Mainstream legitimate hypnotherapy institutions — including ASCH, BSCH, SCEH, NCH, CFCH, AHA, and the European Society of Hypnosis — define hypnosis as a clinical and psychological technique and do not recognize hypnotherapy and regression therapy as a method for validating spiritual or metaphysical claims.
Below, I present the positions of recognized hypnotherapy institutions in their own words.
1. American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH)
“Clinical hypnosis is an altered state of awareness, perception, or consciousness that is used, by licensed and trained doctors or master’s prepared individuals, for treating a psychological or physical problem. In the mental health area, it is used for phobias, anxiety, sexual problems, alcoholism, smoking control, speech disorders, weight control, chronic pain, age regression therapy, self-esteem/ego strengthening, memory/concentration improvement, and forensic work. In medicine, it uses include anesthesia and surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, control of bleeding, pain control, burns therapy, dermatology, and habit control. Dentistry uses it to control fear, dental surgery, saliva control, gagging, bruxism, control of bleeding, tongue biting, and general oral hygiene.” (https://asch.net/about-hypnosis/ , accessed December 19, 2025)
2. British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH)
“Hypnotherapy is a valuable therapy with which to release past trauma and decondition established habits. Even though our personal unconscious only ever seeks to promote our well being it can often be the seat of faulty learning from our past, leading to low self esteem, under achievement and sometimes worse. Often it attempts to protect us by raising our fears and anxieties to phobic levels to keep us from a particular activity or stimulus it sees as dangerous. Sometimes these non-optimum patterns can lead to addictive behaviour. Using hypnosis in therapy can facilitate a holistic relearning process.” (https://bsch.org.uk/ , accessed December 19, 2025)
3. Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH)
“Hypnosis is used by health care professionals and mental health specialists in assisting with a broad variety of problems and life issues such as chronic pain, headaches, habit patterns (e.g. smoking, overeating), anxiety, and other issues. It is also useful in preparing for anxiety evoking situations, such as medical or dental procedures (e.g., labor and delivery, surgery, injections), taking examinations, or other events inducing apprehension.” (https://www.sceh.us/what-is-hypnosis- , accessed December 19, 2025)
4. Canadian Federation of Clinical Hypnosis - Alberta Society (CFCH-AS)
“Hypnosis can improve your recall of events that you believe happened to you. But hypnosis is not a way to find out the truth (whatever that may be) about events that are in dispute. That is, under hypnosis you may re-experience events, but there is no guarantee that you are remembering them correctly. Hypnosis only assists the subject in recalling perceptions, not truths. Courts recognize this, and sometimes take the position that being hypnotized influences your ability to later testify in court on those matters. You should get legal advice before attempting to use hypnosis to improve your recall of events when there are, or might be, court matters involved.” (https://clinicalhypnosis.ca/about , accessed December 19, 2025)
5. National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH)
“Hypnotherapy is the application of hypnotic techniques as a therapy for a range of problems like people who suffer from low self-esteem, or obsessive thoughts about someone or something. For example, they may be not able to rid their minds of the idea that a partner is unfaithful or that they are suffering from an illusion from an illness despite medical reassurance. People who suffer from a wide variety of distressing feelings such as panic attacks, anxiety, jealousy, guilt, anger, or inadequacy. People who experience an irrational fear of variety of insects, animals, objects or situations. Lastly, people who find themselves in the grip of habits or patterns they seem unable to control, from nail-biting or smoking to more deep-seated compulsions.” (https://www.hypnotherapists.org.uk/hypnotherapy/ , accessed December 19, 2025)
6. Australian Hypnotherapists Association (AHA)
“The Association is in complete agreement with the medical profession in its opposition to the type of ‘hypnotist’ who makes wild and exaggerated claims. A hypnotherapist who is a member of this association is governed by a code of ethics to take the deepest possible interest in every client, to be at all times conscientious, persevering, kind, patient, thorough and trustworthy and to treat all information acquired during the treatment as highly confidential.” (https://www.ahahypnotherapy.org.au/about , accessed December 19, 2025)
7. European Society of Hypnosis (ESH)
“The European Society of Hypnosis (ESH) is a confederation of National Societies specialising in the use of hypnosis in the fields of medicine, dentistry, psychology, and psychotherapy. Our mission is to promote the highest professional standard in the practice of hypnosis for clinical and experimental purposes. The commitment is to evaluate and elaborate the newest developments in professional hypnosis and to disseminate such information among members.” (https://esh-hypnosis.eu/ , accessed January 10, 2026)
All of these societies focus on clinical, psychological, or therapeutic hypnosis, not spiritual or metaphysical claims. None of them recognize past-life regression, reincarnation, soul splitting, Atlantis, or alien life regression as scientifically valid.
