The true story of a prominent psychiatrist, his young patient, and the past-life therapy that changed both their lives.

As a traditional psychotherapist, Dr. Brian Weiss was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from the "space between lives," which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss' family and his dead son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career.

According to Weiss, the earth is like a "chaotic one-room schoolhouse" in which evolving souls reincarnate to learn faith, charity, compassion and the transcendence of fear and anger. The author, a psychiatrist and expert in psychopharmacology, was moved to learn more about reincarnation after patients under hypnosis described detailed, verifiable memories of past-life experiences. Meditation and work with mediums then brought him in contact with "master spirits," who helped him develop a psychoanalytic method grounded in spirituality. The spirits' messages, which Weiss first presented in Many Lives, Many Masters, appear here in condensed form and elucidate themes such as karma, obstacles to happiness and joy, the reunion of soul mates and love's capacity to connect souls across all dimensions. The author employs case studies, some involving celebrities like singer Gloria Estefan and bestselling author and medium James Van Praagh, to explain past-life regressions, near-death experiences and communication with deceased loved ones. While Weiss's points about the paranormal are provocative, his book would have benefited from the addition of case studies clarifying how the integration of spirituality into psychotherapy enhances the healing process. And his contention that contemporary psychotherapies lack spiritual roots and are "in their death throes" will be widely challenged in psychiatric circles. Still, his work sheds light on a controversial topic worthy of serious attention. Agent, Joni Evans. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|