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RIMA E. LAIBOW, M.D.
Child and Adult Psychiatry
Cerridwen
13 Summit Terrace
Dobbs' Ferry, NY 10522
(914)693-3081
CLINICAL DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN EXPECTED AND OBSERVED DATA
IN PATIENTS REPORTING UFO ABDUCTIONS:
IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT
ABSTRACT: IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THIS PAPER MAKES NO
ATTEMPT TO ASSIGN OR WITHHOLD EXTERNAL VALIDITY
RELATIVE TO UFO ABDUCTION SCENARIOS.
Patients who believe themselves to be UFO abductees
are a heterogeneous group widely dispersed along
demographic and cultural lines. Careful examination
of these patients and their abduction reports presents
four areas of significant discrepancy between expected
and observed data.
Implications for the treatment of patients presenting
UFO abduction scenarios are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
If a patient were to confide to a therapist that he
had been abducted by aliens who took him aboard a UFO
and performed a series of medical procedures and
examinations on him it is not likely that the patient
would find either a receptive ear or a respectful
and non-judgemental response from the therapist. The
material presented would lie so far outside the
confines of our personal and cultural belief system
that it would seem intolerably anomalous to most of
us. We would probably dismiss or repudiate it using a
few comfortable and familiar assumptions which hold so
much obvious wisdom that they do not require specific
examination.
When events which are too anomalous to allow their
incorporation into our world schema are presented to
us, we are likely to dismiss them by using assumptions
based in out currently operative world view. This
effectively precludes the open evaluation of the
anomaly. Hence, the "expressible" response of most
clinical and lay individuals upon hearing a UFO
abduction account would be an immediate dismissal of
even the possibility that such an episode might occur.
Close upon the heels of that determination the rapid
and complete pathologization of the person offering
such an account would follow. Dream states,
suggestibility, poor reality testing, outright
dissembling or frank psychosis are customarily
offered and accepted as evident and reasonable
organizing models by which the production of this
material may be understood. These are typical maneuvers
by which the presentation of information which
challenges schematic assumptions is dismissed or
screened out before the assumptions can be adequately
tested for predictive reliability and accuracy. Such
testing is highly desirable, however, because it offers
us the opportunity to apply the scientific method to
our current level of theorital sophistication and
thereby refine our understanding of reality further
still. Of course, this process is severely impeded when
the new data is excluded from consideration strictly
because it is too anomalous for assessment.
Westrum has offered a model by which events become
"hidden" and therefore remain anomalous to the
perception of society in a circular process: the
hidden event is disbelieved and its disbelief helps
to keep it hidden. Citing the lengthy period during
which battered children and their battering parents
remained hidden, Westrum states:
"An event is hidden if its occurrence is
so implausible that those who observe it
hesitate to report it because they do not
expect to be believed. The implausibility
may cause the observer to doubt his own
perceptions, leading to the event's denial
or mis identification. Should the observer
nonetheless make a report, he/she can expect
to be treated with incredulity or even
ridicule. Since the existence of a hidden
event is contrary to what science, society,
and perhaps even the observer believes, the
event remains hidden because of strong
social forces which interfere with reporting.
The actual degree of underreporting is
sometimes difficult to believe, a skepticism
which itself acts as a deterrent to taking
seriously those reports which do surface."(1)
But for the clinician who spends a moment
before reaching these "obvious" and
"intuitive" conclusions, several fascinating
and potentially productive questions present
themselves. If we refrain for a short period
from dismissing this material out-of-hand, we
find that there are at least four areas of
puzzling and important discrepancy between our
intuitive sense of order and the data presented
by the patient. These discrepancies force us
to re-examine our assumptions in light of a
demonstrated failure of the theory to account
for the observed phenomena. This process,
while taxing and challenging, is nonetheless,
the way we systemize our understanding of human
health and pathology. Noting the previously
un-noted and using it to refine our conceptual
framework leads to better prediction and
therefore to better treatment.
It is not the purpose of this paper to ascribe relative
reality the experience of abduction reported by some
patients. Rather, precisely because it lies outside the
realm of clinical expertise to assess with certainty
whether these events actually occurred or if they are
mere fantasy, it is mandatory for the clinician to
examine the impact of these experiences, whatever their
source, upon the patient. This must be done in a clear
sighted and open-minded fashion so that the impact of
the experiences may be dealt with rather than made into
hidden events.
