David Furlong

PhD Student

Biography

David is an author, spiritual healer and teacher with more than fifty years of experience. His books include, The Healer Within, Healing Your Ancestral Patterns, Working with Earth Energies and Illuminating the Shadow: Transmuting the Dark Side of the Psyche. He has BA (Hons), an MSc in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology and a PhD in Transpersonal Counselling. He is one of the founder tutors of the College of Healing, established in 1983 and was Director of Wrekin Trust, established by Sir George Trevelyan to promote non-sectarian spiritual education. For the past twenty years, his therapeutic practice has focused on helping individuals with anomalous psychological disturbances stemming from childhood trauma and epigenetic influences. He is the founder and Director of the Spirit Release Forum, which helps people understand ‘spirit’ entanglement within the psyche. He has had articles published in the journal Consciousness, Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology (2022) and The International Journal of Regression Therapy (2022).

PhD research

A Study of Hypnotic Regression Therapy

This research aims to investigate hypnotic regression therapy (HRT). It is envisaged that the mixed-method research will lay the groundwork for assessing the therapy’s viability and clinical effectiveness. The investigation includes a phenomenological evaluation of twenty-four individuals’ experiences of the therapy, followed by a quantitative questionnaire to both therapists and clients. The impetus for this proposed study comes from my MSc research, which showed that a single HRT session for five of the study’s twelve participants (42%) proved pivotal in transforming their subsequent lives.

Aims: To identify core features in HRT practice, detailing the experiences of its practitioners and their clients.

Objectives:

• To explore the experiences of those who have experienced HRT at least once.
• To explore commonalities and divergencies in the practice of HRT across different practitioners.
• To assess similarities and differences between HRT-induced ASCs and ASCs induced by other means (e.g. pharmacological, spiritual practices, etc.).
• To assess the experience of the transpersonal element within HRT practice.

This proposed study addresses three questions:

1. What is the therapeutic value of HRT?
2. What is the significance of ASCs within HRT?
3. What is the significance of the transpersonal element within HRT?

Publications

Furlong, D. (2022). Altered states of consciousness within therapeutic modalities – exploring commonalities of experience: A qualitative grounded theory study. Consciousness, Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology, 3, 158–171. https://doi.org/10.53074/cstp.2022.33

Furlong, D. (2022). Working with the Transpersonal Self to Heal Trauma and Release Spirit Intrusions. International Journal of Regression Therapy, 28(32), 63-70.