Catherine's Regression by Dr Brian Weiss

My main introduction to past-life regression was through reading stories of other people's past lives that they had experienced. I was fascinated by these stories, how could it be possible that someone--through a deep state of meditation--could see their past lives? I would read these stories incessantly always telling myself that I would one day be regressed myself.

One that always stuck out to me was that of Catherine, who was regressed by psychiatrist Dr Brian Weiss.

Catherine's Story

In his seminal book "Many Lives, Many Masters" psychiatrist Dr Brian Weiss described his regression of a young woman whom he named "Catherine". Catherine was a laboratory technician in the university that Dr Weiss worked in who presented to his office with life-long anxiety, after it was recommended that she see him by two physicians that she had previously seen.

Catherine's Background

She had been raised in a conservative Catholic family, and had an older brother and a younger sister, making her the middle child. She described her brother being allowed a freedom that she never was, and her sister was the favourite of both of her parents.

Her life had been filled with fears: she was scared of water, of choking (so badly that she couldn't take pills), of aeroplanes, of the dark, and of dying. Her fears had worsened over recent years, and she had taken to sleeping in her walk-in closet due to her fear of the dark. Even so, she still had two to three hours of insomnia before sleeping, and then would sleep lightly and fitfully, often waking. She had been suffering from nightmares and sleepwalking episodes (symptoms which had returned from her childhood) and the increasing intensity of her fears was making her feel depressed.

Dr Weiss decided to treat her much as he had done other patients with similar symptoms. Namely, by delving into her childhood and offering her mild anxiety medications, if she could manage to swallow pills.

During her treatment, Dr Weiss noticed that she had startlingly few memories of her childhood, leading him to consider hypnotherapy as a possible future course of treatment. She could not remember any traumatic events in her childhood that could indicate a cause of her presenting troubles.

As Dr Weiss and Catherine worked together, she began to remember fragments from her childhood. She remembered being pushed off a diving board and into a swimming pool when she was five, causing her to panic. She did not, however, identify this as the cause of her fears, as she stated that she had been uncomfortable around water even before then.

She described her mother becoming severely depressed when she was aged eleven, causing her mother to withdraw from the family so much that she needed to attend appointments with a psychiatrist, and eventually even needed electroshock therapy. These treatments made it difficult for her mother to remember things. Naturally, this made Catherine feel nervous, but as her mother's condition improved, Catherine described her fears dissipating and returning to baseline.

Catherine also described her father having a problem with alcohol abuse, to the extent that her brother had to sometimes retrieve him from the local bar. His increasing dependence on alcohol caused conflicts between her parents, these became more frequent, and would cause her mother to become moody and withdrawn from the family. Catherine did not describe these events as having a negative affect on her, however, as she viewed this as a normal family pattern.

Fortunately for Catherine, her life outside the home was significantly better than her life within it. She had dated in high school and had a large circle of friends, many of whom she had known for many years. Outside of these circles, however, she had difficulty trusting people (likely indicative of an insecure attachment style, due to her tumultuous home life. More on attachment styles on this post).

After leaving school, Catherine completed a two year technical program and left as a laboratory technician. She left her family home and moved to Miami, where she began working in a large teaching hospital.

After moving to Miami, she started a tempestuous relationship with a man named "Stuart". He was very different to the men she had dated previously, but something about him awoke the passions inside her. He was aggressive and manipulative, and their relationship was not a happy one, nut she felt unable to leave him.

She saw a doctor whom she formed a rapport with, and told him of her fears and her relationship with Stuart. He recommended that she saw Dr Weiss, which brings us back to where we were.

Catherine's Regression

When Catherine saw Dr Weiss, she was having two recurrent nightmares. In one, she was driving across a collapsing bridge, her car fell into the water below, where she died trapped and drowning. In her other dream, she was trapped in a pitch-black room, stumbling over things and trying desperately to find a way out.

As Dr Weiss found that more traditional approaches were having little effect on Catherine's symptoms, he decided to try a more unconventional approach, and placed her under hypnosis. He assured Catherine that this would reveal to her the cause of her fears from her early childhood, and indeed, Catherine saw an early memory. Only, it wasn't from her childhood.

She described standing in front of a temple, with white steps leading up to it. She had long blonde hair that was in a braid, and she was wearing a long dress. Catherine continued to describe her life in this time, which she identified as being 1863 BC. She went forward a few years and described having a daughter named Claestra, who she identified as her niece, Rachel. Catherine went onto describe how her and her daughter both drowned in large waves that devastated the village they lived in.

Naturally, this went against all of Dr Weiss' training and beliefs, and he had a difficult time accepting the truth of what he was hearing. He was quick to dismiss the possibility that Catherine was describing a past life to him. However, this experience clearly explained the origins of her fear of water and drowning.

Catherine remembered other lives as well, as Dr Weiss regressed her again after her initial session. In her following session, she jubilantly announced that she no longer feared water or drowning--which I am sure was an amazing thing for Dr Weiss to hear.

This is an excellent example of how Past-Life Regression Hypnotherapy can identify the causes of unknown symptoms and fears, and even cure them, once they have been identified. Do you have any persistent fears or symptoms that you feel could have their origins in a past life? If so, feel free to book a session today!

I will be writing more about Catherine and other regression stories, so be sure to chack back on this blog regularly! I post every week on Monday.