抄録
Past-life regression therapy has become a common practice and many people have reported that they recalled their past lives in the course of the therapy. Whether the past-life memories recalled in this way are authentic ones or not is controversial, there being both positive and negative evidence. However, irrespective of the authenticity argument, it is undeniable that the therapy can give people an opportunity to experience "death" in a safe setting. In this exploratory study, we examine whether "death" experiences occurring under past-life regression therapy is comparable to near-death experiences by using the two established instruments for assessing the phenomenological aspects and aftereffects of the latter: The Near-Death Experience scale developed by Greyson (1983) and the Life Change Inventory-Revised developed by Greyson and Ring (2004). It is shown that the scores of the two scales in "death" experiences occurring under past-life regression therapy is consistently higher than those in spontaneously occurring near-death experiences reported in one study (Goza, et al. 2014), although the scores of the NDE Scale in the former are lower in three of the four subscales than those in spontaneously occurring near-death experiences reported in another study (Greyson, 1983). The results appear to warrant further investigation of hypnotically-induced "death" experiences by using the scales designed for near-death experiences.