AREAS OF DISCREPANCY
1. ABSENCE OF MAJOR PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: It is
intuitively seductive (and perhaps comfortable) for
us to assume that psychotic-level functioning will
necessarily be present in a person claiming to be a
UFO abductee. If this level of distortion and delusion
is present, a patient would be expected to demonstrate
some other evidence of reality distortion. Pathology of
this magnitude would not be predicted to be present in
a well integrated, mature and non-psychotic individual.
Instead, we would expect clinical and psychometric
tools to reveal serious problems in numerous areas both
inter- and interpersonally. It would be highly
surprising if otherwise well-functioning persons were
to demonstrate a single area of floridly psychotic
distortion. Further, if this single idea fix were
totally circumscribed, non-invasive and discrete, that
in itself would be highly anomalous. Well-developed,
fixed delusional states with numerous elaborated and
sequential components are not seen in otherwise healthy
individuals. Prominent evidence of deep dysfunction
would be expected to pervade many areas of the patient's
life. One would predict that if the abduction
experience were the product of delusional or other
psychotic states, it would be possible to detect such
evidence through the clinical and psychometric tools
available to us.
This points to the first important discrepancy:
individuals claiming alien abduction frequently show
no evidence of past or present psychosis, delusional
thinking, reality-testing deficits, hallucinations or
other significant psychopathology despite extensive
clinical evaluation. Instead, there is a conspicuous
absence of psychopathology of the magnitude necessary
to account for the production of floridly delusional
and presumably psychotic material.(2)
In order to test this startling and anomalous
information, a group of subjects who believe they
have been abducted by aliens (9, 5 male, 4 female)
were asked to participate in a psychometric evaluation.
An experienced clinical psychologist carried out an
investigation using projection tests (Rorschach, TAT,
Draw a Person and the MMPI) and the Wechler Adult
Intelligence Scale. The examining clinician was told
"the subjects were being evaluated to determine
similarities and differences in personality structure,
as well as psychological strengths and weaknesses".
All of the subjects actively refrained from sharing
UFO-related experiences with the examiner and she was
unaware of this theme in their lives.
The investigator found that commonalties were not
strongly present and that:
"while the subjects are quite heterogeneous in
their personality styles, there is a modicum
of homogeneity in several respects: (1) relatively
high intelligence with concomitant richness of
inner life; (2) relative weakness in the sense of
identity, especially sexual identity;
(3) concomitant vulnerability in the inter-
personal realm; (4) a certain orientation towards
alertness which is manifest alternately in a
certain perceptual sophistication and awareness
or in inter-personal hyper-vigilance and caution
.... Perhaps the most obvious and prominent
impression left by the nine subjects is the range
of personality styles the present.... There is
little to unite them as a group from the stand-
point of the overt manifestations of their
personalities.... They [are] very distinctive
unusual and interesting subjects. [But] "Along
with above average intelligence, richness in
mental life, and indications of narcissistic
identity disturbance, the nine subjects also
share some degree of impairment in personal
relationships. For [some] subjects, problems
in intimacy are manifest more in great
sensitivity to injury and loss than in lack of
intimacy and relatedness. [Ad] "...The last
salient dimension of impairment in the inter-
personal realm relates to a certain mildly
paranoid and disturbing streak in many of the
subjects, which renders them very wary and
cautious about involving themselves with others.
It is significant that all but one of the
subjects had modest elevations on the MMPI
paranoia scale relative to their other scores.
Such modest elevations mean that we are not
dealing with blatant paranoid symptomology but
rather over-sensitivity defensiveness and fear
of criticism and susceptibility to feeling
pressured. To summarize, while this is a
heterogeneous group in terms of overt personality
style, it can be said that most of its members
share being rather unusual and very interesting.
