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. A 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
The unexpected absence of severe psychopathology coupled with the high level of functioning found in many abductees is a perplexing and surprising finding. The 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 effect 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
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(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.
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(13)Westrum, R. personal communication with the author.
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(14)Hopkins, B. personal communication with the author.
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(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.
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(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
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(18)Horowitz,M.J., Stress Response Syndromes. New York, Jason Aronson,1976
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(19)van Der Kolk, op.cit.
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(20)American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 1980
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(21)Slater, op.cit.