For decades age regression has been one of the self-help topics that is controversial yet very mysterious at the same time. Some people consider methods like self-hypnosis while others strictly want to trust a professional when it comes to age regression therapy. Although the debate about the benefits of age regression therapy continues between mental health professionals, there are still a lot of hypnotherapists practicing age regression techniques in an attempt to bring healing to emotional distress, especially childhood trauma.

Why age regression is used with childhood memories?

In the past, I used to wonder why I cannot remember many things from my childhood. As I chatted with my friends, I realized that they are curious about the same thing: Why do we remember only a few memories from our childhood?

According to my research, there could be many reasons why we don’t remember everything from childhood clearly. The number one reason is that we don’t have the vocabulary to store the events in mind properly in the first place. We learn new words and proverbs as we go through different events in life. As a result, we may simply not have the words to describe what happened at the time.  

Another reason is that not everything is necessary for the mind to store. Imagine we stored every single event from drinking water to walking on the street, wouldn’t the mind be overwhelmed and out of capacity already? It is estimated that short-term memory only holds information for about 20-30 seconds. From there, if the new information is relevant or important then it could be transferred to the long-term memory. As a result, our minds only store the important and relevant events in order to help us progress in life effectively.

And finally, sometimes we may not remember childhood trauma because it gets suppressed in the subconscious mind. When it’s difficult to cope with the events or memories, memories may get suppressed into the subconscious mind in order not to overwhelm or break down the person. In some cases, if there was a negative life event, you may find that you don’t remember a portion of a certain age. It’s almost like someone came and took that era out of the mind.

This is exactly where age regression therapy comes into play. The purpose of age regression therapy with hypnosis is to bring healing to early life events and childhood trauma and help the person integrate the events on the subconscious level. Often, as hypnotherapists, we may get requests to help remember childhood events or help with processing parts of memory that are already remembered.

Because of the risks involved, many hypnotherapists will try to reroute and move away from age regression. If you are someone who is interested in age regression and you want to at least experience it on your own, with self-hypnosis, here are a few important points to keep in mind: 

Limitations of self-hypnosis

As an introduction to hypnosis and a daily self-improvement practice, self-hypnosis may be a great option. However, self-hypnosis has its limitations too.

Although self-hypnosis has lots of benefits from improving sleep to increasing motivation, it’s not the best method when it comes to topics that you are especially subjective. For example, if you work with self-hypnosis to heal from past trauma, you may not gain much success.

When we are in the problem, it’s almost impossible to see outside of the problem. Imagine you spill food on your t-shirt, you won’t be able to see it quickly but someone who is looking from the outside can easily point out the stain.

When it comes to age regression with self-hypnosis, you may find that you can’t get out of your own barriers let alone heal from trauma. Additionally, you may not know how to handle certain memories or emotions which can lead to panic, confusion, or worry. In other words, self-hypnosis may not be the best method for age regression therapy if you are looking for help with a traumatic past event.

Limitations of the mind

Always remember, our mind has limitations and risks that you should consider before an age regression hypnosis session. The same limitations and risks also apply to age regression with self-hypnosis.

There is a phenomenon called phantom memory which means believing in experiencing something that didn’t really happen. Especially during hypnotic states, phantom memory risk becomes a significant problem because not only our minds can make up memories but also we tend to believe in these memories more due to hypnosis.

Imagine that during your self-hypnosis practice you remembered a moment from your childhood in which you were abused by a family member. What if your mind made up that memory? What if the details and the truth about that event were significantly different in real life? What if you start to believe in that memory and change your life because of that? How do we even know if that was real or not?

All of the questions above are unanswerable. And actually, the risks of age regression with self-hypnosis are even more than age regression hypnosis sessions. After all, you are all on your own with your newfound discoveries. There is a high chance that you may even be traumatized by these inaccurate memories if you do it on your own.

How can self-hypnosis benefit as a whole?

What now? Should you not try self-hypnosis for age regression at all?

The answer is not quite that simple. You are curious about age regression with self-hypnosis because of the difficulties that you experience in your daily life, right? Self-hypnosis can still help you manage your day-to-day life more effectively so you start changing the outside before looking inside.

For example, someone who suffers from childhood trauma may experience anxiety, lack of confidence, or lack of motivation in life. Although with self-hypnosis it’s hard to heal from childhood trauma, you may be able to increase your confidence, increase your motivation to the point where you are more active and fulfilled or you may have better anxiety management.

That is to say, self-hypnosis can still help. By investing 15 minutes in yourself every day, you may find that your day-to-day life changes significantly. Self-hypnosis will help you learn more about yourself and your triggers which will result in more emotional flexibility and balance. Worth a shot, isn’t it?