They also share brighter than average intelligence
and a certain richness of inner life that can
operate favorably in terms of creativity or
disadvantageously to the extent that it can be
overwhelming. Shared underlying emotional
factors include a degree of identity disturbance,
some deficits in the interpersonal sphere, and
generally mild paranoia phenomena
(hypersensitivity, wariness, etc.)" (3)
Her findings demonstrate a uniform lack of the
significant psychopathology which would be
necessary to account for these experiences if
abduction experiences do represent the psychotic
or delusional states predicted by current theory.
When the examiner was informed of the true reason
for the selection of the subjects for this
evaluation (i.e., their shared belief that they
had been exposed to alien abductions), she wrote
an addendum to the original report reexamining the
findings of the testing in the light of the new
data. In it she states:
"The first and most critical question
is whether our subjects' reported
experiences could be accounted for
strictly on the basis of psychopathy,
i.e., mental disorder. The answer is
a firm no. In broad terms, if the
reported abductions were confabulated
fantasy productions, based on what we
know about psychological disorders,
they could only have come from
pathological liars, paranoid
schizophrenics, and severely disturbed
and extraordinarily rare hysteroid
characters subject to fugue states
and/or multiple personality shifts...
It is important to note that not one of
the subjects, based on test data, falls
into any of these categories. Therefore,
while testing can do nothing to prove
the veracity of the UFO abduction
reports, one can conclude that the test
findings are not inconsistent with the
possibility that reported UFO abductions
have, in fact, occurred. In other words,
there is no apparent psychological
explanation for their reports." (4)
2. CONCORDANCE OF REPORTED DATA: The second
point of intriguing discrepancy follows from
this surprising absence of evidence of a common
thread of severe and reality-distorting
psychopathology to account for the patient's
bizarre assertions. They claim that they have
been abducted, sometimes repeatedly over nearly
the whole course of their lives, by aliens who
have communicated with them and carried out
procedures much like medical examinations.
Persons reporting these experiences are seen
to be psycho-dynamically varied. They are also
demographically varied. Reports of this basic
scenario, numbering in the hundreds, have now
been recorded. Even though the reporters range
from individuals as diverse as a mestizo Brazilian
farmer(5),an American corporate lawyer (6), and a
Mid-Western minister(7), there is a perplexing and
intriguing concordance of features in these
reports. Certain details of the scenarios repeat
themselves with disturbing regularity no matter
what the educational, national, social,
experiential or other demographic characteristics
of the reporter. In the production of dreams,
reveries, poetry, fantasies and psychotic states,
while the general themes of concern may be
identified easily between individuals, the
specific symbolization, concretion, abstraction
and representation of those themes is relatively
indiosyncratic for each individual. This of
course necessitates careful empathic and attentive
listening on the clinician's part to gather both
the general flavor and specific meaning of the
elements of the fantasy state. This careful
listening often means that a personal symbolic
representational system can be unraveled and its
contents can be rendered less mysterious to the
patient. In the abduction scenarios however, both
specific details and themes repeat themselves with
surprising regularity: In general, the appearance
and modus operandi of the aliens, their effect and
procedures, their tools and interests, their crafts
and physical features all tally from report to
report with a high rate of concordance. (8,9,10)
This intriguing fact seems impervious to the
socio-economic, educational, national, or cultural
background of the abductee. Similarly, whether the
individual has had previous contact with the
literature of abduction seems to make little
difference in this vein since the reports of
individuals who can be shown to have had no
exposure to abduction literature also contains
these common features. Skilled practitioners and
investigators report in these cases that they are
convinced that each of these subjects was being
wholly truthful in his/her report.
The concordance of both content and event in these
reports makes them unlike any other fantasy-
generated material with which I am familiar.
Indeed, investigators like Hopkins and others
claim they have intentionally withheld
dissemination of certain important, frequently
reported aspects of the abduction scenarios in
order to provide a "check" on the material being
presented to them by individuals who may have had
access to this literature since abductees may have
been influenced at either the conscious or the
unconscious level by it. In these cases as well,
the features which have previously been published
as well as those withheld are both produced by the
abductee (11). In instances in which the patient
has read some of the abductee literature, this
previously withheld material may be offered to the
investigator with a sense of personal invalidation,
apology and embarrassment. He often expresses
concern that this information is less likely to be
believed than the other material with which he is
already familiar. (12)
Jung and others have written widely about the use
of archetypes and the collective awareness of
themes and images which are asserted to present
themselves in a world-wide and multi-personal way.
