficial outcomes of past-life regression.

The thesis is that past-life regression experiences lead to measurable positive

and transformational benefits as indicated by factors such as life satisfaction,
emotional healing, and spiritual awareness. There have been numerous reports
and case studies describing in detail the benefits of past-life regression
therapy. The case studies report healings in the physical body as well as
emotional and spiritual awakenings. Reports of life changes, loss of fear of
death, a feeling of connectedness, healing of interpersonal relationships, and a
general sense of peace are found throughout the numerous books, journal
articles, and internet sites.

Need Identified

The question of what specific types of healing people received and to what
degree they were healed begged to be asked. What specific areas of a person’s
life were predominantly healed? Was it in the area of physical healings? For
example, did a memory of getting stabbed in the back in a previous life lead to
resolution of chronic back pain in this life? Or were most healings related to a
loss of a fear or phobia? As for example, an irrational fear of bees in the current
lifetime disappears after the memory of death from bee stings in the past.

Maybe the healings were in the loss of the fear of death, or of the unknown.
Had the re-experience of a previous life’s death helped to ease the fear in this
lifetime? Did the experiencer get a glimpse of the other side of death and find
peace? Did they now believe that there was a part of them that was immortal
and that this body was only a temporary host for their eternal self?

Or maybe the experiencer now has more ease and connectedness with their
family and others. Maybe they experience increased compassion and patience
because they discovered a personal truth whereas they believe that we are all
one and that we are all striving to do the best we can with the tools we
currently have. But they believe they also have all the time in the universe to
do just that. Their truth might include a sense of the eternal and that halts the
hurriedness and worry that we only have this one lifetime to accomplish all our
tasks.

The experiencer may report that they have found their loved ones, whether
currently living or passed, in previous lives. They may have the realization that
their loved ones are never really gone, that they will reunite again and again in
other lives. This may give them a feeling of peace and continuity.

The case studies reported and reviewed in the literature reveal a resounding
“Yes” to all of these beneficial outcomes. So, are past-life regression experiences
truly this transformational? If they are as accurately portrayed as reported,
then why is this treatment modality not more widely used and accepted?

The purpose of this study is to quantify and categorize the available

information in this field, not only for professionals, researchers, and therapists,
but also for the general public. If the study finds many healing benefits then
another option for treatment will be available for informed evaluation by the
individual. If the findings indicate the opposite, that past-life regression is of
little value or produces negative healing benefits then this too would be useful
for the individual when considering treatment options for various
fears/phobias, anxieties, or for general sense of peace and fulfillment. The
findings would also be beneficial for those who are merely curious and would
like to explore the past to discover reasons for their specific likes, dislikes, and
talents in the current life or to find a loved one in a previous time. The study
may also encourage others to research this field to help bring past-life
regression more into the mainstream.

Method

The method for collecting data of a relatively subjective nature was thoughtfully
considered. Reports of increased feelings of connectedness, peace, and
contentment and loss of fear can be difficult to measure, whereas a remission
of a physical condition or change in job or family situation can more readily be
measured. A survey was designed with the intent of capturing the data sought.
The survey data collected will assist the P.I. in analyzing the reported outcomes
of the past-life experience and to report on the findings based on conclusions
drawn.

An internet survey was launched on January 29, 2011 at www.pastlifesurvey

.org. The survey has specific questions as to the nature and vividness of the
experience, how the experience was facilitated (hypnotherapy, dreams, psychic
readings, or spontaneously as in the case of Déjà vu). The survey also asks
about the number of experiences, time since last experience, and early religious
upbringing.

The second portion of the survey relates 25 statements describing a potential

beneficial outcome as a direct result of the past-life experience. These
statements attempt to cover the gamut of the healing experience. As a sampling
of the type of statements in the survey, here are a few:

• “I experience less anxiety in my life”

• “Communication with my family and/or friends has improved”
• “Death no longer holds as much fear for me”
• “I had a negative outcome as a result of past-life regression.”
The respondent has the option of choosing from one of seven possible
responses from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The respondent has the
opportunity to fill-in their thoughts and/or experience in question 26, which
asks if there is any benefit or deficit they experienced that was not mentioned
in the survey.

