Coming Back

On the basis of a two-year research project involving ``past-life regression'' psychiatrist Moody ( Life After Life ) here argues that such experience, in some cases luring intrepid spiritual voyagers back to the Stone Age, are more common than is generally believed, and can be induced by hypnosis in almost anyone. Whether or not this makes a new case for reincarnation or merely represents the play of alternate states of consciousness, the author avows that forays into the past may trigger spiritual and psychological revelations, sometimes mirroring the subject's present life conflicts--or acting as a catharsis. In a book of interest mainly to the already converted, Moody offers an audio script as a guide to self-hypnosis, although better results, he stresses, are achieved with the help of a regression-trained hyponotherapist. (Jan.)