The amount of individual variation and creative
latitude demonstrated within the closed system of
archetypes and collected creativity is vast. Those
who pose such universals detect their presence in
the complex and highly idiosyncratic presentations
and guises which they are given by the unconscious
mind of the patient and the artist. This disguise
is idiosyncratic, they hold, precisely because a set
of available images is being used to work and rework
the personal realities of the individual against the
background of the collective. But the abductee does
not seem to be involved in the reworking of personal
mythologies against the canvas of the race's mythology.
The details and contents of the scenarios seem, upon
extensive investigation, to bear little thematic
relevance to the issues inherent in the life of the
abductee. Intensive follow up investigation frequently
yields no thematic, archetypical, primary process
symbolic meaning to the shape or activities of the
abductors and the scenario of the abduction itself.
Instead, therapeutic work in these cases centers
around the issues inherent in the powerlessness and
vulnerability of the individual even is this were not
a prominent theme in his life before the putative
abduction. In other words, the customary richness of
association and creativity found in the examination of
dreams and other fantasy material is lacking with regard
to the scenario and presentation of the aliens who
abduct and manipulate the patient in the abduction story.
If the abduction material is indeed archetypal or
fantasy generated in nature, this is a new class of
archetypes. These archetypes demand rather exact
representation and mythic presentation since the
activities and behavior of the aliens is rather
invariant within a narrow latitude regardless of the
other dream and fantasy themes of the patient.
3. ABDUCTION SCENARIOS AND HYPNOSIS. Members of both
the lay and professional communities frequently assume
that material referring to UFO abduction scenarios is
retrieved under hypnosis. Since it is generally believed
that people under hypnosis are open to the implantation
of suggestions through the overt or covert influence of
the hypnotist it is concluded that this material
reproduces the hypnotists' expectations or interests.
It is further concluded that since the hypnotist "put it
there" the abduction could not be accounted for as
material which emerges solely from the patient's end of
dyad.
Thus, the abduction scenarios are commonly dismissed as
merely representing the production of desired material
by compliant subjects. The abductees strong sense of
personal conviction that this really happened to him
during the session itself and upon recall of the
session is similarly dismissed as an artifact of the
process by which the fantasies were generated.
Several compelling factors mitigate against the facile
dismissal of data in this way. Firstly, about 20% of
these highly concordant abduction scenarios are available
spontaneously at the level of conscious awareness prior
to hypnosis. (13,14) These accounts may be enhanced or
subjected to further elaboration through the use of
hypnosis or other recall enhancement techniques, but in
a significant number of people producing abduction
scenarios the recall is initially produced without
recourse to such techniques. If their stories were
substantially different from the concordant abduction
scenarios produced under regressive hypnosis, a
different phenomenon would be taking place.
However, given the perplexing clinical presentation of
similar stories from dissimilar people who are
uninformed about one another's experience, this presents
another highly interesting area of discrepancy.
Hopkins has classified patterns of abduction recall
into five categories:
Type 1. patients consciously recall parts of
the full abduction scenario without hypnotic or
other techniques designed to aid recall. The
emergence of this material may be delayed.
Type 2. patients recall the UFO sighting,
surrounding circumstances and/or aliens, but do
not recall the abduction itself. Only a perceived
gap in time indicates any anomalous occurrence.
Type 3. patients recall a UFO and/or hominids
but nothing else. There is no sense of time lapse
or dislocation.
Type 4. patients recall only a time lapse or
dislocation. No UFO abduction scenario is
recalled without the use of specific retrieval
techniques.
Type 5. patients recall noting relating to UFO
or abduction scenarios. Instead they experience
discrepant emotions ranging from uneasy suspicions
that "something happened to me" to intense,
ego-dystonic fears of specific locations,
conditions or actions. They may also exhibit
unexplained physical wounds and/or recurring dreams
of abduction scenario content which are not fixed
in their experience as to place and time. (15)
Examination of the transcripts of hypnotic sessions
which yield abduction material reveals that
although subjects are sufficiently suggestible to
enter the trance state as directed by the
therapist, they resist having material "injected"
into their account. They customarily refuse to be
"lead" or distracted by the therapist's attempts
to change either the focus or content of their
report. The subject characteristically insists
upon correcting errors or distortions suggested or
implied by the hypnotist during the session. Hence
it is difficult to account for the similarities
and concordances of these scenarios through the
mechanism of suggestibility when these subjects so
steadfastly refuse to be lead by hypnotists.