Demographic Findings

General demographic questions such as country of origin, time since

experience, and the nature of the experience are asked on the survey. The
following questions provide more specific details concerning the respondents’
personal history. The following are some of the demographic findings. They are
discussed in the order presented on the study.

What Prompted the Past-life Experience – Survey Section 1, Question #1 asks

the respondent, “What prompted you to seek out the past-life experience?”
Fifty-seven reported that curiosity prompted them to seek out the past-life
experience. This was followed by: 41 having a memory or Déjà vu experience,
38 reported a personal issue, and 18 reported search for purpose. Eight
respondents reported seeking the past-life experience to address a physical
issue.

There were12 reports of what the P.I. termed “impersonal investigation” in

which the respondent was not seeking or curious about a past life and did not
have a specific issue that they were searching for answers on or healing for.
These respondents either were participating as part of a class exercise or as
one respondent put it “I did it on a dare.” One was a reporter and a skeptic.
These impersonal investigators had healings despite being skeptical. As a side
note, after the reporter had the past-life regression experience, she went back
to school to study this field and obtained her Ph.D. to help others. This data
suggests that the fact that someone is a skeptic or a believer is not relevant to
whether a beneficial outcome could be realized.

Method Facilitated – Survey Section 1, Question #4 asks the respondent, “How

was your past-life experience facilitated?” Of the various methods used to
facilitate the past-life experience, the greatest reported method was via
hypnotherapist: 109 of the respondents’ method. Of the remaining
respondents: 22 reported spontaneous memories, 10 reported self-hypnosis, 9
reported group-hypnosis, 8 reported meditation, 5 reported dreams, and 5
reported psychic readings. Hypnotherapy appears to be the most prevalent
method across the board for accessing a past-life memory.

Vividness of Experience – Survey Section 1, Question #5 asks the respondent,

“What sensory experiences were predominant?” This question measured the
respondents’ experience as to vividness in relation to their five senses. Forty
reported the experience was most vivid to sight. Thirty-five reported that,
although the experience was vivid, they did not specify which sense was
involved. Thirty-two reported that it was an immersive experience. Immersive,
for this study, represents that the experience was vivid as to all 5 senses: sight,
sound, smell, taste, and touch. Two reported that the experience was vivid to
touch alone. The remaining respondents had various combinations of these
senses.

Emotional Experience – Survey Section 1, Question #6 asks the respondent

“Describe the emotional experience.” Ninety-one of the respondents reported
that they had a heavy emotional experience. Fifty-six reported a combination of
heavy and light. These respondents commented that the experience started out
heavy and lightened up towards the end of the experience. Twenty-three
reported a light emotional experience.

Number of Experiences –Survey Section 1, Question #8 asks the respondent,

“How many past-life experiences have you had?” Seventy-one of the
respondents reported having between one and ten experiences. Of those 71
respondents, 13 reported seven experiences. One respondent reported 50
experiences.

Age/Gender – Survey Section 1, Question #9 asks the respondent, “What is

your age?” The ages for respondents range from age 18 to 80. The majority of
males that responded to the survey are 60 years of age. However, the bulk of
the respondents are middle aged females from 40 to 65 (median of 54). This
may correlate to the time period when most have children that have moved
away from home and the woman now has the time to explore and inquire into
some deeper aspects of the self that she previously could not afford the time
for.

Survey Section 1, Question #10 asks the respondent, “What is your gender?
Eighty-three percent of the survey respondents are female and 17% male.

Religion/Cultural Upbringing – Survey Section 1 Question #11 asks the

respondent “What was your early religious/cultural upbringing?” The results:

• 60 – Catholic
• 30 – non-denominational Christian
• 16 – Agnostic
• 15 – Judaism
• 5 – Hindu
• 5 – New Age
• 2 – Buddhist
Benefits Realized

This section summarizes the 180 responses for each of the 25 statements in
Survey Section 2. This is the crux of the study and supports the thesis
statement. The percentage of respondents who either agreed or strongly agreed
with a given statement, indicating a high degree of benefit, is tabulated in Table
1.

