Persistence of "past-life" memories in adults who, in their childhood, claimed memories of a past life.

This article tests the consistency and the continuation of alleged "past-life" memories from childhood into adulthood and the possible detrimental effects of such childhood memories on the development into adult life. Twenty-eight adults aged 28 to 56 years who had claimed to have memories of a past life when they were children were interviewed in Lebanon. Their memories had been recorded when they were children, at the mean age of 6 years.

Terminal lucidity: a review and a case collection.

The unexpected return of mental clarity and memory shortly before death in patients suffering from severe psychiatric and neurologic disorders, which we have called "terminal lucidity", has been reported in the medical literature over the past 250 years, but has received little attention. We review a range of terminal lucidity cases in order to encourage investigation of the mechanisms involved and possible insights into both the neuroscience of memory and cognition at the end of life and treatment of terminal illness. These examples include case reports of patients suffering from brain abscesses, tumors, strokes, meningitis, dementia or Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and affective disorders.

Effectiveness of distant healing for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a randomised controlled partially blinded trial (EUHEALS).

Background: Distant healing, a form of spiritual healing, is widely used for many conditions but little is known about its effectiveness.

Methods: In order to evaluate distant healing in patients with a stable chronic condition, we randomised 409 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) from 14 private practices for environmental medicine in Germany and Austria in a two by two factorial design to immediate versus deferred (waiting for 6 months) distant healing. Half the patients were blinded and half knew their treatment allocation.

Children who speak of past-life experiences: is there a psychological explanation?

Children who claim to remember fragments of a past life are found in some countries. Various explanations have been put forward as to why the alleged memories develop, ranging from reincarnation to 'therapeutic resource'. This study puts to the test the role of some psychological characteristics and the circumstances in which the children live, such as fantasy, suggestibility, social isolation, dissociation, and attention-seeking.