In fact, it is even more striking that while these
patients feel the material which they are producing
both in and out of hypnosis as experientially "real",
nonetheless they frequently seek to discount or
explain away this bizarre and frightening material.
This remains true even though sharing it regularly
results in a significant remission of anxiety-
related symptoms and discomfort. These abduction
scenarios are so ego-alien that they have frequently
not shared the material with anyone at all or with
only a highly select group of trusted intimates. In
the vast preponderance of cases patients are reluctant
to allow themselves to be publicly identified as
having had these experiences since they perceive
that the abduction scenario is so highly anomalous
that they expect to experience ridicule and
repudiation if they become associated with it
publicly. It therefore functions like a guilty
secret in the way that rape has (and, unfortunately
still does in some cases).
After the material is produced and explored, these
subjects often experience a marked degree of relief.
This is true with reference both to previously
identified symptomatic behaviors and other anxiety
manifestations not noted on initial assessment.
These other symptoms may remit after enhanced recall
of the scenario and its details takes place. It is
interesting to note that while the scenarios may
contain a good deal of highly traumatic material
specifically related to reproductive functioning,
these episodes are nearly uniformly free of
subjective erotic charge when either the manifest
or latent contents are examined.
4. POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) IN THE
ABSENCE OF EXTERNAL TRAUMA: PTSD was first
described in the content of battle fatigue (16).
Although it may present in a wide variety of
clinical guises (17) PTSD is currently understood
as a disorder which occurs in the context of
intolerable externally induced trauma which floods]
the victim with anxiety and/or depression when his
overwhelmed and paralyzed ego defenses prove
inadequate to the task of organizing unbearably
stressful events. In the service of the patient's
urgent attempt to still the tides of disorganizing
anxiety, fear or guilt<18> which accompany the
emergence of cognitive, sensory or emotional recall
of these traumatic events, the trauma itself may be
either partly or completely unavailable to
conscious recall. <19>...Both physical and
psychological responses to the trauma are profound
and pervasive. PTSD follows overwhelming real-life
trauma and is not known to present as a sequel to
internally generated fantasy states.<20> This
fourth area of discrepancy between predicted and
observed data is perhaps the most striking and
challenging. Patients who produce alien abduction
material in the absence of psycopathology severe
enough to account for it often show the clinical
picture of PTSD. This is remarkable when one
considers that it is possible that no traumatic
event occured except that rooted only in fantasy.
These trauma are, in large measure, split off,
denied and repressed as they are in other
occurrences of PTSD.
As discussed above, these scenarios frequently
appear in individuals who are otherwise free of
any indication of significant emotional and
psychological instability or pre-existing severe
psycopathology. On careful clinical assessment,
these memories do not appear to fill the
intrapsychic niches usually occupied by psychotic
or psycho-neurotic formulations. The abduction
scenarios do not encapsulate or ward off
unacceptable impulses, they do not define split off affects, they are not
used either to stabilize or to divert current or
archaic patterns of behavior nor do they provide
secondary gain or manipulative control for the
individual.
Instead, this material, experienced by the patient
as unwelcome and totally ego-dystonic, seems quite
consistently to be woven into the fabric of the
patient's internal life only in terms of his
reactive response to the stress inherent in these
experiences and the contents of the repressed
material related to the stressful memories. But
the extent of this secondary response can be
extensive. It should be noted that PTSD has not
previously been thought to occur following trauma
which has been generated solely by internally
states. If abduction scenarios are in fact
fantasies, then our understanding of PTSD need to
be suitably broadened to account for this heretofore
unexpected correlation.
In addition, there are significant clinical
implications to the finding of abduction scenario
material in a patient who shows PTSD but is
otherwise free of significant psychopathology.