Each percentage recorded in the table below was computed from a pool of 180
responses. Were we to compute the percentages from a different pool of 180
people, we might expect the numbers to change slightly. Because of this, our
current percentages have a degree of uncertainty of plus or minus 5%.
Percent of
Question Responses

Death no longer holds as much fear for me. 80%

My views on life and death have changed for the better. 76%
I view my current life from a more positive or meaningful perspective. 74%
I feel less alone and more connected to the universe. 71%
I have a larger sense of identity. 71%
I have a greater sense of purpose. 69%
I have more faith in a positive or meaningful future. 68%
My religious views or perspectives have widened. 65%
I have a greater sense of peace or contentment in my life. 64%
I have better self-esteem/self worth/self image. 61%
I have more control to influence my future than I previously believed. 60%
I have more confidence. 60%
I am happier and/or experience greater satisfaction in my life. 56%
I experience less anxiety in my life. 55%
I feel more closeness or interconnectedness with other people. 54%
I am able to handle daily stress with more ease. 54%
I had an emotional or psychological healing (alleviation of depression, sadness, etc). 50%
My personal relationships have improved. 48%
Circumstances in my life have changed for the better. 48%
Others have noticed positive changes in me. 46%
I had a spiritual healing (abatement of a spiritual crisis or problem). 44%
Communication with my family and/or friends has improved. 41%
I no longer have an irrational or obsessive fear(phobia) that had plagued me previously. 36%
I had a physical or bodily healing (abatement of a physical condition or problem). 23%
I had a negative outcome as a result of past-life regression. 3%
Table 1

A close look at the statements and the results regarding the beneficial
outcomes revealed a trend. The most prevalent beneficial outcomes appeared to
be in relation to the respondent’s thoughts. This would be how the responder
thinks about him/herself and the world. The next prevalent responses appear
to be in relation to perception, followed by feelings, and lastly are the
observable effects. Observable effects would be those that could be objectively
measured such as a physical healing or that others noticed positive changes.
The most often reported beneficial outcome, with an occurrence of 80%, was
that the respondent reported “death no longer holds as much fear for me.” The
least reported beneficial outcome, with an occurrence of 23%, was that the
respondent had a physical or bodily healing. As the reader reviews the findings,
they may note that outcomes regarding life, death, connectedness, peace, and
contentment occur at a high frequency. Spiritual healing, physical healing,
overcoming fears and phobias, and anxieties occurred with lesser frequency.

From the data collected it is clear that past-life regression experiences do have
measurable beneficial outcomes although that occurs more frequently in some
areas of healing than others. This is a strong finding that practitioners and
potential experiencers may find this information useful.

Variation among different demographic factors

Next we examined the data to see if there were any differences in the responses
that came from men and women, those of different religious backgrounds, or
those of different age groups, etc. In short, by dividing the responses into
different demographic groups and analyzing these groups separately, we can
determine if demographic factors have an influence upon people's responses.
This is what we refer to as the demographic influence on reported beneficial
effects. Because the sample pool is only 180 respondents at this point, future
data may change these results.

The data indicates that the largest variation in responses is seen when the data
is divided into groups according to the number of experiences. Not too
surprisingly, those who have larger numbers of experiences tended to report
more agreement with the 25 statements. This indicates that past-life
experiences have a cumulative effect upon benefits reported.

The next largest variation in responses is seen when the data is divided into
groups according to what prompted the individual to seek out past-life
experiences. Those who sought past-life experiences to address a personal
issue tended to report more beneficial effects than those who simply had a
memory of a past-life episode. This would indicate that those who had a
“repressed” memory found relief when the memory was relived or they became
conscious of.

The third largest variation in responses is seen when the data is divided into
groups according to the sensory vividness of the experience. Not surprisingly,
those who had more vivid experiences also tended to report more agreement to
the 25 statements. The more vivid the experience and/or the more senses that
were involved in the “recall,” the more people tended to report beneficial effects.
The same appears to be true for emotional level. The stronger the emotional
level of the past life experience, the more agreement reported to the 25
statements.
The rest of the demographics, such as age, sex, religious background, duration
of experience, facilitation, time since the experience, etc. showed no significant
differences in responses. Since there was no observable variation between
groups that were divided by time since the experience, this would indicate that
the benefits reported do not diminish with time. Similarly, one's religious
beliefs have neither positive nor negative effect on benefits reported.

