Editing Reincarnation (section)

===Past life regression===

Some believers in reincarnation (Stevenson not among them) give much importance to supposed past-life memories retrieved under [[hypnosis]] during [[past life regression]]s. Popularized by psychiatrist [[Brian Weiss]], who claims he has regressed more than 4,000 patients since 1980,<ref name="rl1xxx">[http://www.post-gazette.com/seen/breakfast/20020805break0805p1.asp Breakfast with Brian Weiss] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041212040150/http://www.post-gazette.com/seen/breakfast/20020805break0805p1.asp |date=2004-12-12 }}, ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', 5 August 2002, Accessed 25 April 2009.</ref><ref>Weinstein-Moser, Edie. [http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/478/ "Interview with Brian Weiss"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719172533/http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/478/ |date=2019-07-19 }}. ''Wisdom'' magazine. ''Wisdom-Magazine.com''. 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2015.</ref> the technique is often identified as a kind of [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific practice]].<ref name="Spanos">{{cite book |author=Spanos NP |title=Multiple Identities & False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] (APA) |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-55798-340-4 |pages=135–40 |author-link=Nicholas Spanos}}</ref> Such supposed memories have been documented to contain historical inaccuracies originating from modern popular culture, common beliefs about history, or books that discuss historical events. Experiments with subjects undergoing past life regression indicate that a belief in reincarnation and suggestions by the hypnotist are the two most important factors regarding the contents of memories reported.<ref name="Skepdic">{{cite book |author=Carroll RT |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: a collection of strange beliefs, amusing deceptions, and dangerous delusions |title-link=The Skeptic's Dictionary |publisher=Wiley |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-471-27242-7 |location=New York |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA276 276–277] |author-link=Robert Todd Carroll}}</ref><ref name="Spanos" /><ref name="Sumner">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3vOLM-qpXdoC&pg=PA50 |title=Just Smoke and Mirrors: Religion, Fear and Superstition in Our Modern World |vauthors=Sumner D |publisher=Writers Club Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-595-26523-7 |location=San Jose, [Calif.] |page=50}}</ref> The use of hypnosis and [[suggestive question]]s can tend to leave the subject particularly likely to hold distorted or [[False memory|false memories]].<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gr4snwg7iaEC&pg=PA206 |title=The Skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience |vauthors=Linse P, Shermer M |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |location=Santa Barbara, Calif |pages=206–207}}</ref> Rather than recall of a previous existence, the source of the memories is more likely [[cryptomnesia]] and [[confabulation]]s that combine experiences, knowledge, imagination and [[suggestion]] or guidance from the hypnotist. Once created, those memories are indistinguishable from memories based on events that occurred during the subject's life.<ref name="Skepdic" /><ref name="Cordon">{{cite book |author=Cordón LA |url=https://archive.org/details/popularpsycholog0000cord/page/183 |title=Popular psychology: an encyclopedia |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-313-32457-4 |location=Westport, Conn |pages=[https://archive.org/details/popularpsycholog0000cord/page/183 183–185]}}</ref>

Past-life regression has been critiqued for being unethical on the grounds that it lacks any evidence to support its claims and that it increases one's susceptibility to false memories. Luis Cordón states that this can be problematic as it creates [[delusion]]s under the guise of therapy. The memories are experienced as being as vivid as those based on events experienced in one's life and impossible to differentiate from true memories of actual events, and accordingly any damage can be difficult to undo.<ref name="Cordon" /><ref name="Andrade_2017">{{cite journal |vauthors=Andrade G |date=December 2017 |title=Is past life regression therapy ethical? |journal=Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine |volume=10 |page=11 |pmc=5797677 |pmid=29416831}}</ref>

APA accredited organizations have challenged the use of past-life regressions as a therapeutic method, calling it unethical. Additionally, the hypnotic methodology that underpins past-life regression has been criticized as placing the participant in a vulnerable position, susceptible to implantation of false memories.<ref name="Andrade_2017" /> Because the implantation of false memories may be harmful, Gabriel Andrade argues that past-life regression violates the principle of ''[[Primum non nocere|first, do no harm]]'' ([[Medical ethics#Non-maleficence|non-maleficence]]), part of the [[Hippocratic Oath]].<ref name="Andrade_2017" />