Since abduction scenario material presents several
crucial areas of anomaly and discrepancy between
what is known and that which is observed. It is
very important for the therapist to refrain from
the comfortable (for the therapist, at least)
description of psychotic functioning to the
patient who produces this material until such
disturbance is, in fact, demonstrated and
corroborated by the presence of other signs beside
the UFO-related material. It is imperative for the
therapist to adopt a non-judgemental stance. He
can attend to the distress of the patient without
attempting to confirm or deny possibilities which
are outside the specific area of his expertise.
The clinician should adopt as his therapeutic
priority the alleviation of the PTSD symptomology
through the use of appropriate and acceptable
methods specific to the treatment of PTSD. In
addition, the therapist must remember that while
he may have strong convictions pro or con the
abduction actually having occurred, it is not with
in either his capability or expertise to make such
a judgement with total certainty. Furthermore, as
the clinical psychologist who evaluated the nine
abductees pointed out in her addendum, the
sophistication of the psychotherapies has not
advanced to the point at which this determination
can be made on the basis of currently available in
formation (21), although the treatment of post
traumatic symptomology is currently understood.
Hence, it is important for the therapist to retain
the same non-judgemental and helpful stance
necessary to the successful treatment of any other
traumatic insult. When a therapist labels material
as either unacceptable or insane, the burden of the
patient is increased. If the therapist is reacting
out of prejudices which reflect his own closely-held
beliefs rather than his complete certainty, he
unfairly increases the distress of the patient.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: Although it has long
been the "common wisdom" of both the professional
and lay communities that anyone claiming to be the
victim of abduction by UFO occupants must be
seriously disturbed, thoroughly deluded or a liar,
careful examination of both the reports and their
reports calls this assumption into question.
Clinical and psychometric investigation of
abductees reveals four areas of discrepancy between
the expected data and the observable phenomena and
suggests further investigation. These discrepant
areas are:
1. ABSENCE OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY An unexpected
absence of severe psychopathology coupled with the
high level of functioning found in many abductees
is a perplexing and surprising finding. Psychometric
evaluation of nine abductees revealed a notable
heterogeneity of psychological and psychometric
characteristics. The major area of homogeneity was
in the absence of significant psychopathology.
Rather than consulting a subset of the severely
disturbed and psychotic population, there is
clinical evidence that at least some abductees are
high functioning, healthy individuals. This
interesting discrepancy requires further
investigation.
2. CONCORDANCE OF REPORTS Highly dissimilar
people produce strikingly similar accounts of
abductions by UFO occupants. The basic scenarios
are highly concordant in detail and events. This
is surprising in light of the widely divergent
cultural, socio-economic, educational, occupational,
intellectual and emotional status of abductees.
Further, the scenarios themselves do not seem to
show the same layering of affect and symbolic
richness present in other fantasy endowed material.
Instead, symbolic and conceptual complexity centers
around the meaning of the experience for the
individual, not around the shape, form, activity,
intent, etc., of the aliens and their environment.
This is in stark contrast to the expected
complexity and diversity of thematic and symbolic
elaboration found in our fantasy material.
3. RESISTANCE TO SUGGESTION UNDER HYPNOSIS
Abduction scenario concordance is frequently
attributed to the introduction of material into
the suggestible mind of a hypnotized patient.
Examination of abduction reports indicates that
a significant percentage of these reports emerge
into conscious awareness prior to the use of
hypnosis or other techniques employed to stimulate
recall. Furthermore abductees resist being lead
or diverted during hypnosis and regularly insist
on correcting the hypnotist so that their report
remains accurate according to their own perceptions.
4. PTSD IN THE ABSENCE OF TRAUMA Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) has not been previously
reported in patients experiencing overwhelming
stress predicted only in internally generated
states such as psychotic delusional systems or
phobias. But patients reporting abduction
frequently show classic signs and symptoms of PTSD.
Like other kinds of PTSD it is subject to clinical
intervention which frequently leads to substantial
clinical improvement. But in order for this
improvement to occur, the patient must be treated
for the PTSD he exhibits rather than the psychotic
state he is presumed to display by virtue of his
abduction report. If the abduction scenarios
represent only a fantasy state, then it is worth
investigating why (and how) this particular highly
concordant and deeply disturbing fantasy is
involved in the pathogenesis of a condition
otherwise seen only following externally induced
trauma. Further, if this is found to be the case,
the nature of PTSD itself should be re-examined in
light of this finding. Alternatively, it may be
that the trauma is, in fact, an external one which
has taken place and the post traumatic state
represents an expected response on the part of a
traumatized patient.