All of these variations among demographic divisions are still a bit preliminary
given our initial sample pool of 180 individuals. It is our hope that future study
will continue to elucidate differences among demographic groups. Differences
among different demographic groups will give us some insight into the nature
of the benefits seen from past life regression by showing the demographic
factors that influence benefits and the demographic factors that do not
influence benefits.

Discussion/Conclusion

As stated in the beginning, the thesis statement for this study is; Past-life
Regression Experiences Lead to Measurable Positive and Transformational
Benefits as Indicated by Factors such as Life Satisfaction, Emotional Healing,
and Spiritual Awareness. The P.I. contends that the past-life experience does
just that. The use of a survey tool provides a method to quantify reported
healings and the various beneficial outcomes that can be difficult to measure.
Many of the benefits reported are subjective benefits without a means to
measure them. Using the survey tool created for this study, the P.I. is able to
categorize and measure benefits whether they were subjective or objective.

The measured factors (categories of benefits) are designed to get an overview of

an experiencer’s life satisfaction, emotional healing, and spiritual awareness.
Other factors looked at are: physical healings, loss of fears and phobias, loss of
the fear of death, and if the experiencer had a negative outcome.

Even though the P.I. did show that past-life regression experiences do have a
variety of benefits, the benefits are not equal across the board. Of the three
general categories surveyed; Life Satisfaction, Spiritual Awareness and
Emotional Healing, it was Life Satisfaction that saw greater benefit than the
other two. Physical healings were much lower on the list, yet still measured in
the positive. As for a comparison, with the literature’s case studies, one might
expect a large number of physical healings to occur as a result, in contrast to
the findings. The literature tends to report on observable effects. This study
collects and reports “invisible” (states and processes) effects. Other positive
findings from the study were a loss of the fear of death, feeling less alone, a
greater sense of purpose, and more peace and contentment in life.

From the findings, the major influencers that drive the degree of benefit from
past-life experiences are: the number of experiences, what prompted or
motivated the experience, and how vivid the experience was. However, the
number of experiences is the primary driver. Religious or cultural upbringing,
as well as age or gender, do not appear to significantly influence the beneficial
outcomes.

There appeared to be remarkably few negative outcomes, approximately 3%, of

the past-life experience. There are many reports of a heavy emotional
experience which some may deem as a “negative outcome.” But overall, the
negative aspects reported are few.

Past-life regression appears to have some valid treatment and healing

applications. The practitioner now has access to data showing past-life
regression therapy’s effectiveness. The data not only shows where and who has
the most healing but also to the degree and in what areas of the client’s life.
The practitioner can make use of the data when devising a treatment plan as
he/she compares this to other treatment modalities. Depending on the client’s
issues, the practitioner can evaluate what method would be the most effective
in the client’s specific situation. For instance, if the client is searching for
meaning or purpose in his/her life, the data clearly shows that this method is
highly effective for this issue. However, if the client is searching for healing
chronic back pain, the results show that this may not be the most effective
method for this issue. However, it may be useful in conjunction with other
healing modalities. The data showed that repetitive treatment might be helpful
as well as facilitating an immersive experience.

The data is not only useful for the practitioner but also the client who is
looking for treatment for his/her specific issues or to satisfy curiosity. He/she
now can make an informed decision and does not have to rely on anecdotes.
The data demonstrates past-life regression therapy’s practical application. This
may open up further areas of study, helping it to step away from the sidelines
and into the mainstream use. This study would be useful as a catalyst for other
researchers to build on the current findings and add to the data points in order
to increase the confidence of the findings.

The web site, www.pastlifesurvey.org, continues to collect surveys. This

continued collection adds data points and helps to solidify the findings. The
added surveys would also allow the further analysis of the other demographic
averages that the P.I. was unable to complete with the limited sample size.

Past-life regression therapy has much room for exploration. We have just seen
the tip of the iceberg of the potential in this area. This is an exciting time to
study this healing modality as it is this P.I.’s belief that we are on the verge of
an explosion in this field.
Acknowledgement

The author would like to acknowledge the mathematical and scientific

contributions and advice from Mark A. Rivera, M.S. Physics.