The term "hypnotic regression" covers a technique where the hypnotist guides the client back to a previous experience in his life. This will often be done with a technique called "the affect bridge". When the client is in the hypnotic state of mind, the hypnotist will ask the subconscious mind of the client to go back to the first time it experienced the feelings associated with the problem that the client wants to solve.

Some clients will can spontaneously regress to an incident that happened while his mother was pregnant with him. It is very hard to verify if hypnosis actually allows someone to access memories during pregnancy, because it will be too long time ago for anyone to remember, additionally there is the chance that the incident is formed by the client after hearing about the incident from his parents. Other clients can spontaneously regress to a past life. I'm of the opinion that this happens to people who believe in it, and these people will often be helped greatly by dealing with issues that supposedly happened in their past life.

This technique is in the arsenal of nearly every modern hypnotist, as it has proven very useful. Among other things this technique is what separates a hypnotherapist from a hypnotist.