It is not within the area of expertise of the
clinician to make an accurate determination about
the objective validity of UFO abduction events.
But it is certainly within his purview to assist
the patient in regaining a sense of appropriate
mastery, anxiety reduction and the alleviation of
the clinical symptomalogy as efficiently and
effectively as possible. This is best
accomplished through an assessment the patient's
*actual* state of psycho-dynamic organization,
not his *presumed* state. In other words, in order
to make the diagnosis of a psychotic or delusional
state, findings other than the presence of a belief
in UFO abduction must be present. In the absence
of other indications of severe psychopathology, it
is inappropriate to treat the patient as if he were
afflicted with such psychopathology. It lies
outside the realm of clinical expertise to
determine with absolute certainty whether or not a
UFO abduction has indeed taken place. Patients
should not be viewed as demonstrating prima facie
evidence of pervasive psychotic dysfunction because
of the abduction material alone nor should they be
hospitalized or treated with anti-psychotic
medication based solely on the presence of UFO
abduction scenarios. Instead, they should be
assessed on the basis of their overall psychologic
state. Unless otherwise indicated, treatment
should be focused on the PTSD symptomatology and
its repair.
The areas of discrepancy which arise from the
examination of UFO abductees between the expected
clinical finding and the observed ones highlight
interesting questions which require further
investigation into the nature and impact of
fantasy on psycho-dynamic states and symptom
formation.
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(1)Westrum, R., Social Intelligence About Hidden Events,
Knowledge:Creation, Diffusion, Utilization, Vol 3 No 3,
March 1982, p.382
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(2)Hopkins, B. Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO
Abductions. New York, Richard Marek 1981.
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(3)Slater, E., Ph.D. "Conclusions on Nine Psychologicals"
in Final Report on the Psychological Testing of UFO
Abductees" Mt Ranier, MD, 1985
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(4)Slater, E., Ph.D. Addendum to "Conclusions on Nine
Psychological" in Final Report on the Psychological
Testing of UFO "Abductees", op.cit.
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(5)Creighton, G. "The Amazing Case of Antonio Villas Boas"
in Rogo, D>S>, ed., Alien Abductions. New York, New
American Library, pp. 51-83, 1980.
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(6)Hopkins,B. Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO
Abductions. op.cit.
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(7)Druffel,A. "Harrison Bailey and the 'Flying Saucer
Disease'" in Rogo, S.D., ed., op.cit. pp. 122-137
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(8)Strieber, W. Communion. New York, Avon, 1987
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(9)Fowler, R. The Andreasson Affair. New York,
Bantam Books, 1979
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(10)Fuller, J. The Interrupted Journey. New York,
Dell, 1966
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(11)Hopkins, B. Intruders: The Incredible Visitation
at Copley Woods. New York, Random House, 1987
--------------------------------------
(12)Hopkins, B. Personal communications with the author
about the more than 200 abductees whom Mr. Hopkins has
investigated both with and without the use of hypnosis.
---------------------------------------
(13)Westrum, R. personal communication with the author.
---------------------------------------
(14)Hopkins, B. personal communication with the author.
---------------------------------------
(15)Hopkins, B. "The Investigation of UFO Reports" in
The Spectrum of UFO Research. Proceedings of the Second
CUFOS Conference (September 25-27, 1981), Hynek, M. ed.,
pp 171-2, Chicago, J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO
Studies, 1988.
---------------------------------------
(16)Kardiner, A., The Traumatic Neuroses of War. New York,
P. Hoeber, 1941
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(17)van Der Kolk, B.A., Psychological Trauma. Washington,
DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1987
---------------------------------------
(18)Horowitz,M.J., Stress Response Syndromes. New York,
Jason Aronson,1976
---------------------------------------
(19)van Der Kolk, op.cit.
---------------------------------------
(20)American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed.
Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1980
---------------------------------------
(21)Slater, op.cit.
---------------------------------------
EOF
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