Abduction Digest, Number 10

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mail/messages #87, from Michael.Corbin@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET., 32008 chars, 14 Apr 91 17:44:00 GMT

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To: abdlist@shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu

Subject: Abduction Digest

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Date: 25 Apr 91 13:04:29 MDT (Thu)

From: Abduction Moderator <abdmod@scicom.alphacdc.com>

Apparently-To: tprinn

 

                          Abduction Digest, Number 10

 

                           Thursday, April 25th 1991

 

Today's Topics:

 

                               Abduction Research

                               Abduction Research

                               Abduction Research

                                   Rima Laibow

                    INFO: Clinical Analysis of UFO Abductions

                                 Rima Laibow (2)

                                 Rima Laibow (3)

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From: Michael.Corbin@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Corbin)

Subject: Abduction Research

Date: 14 Apr 91 17:44:00 GMT

 >  > This is a very good point, however we do not have sufficient

 >  > data to determine what the norm is for people who might fall

 >  > under the Fantasy Prone.  In a studies done with abduction

 >  > research, it was found that there were striking consistencies

 >  > between non-abductees and abductees in their descriptions of

 >  > what takes place during an abduction experience.  There is

 >  > not enough data to answer the why of this yet, but it is

 >  > being studied.

 >  >

 >  > Mike

 >

 >   Ok.. let me know what new information on this subject comes out.

 >

 > Regarding non-abductees and abductees, I'm sure that there would be some

 > that, upon reading those abduction stories, would attempt to believe a

 > fantasy that they were abductees also.

 >

 >   However, there have been many cases where people actually denied and

 > tried to hide the fact that they were being abducted.. and still were

 > unbeleiving when hypnosis revealed what happened.  It doesn't sound like

 > a fad or someone looking for fame...

I do not deny that there is a possibility that there are abduction cases, 

however I feel that the time has come that we should re-evaluate our 

methodology and investigation practices at how we come down to researching 

these.  I am very much against anyone performing any work on abductees without 

having the medical credentials for both attempting to find out what happened 

and for dealing with the victim following the traumatic experience.  I would 

say that the damage done by well-meaning UFOlogists to the victims could be 

potentially worse after the experience than the actual experience itself.

Mike

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From: Tyson.Mitchiner@p2.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Tyson Mitchiner)

Subject: Abduction Research

Date: 17 Apr 91 23:01:07 GMT

 MC> I do not deny that there is a possibility that there are

 MC> abduction cases, however I feel that the time has come that we

 MC> should re-evaluate our methodology and investigation practices at

 MC> how we come down to researching these.  I am very much against

 MC> anyone performing any work on abductees without having the

 MC> medical credentials for both attempting to find out what happened

 MC> and for dealing with the victim following the traumatic

 MC> experience.  I would say that the damage done by well-meaning

 MC> UFOlogists to the victims could be potentially worse after the

 MC> experience than the actual experience itself.

 MC> Mike

 I agree with you...  How do you plan to evaluate those investigation pratices?   

 I feel that we aren't doing enough to investigate the abduction phenomenon. It

seems all the investigation is done by amateurs, etc. without a real serious

investigation into the abduction phenomenon by experts (by experts I mean

people who are dedicated to discovering the facts, and not jumping to

conclusions or opinions).  

 However, it won't be easy to establish this.  Maybe over time, we can

sufficiently persuade the government, etc. for a serious scientific study into

this.

                                             Tyson

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From: Michael.Corbin@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Michael Corbin)

Subject: Abduction Research

Date: 21 Apr 91 17:33:00 GMT

 >  I agree with you...  How do you plan to evaluate those investigation

 > pratices?

I would say that several steps need to be taken.  Chiefly, we should get 

medical professionals invovled who can establish standards and controls to be 

used for the investigation of abductions.  Despite the negative inference 

that credible scientific people will shy away from this subject, there are 

those out there with enough medical/scientific savvy to take a serious look 

at this aspect.  Secondly, the victims of alleged abductions should be 

treated exactly as anyone would suffering from a traumatic stress disorder. 

I do not believe that abductees should be treated special as this tends to 

stigmatize their emotional state as it is following such trauma.  Support 

groups are a negative reinforcement since it amplifies the inability to 

explain what is going on with abductions.  Vallee makes a very good point in 

that he does not believe that we should be reinforcing and attempting to 

infuse an abduction experience into the abductees' perception of reality 

since there is not enough data to support what in fact actually happens.  As 

he puts it, it is like trying to force a square through a hole.  How true!

