Case #5 - PLR and Pteromerhanophobia

Pteromerhanophobia  or fear of flying may be a distinct phobia in itself, or it may be an indirect combination of one or more other phobias related to flying, such as claustrophobia (a fear of enclosed spaces) oracrophobia (a fear of heights). It may have other causes as well, such as agoraphobia (especially the type that has to do with fear of open spaces). It is a symptom rather than a disease, and different causes may bring it about in different individuals.


The fear receives more attention than most other phobias because air travel is often difficult for people to avoid.  A fear of flying may prevent a person from going on vacations or visiting family and friends, and it can cripple the career of a businessperson by preventing them from traveling on work-related business.


The fear of flying may be created by various other phobias and fears: 
* fear of crashing which most likely result in death.
* a fear of closed in spaces (claustrophobia), such as that of an aircraft cabin
* a fear of heights (acrophobia)
* a feeling of not being in control
* fear of vomiting, motion sickness can make the person vomit, thus making flying hard.
* fear of having panic attacks in certain places, where escape would be difficult and/or embarrassing (agoraphobia)
* fear of hijacking or terrorism
* fear of turbulence
* fear of flying over water or night flying


A previous traumatizing experience with air travel or somehow connected to flying can also trigger a fear of flying. 


Rahul* a 13 year old young man was brought to me by his parents due to his fear of travelling in an aircraft. As the family was bases in U.S. and travelled to India at least once a year to look up  the aging elders, this travel initially was done by sedating Rahul, but as he started growing up was becoming a difficult proposition.


On being regressed, Rahul found himself in Europe in the year 1934 as a successful businessman, who used to travel a lot all  over Europe. During the course of one of these travels, he had to take a flight from London to Paris for concluding a business deal. However, the flight never reached Paris and crashed into the sea taking him and the other passengers down with it.


His parents subsequently a couple of months later called me to tell that Rahul now seemed to have got over his fear and could now travel by air without any problem.


*  Name changed to protect patient’s identity. 

Past Life Regression and Freud

The word regression means to go back to or to return to something. If you were a student of statistics, you would know that a regression equation shows the probability of the occurrence of a future event based upon past behavior.  Past Life Regression is a trans-disciplinary field related to hypnosis but not dependent upon it. Actually, Past-Life Regression Therapy is the retrospection of the soul's journey. It is a reflection (or several reflections) on the past that can bring meaning to present life activities and can indicate a vision for the future. The history of every soul is stored in the unconscious mind. Gaining access to that record, at least to the section related to the present, could prove to be quite significant in understanding the root cause of certain behavior. The recall of such events, along with insights from the current perspective, can have a direct and profound impact on the desire to improve one's well-being.

 Past Life Regression was first used by Dr. Pierre Janet in Paris in the 1890's. Dr. Janet collaborated with Sigmund Freud, experimenting with past life regression as a therapeutic tool. Subsequently, for sixty years the subject was taboo, till an American hypnotherapist called Morey Bernstein brought the therapy back to life in 1960’s when he published "The Search For Bridie Murphy,” an account of one of his clients who went back over two hundred years -to when she was an Irishwoman called Bridie Murphy.

 About the same time Arnall Bloxham, an English hypnotherapist of high repute, collaborated with the BBC in making a Television program of a housewife called Jane Evans, who was regressed, live on screen, back to a life as a twelfth century Jewess called Rachel who lived in York in 1189 in the reign of the bad King John. Live on television, she recalled how she was the wife of a wealthy moneylender called Joseph. In great detail she described how she and her family and other members of the Jewish community were hounded by a mob led by a nobleman called Richard Malebisse to whom her husband had lent money and who had refused to repay. They and their two children tried to take refuge in York Castle but were ejected by the constable of the castle, and eventually found their way to a crypt of a church just outside the gates of York. It was here that the family was put to death by the sword.

 Freud believed that behavior has a cause which usually is hidden from the conscious mind. He wrote, "Amnesia lies at the base of all neurotic symptoms. Our goal is to reveal the forgotten memories through yet to be learned methods." One of Freud’s yet to be learned" methods seems to be that of Past Life Regression Therapy. Over the years, it has followed the general procedure of experimentation which led to research which, in turn, led to application. Today, Past Life Regression Therapy has become a therapeutic tool employed by many people to enhance the quality of life.

Addiction and Past Life Regression Therapy ...cont.

Addiction is a compulsion that makes an individual yield to addictive causes unmindful of the hazardous consequences. There are no specific causes of any addiction aside from use of a substance or activity, and there is also no way to predict who will become dependent on use.  Any substance or activity that has the capacity to be pleasurable can provide the conditions for addiction, as all addictions impact various neural circuits of the brain, including those related to reward, motivation, and memory.

Our addiction theories and policies are woefully outdated. Research shows that there are no demon drugs. Nor are addicts innately defective. Nature has supplied us all with the ability to become hooked—and we all engage in addictive behaviors to some degree.

Millions of people are "hooked," not only on heroin, morphine, amphetamines, tranquilizers, and cocaine, but also nicotine, caffeine, sugar, steroids, work, theft, gambling, exercise, and even love and sex, despite every kind of addiction treatment from psychosurgery, psychoanalysis, psychedelics, and self-help to acupuncture, group confrontation, family therapy, hypnosis, meditation, education and tough love.

Scientists have learned that every animal, from the ancient hagfish to reptiles, rodents, and humans, share the same basic pleasure and "reward" circuits in the brain, circuits that all turn on when in contact with addictive substances or during pleasurable acts such as eating or orgasm One conclusion from this evidence is that addictive behaviors are normal, a natural part of our "wiring." If they weren't, or if they were rare, nature would not have let the capacity to be addicted evolve, survive, and stick around in every living creature.

Our brains didn't develop opiate receptors to tempt us with heroin addiction. The coca plant didn't develop cocaine to produce what we call crack addicts. This plant doesn't care two hoots about our brain. But heroin and cocaine addiction certainly tell us a great deal about how brains work. And how they work is that if you taste or experience something that you like, that feels good, you're reinforced to do that again. Basic drives, for food, sex, and pleasure, activate reward centers in the brain. They're part of human nature.

One of the methods of curing a person from addiction is Past Life Regression Therapy, leading to the question as to what transpires during Past Life Regression Therapy ? And how does this help.

When the person is taken into one of his/her past lives by the therapist, the subconscious mind begins to pour out the deepest emotions, wounds and sorrow of that particular life. This pour out in itself is considered a big step in rehabilitation because grief shared is grief halved. It is found by research that more than 10 percent of the addictions are because of moments of sorrow in the child hood whose causes could be very trivial. Once those trivial causes are treated through Past Life Regression Therapy, the addict can easily do away with addiction. Reliving events of the past can also give the subconscious mind a better picture of the sequence of events. Any misconceptions could also be cleared because of this pour out.