Reincarnation therapy will no longer be supported by health insurer CZ from January following a purge of treatments branded ‘ridiculous’ by its clients.

Craniosacral therapy, which supposedly repairs damaged tissue and relieves tension in the spine through head massages, and Ayurveda, an Indian system of treatment focusing on longevity and vitality, are also being dropped from CZ’s range of additional health packages.

In reincarnation therapy, patients relive traumatic events from their own past or ‘past lives’ under hypnosis. All three have been described as forms of pseudoscience by medical practitioners.

A spokesman for CZ said: ‘We have been receiving complaints for a long time from clients who find it ridiculous that they are paying for treatments like this. Insurance premiums are rising and more people are shopping around between insurers. A growing number of people say patients should pay for these treatments themselves.’

The spokesman admitted that a recent episode of satirical TV show Zondag met Lubach focusing on alternative medicine had boosted the feeling that insurers should no longer pay for unproven treatments.

A poll by market research agency GfK found that 26% of those questioned were highly sceptical of reincarnation therapy, while just 3% considered it essential.

Therapists whose clinics will no longer be funded have collected 18,000 signatures on a petition calling on CZ to reconsider its decision.