That Joan of Arc theory one more time: Does fear of public speaking comes from a past life having ending badly? No.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Way back on July 9, 2011 I blogged about The Joan of Arc theory: your fear of public speaking comes from how a past life ended badly. Then, on September 30, 2015, I blogged about The Joan of Arc theory again – fear of public speaking comes from being burned in a past life.

 

I found an article by a psychologist who does hypnotherapy and wrote a book, Karen Joy, at Llewellyn on February 21, 2022 titled 10 Signs of Unresolved Past Lives. It has the following section titled Deep Fear of Public Speaking:

“While most of us fear public speaking, some can overcome their fear by taking a practical public speaking course. Others find their dread remains. A traumatic past life could be the cause. Here is an example:

In the past life, the client was a healer tortured to death by inquisitors wanting a confession with the names of associates. Although the healer didn't give anyone up, the client still felt the fear. ‘I feel this life is linked to me holding back, not sharing who I am and not being open. I am still terrified being found out.’ Coming to terms with this challenging life and horrible treatment was the beginning of the client overcoming her fear of publicly sharing her views.”

 

When I looked for a serious and recent article about hypnosis, I found one by Steve Jay Lynn et al in Applied Cognitive Psychology for 2020, (Volume 34, pages 1253 to 1264) titled Myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and suggestion: Separating fact and fiction. An earlier .pdf version is here. Their last topic is 6 | Myths and Misconceptions About Memory, and the last myth is 6.2 Hypnotic age regression can retrieve accurate memories from the distant past. The second (and last) paragraph says:

 

“The popular Dr. Oz show, psychiatrist Dr. Brian Weiss, who touts the value of ‘past life therapy’ and movies like A Stir of Echoes legitimize past life age regression in popular culture. But research suggests a contrary view. When the accuracy of memories of age regressed subjects is checked against factual information from the suggested time period (e.g., 10th century) the information provided is almost invariably incorrect (Spanos, Menary, Gabora, DuBreuil, & Dewhurst, 1991) and is mostly consistent with information experimenters provide regarding their supposed past life identities (e.g., different race, culture, sex). These findings imply that recall reflects expectancies, fantasies, and beliefs regarding personal characteristics and events during a given historical period.”  

 

The 1835 painting by Adele Martin of Joan of Arc being arrested came from Wikimedia Commons.