Past life regression therapy is a guided therapeutic technique that uses deep relaxation or hypnosis to help individuals explore memories that feel connected to previous lifetimes. The goal isn’t to prove reincarnation, but to uncover emotional patterns, fears, or unresolved experiences that may influence present behavior. During a session, a trained practitioner gently guides you into a calm state where symbolic images or memories may surface. Many people seek past life regression therapy for emotional healing, clarity, self-discovery, or to better understand recurring relationships and life themes.
ReplyDeleteHello. This is Sav, the person behind this post. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
DeleteAs mentioned above, “legitimate established hypnotherapy institutions” such as ASCH, BSCH, SCEH, NCH, CFCH, AHA, or the European Society of Hypnosis only recognized "clinical/therapeutic hypnosis". They don’t recognize “past life regression therapy”, which, by definition, explores the “soul’s journey”. Such a concept belongs to the New Age movement, popularized specifically by individuals like Brian Weiss, Michael Newton and Dolores Canon who “invented” their own hypnosis techniques not supported by “legitimate hypnotherapy institutions”.
What you are doing is presenting past-life regression therapy as if it were purely symbolic healing. However, by definition, PLRT remains the assumption of previous lifetimes or reincarnations. Softening the language does not change the nature of the practice.
Logically, if PLRT is “scientifically proven” then the legitimate established hypnotherapy institutions will immediately recognize it. In such a case, it would not be rejected by mainstream psychology and clinical hypnosis organizations.
In 2018, American Psychological Association (APA), a professional organization representing psychology in the United States, with more than 190,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students as its members, define “past life regression” in the following words:
a highly controversial hypnotic regression technique in which a person is encouraged to move back in time to reexperience a supposed previous existence. Therapists who conduct past-life regression believe that the psychological and physical problems (e.g., phobias, insomnia) individuals currently have can be understood and resolved by discovering their origins in the experiences (e.g., traumas, unresolved conflicts, mistakes) of previous lives. Most hypnotherapists are skeptical of the practice and do not recognize it as a legitimate therapeutic tool. They claim that individuals’ memories of past lives are the product of fantasy, imaginative role playing, the expectations and suggestions implicitly conveyed to them by the hypnotist, or unconsciously produced confabulations constructed from personal knowledge, familiar places, events, television shows, novels, and other sources. Although the idea of reincarnation is accepted in numerous cultures, clinicians generally consider actual past-life enactments to be manifestations of psychopathology. Also called past-life regression therapy; past-life therapy. See also age regression.
https://dictionary.apa.org/past-life-regression
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According to the American Psychological Association (APA):
▪️Past-life regression is a “highly controversial hypnotic regression technique”
▪️It involves re-experiencing a “supposed previous existence”
▪️Practitioners believe present problems originate in experiences of previous lives
▪️Most hypnotherapists reject it as legitimate therapy
▪️Reported past-life memories are explained as:
fantasy
suggestions of the “hypnotists”
confabulation
imaginative role-playing
▪️Clinicians consider actual past-life enactments pathological, not therapeutic
Even though the APA rejects the validity of past-life regression, it still defines the practice as:
“Experiences attributed to previous lives influencing the present life”
That means:
The concept itself is inseparable from:
reincarnation
continuity of personal identity
soul / self persisting beyond one lifetime
The APA is not saying “Past Life Regression Therapy is just symbolism”.
They are saying:
“This practice makes metaphysical claims — and we reject them”.
That’s very different from your own softened version.
In my view, your position appears to treat PLRT as “legitimate” just because some hypnotherapists practice it and some clients believe in it. But practice is not the same as validation. Just because someone uses a technique doesn’t mean it’s recognized by evidence-based institutions.