Past-life regression therapy -- in the New York Times
In a past life, I was a frog. Then I was kissed by a princess, and eventually I became the King of France. Or was it the Duke of York? No matter. At the time, I had 10,000 men, and I marched them up to the top of the hill, and then I marched them down again. When they were up, they were up, and when they were down, they were down. But when they were only halfway up, they were neither up nor down. With details like that, how can you doubt my story?
I recalled my past life when I read this article in the New York Times concerning what appear to be otherwise competent psychiatrists hypnotizing their patients and applying past-life regression therapy. I use the term therapy loosely (but I will bet that insurance companies pay for it). At least this claptrap ran in the Styles section, not the Science section. But couldn’t they have interviewed at least one person from, say, Skeptical Inquirer? Surely an expert like Joe Nickell would have had something to contribute to an article that frankly should have been an exposé rather than a fawning tribute.
Or does “objective reporting” apply only when they need someone to create “controversy” over an obvious scientific fact such as evolution or the safety and efficacy of vaccination?