 >  I feel that we aren't doing enough to investigate the abduction

 > phenomenon.. It seems all the investigation is done by amateurs, etc.

 > without a real serious investigation into the abduction phenomenon by

 > experts (by experts I mean people who are dedicated to discovering the

 > facts, and not jumping to conclusions or opinions).

I fully agree.  However, we have an incredible amount of work to do.  First, 

we must undo the damage that is being done right now.  Qualified people 

looking in are not impressed at the happenings within our community.  They 

see literally thousands of people alleging this type of encounter, and they 

see unqualiifed people regressing victims and the whole thing breaks down. 

Charges fly that the quality of the data is seriously compromised by people 

unqualified to do hypnosis and that the whole subject is so saturated with 

preconceived notions that the signal to noise ration is way off the scale. 

This is sad, but true.  I refer to an article which appeared in an OMNI 

magazine some years back which was authored by Budd Hopkins and Bruce 

Maccabee.  This article was highly suggestive and seemed to start the flood 

of abduction reports coming in.  It surveyed people who may have been 

abducted by proposing symptoms of missing time, etc.  The person was 

encouraged to fill out the questionaire and mail it in.

To get at the idea of establishing standards, I feel that one place to look 

would be to review the transcripts and records of Betty and Barney Hill. 

This could be considered to be the first abduction experience that was 

critically studied by a qualified medical doctor, Benjamin Simon.  Simon had 

no preconceived ideas about abductions or UFOs.  There are other things that 

will be useful that will come about from qualified studies.  There is some 

very good research going on with CUFOS (J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO 

Studies).  I understand that results and findings will be released shortly. 

Thomas Bullard has also done some good research work on this which can be 

found in the 1989 Journal for UFO Studies, published by CUFOS.  I can get you 

a mailing address if you want to inquire further about it.

All in all, we have a responsibility to the victims first and foremost to get 

them qualified help.  The relief from the stressful emotions should occur 

first with an emphasis on the actual experience coming secondarily.  We also 

should publicly denounce unqualified investigators from having anything to do 

with abductees.  The data should be available to the investigator, instead of 

the witness being available to the investigator.  In this, we might get 

somewhere with this important study.  This is not to say that should some 

educational program be initiated for investigators, that there could not be 

involvement, but until that happens, I feel that the best policy would be as I 

mention above. 

>  However, it won't be easy to establish this.  Maybe over time,

>  we can sufficiently persuade the government, etc. for a serious scientific

> study into this.

I advocate that we conduct all of our research within the civilian 

scientific/research community for the time being.  We need an organized effort 

on a global scale.  This can be achieved with our current resources if we can 

pool them effectively.  We will just have to see.

Thanks for your post.

Mike

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From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm)

Subject: Rima Laibow

Date: 20 Apr 91 07:42:00 GMT

(1773)  Wed 17 Apr 91  7:51p    Rcvd: Wed 17 Apr  8:40p

By: Uucp, ParaNet(sm) Information Servi (104/422)

To: Michael Corbin

Re: "Clinical Analysis of UFO Abductions" - a report

From: ked01@juts.ccc.amdahl.com (Kim DeVaughn)

[ I'm sending this to the "abduct-request" address, as all attempts

  to get email thru to "scicom.alphacdc.com" or "scicom" result in

  bounces.  Please forward if you have a working address ... Thanks!

  /kim ]

The attached was recently posted to the indicated USENET newsgroups.

I thought it might be worth including in a future Abduction Digest,

but as the poster says ... it is not "light reading".

/kim   /\oo__

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From: dona@bilver.uucp (Don Allen)

Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors,alt.conspiracy

Subject: INFO: Clinical Analysis of UFO Abductions

Date: 10 Apr 91 02:02:45 GMT

Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL

What follows is a report given on the Psychiatry and evaluation of

UFO abducted victims by RIMA E. LAIBOW, M.D. This report is not

considered "light" reading.

As usual, my *disclaimer* will be to read and make up your own mind :-)

------ Begin Included Text --------------------------------------------

                             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.

<Continued in next message..>

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From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm)

Subject: Rima Laibow (2)

Date: 20 Apr 91 07:43:00 GMT

<<Continued from previous message>>

        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 to 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 standpoint 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 impair-

                ment 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 interpersonal 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 rich-

                ness 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)

<Continued in next message..>

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From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm)

Subject: Rima Laibow (3)

Date: 20 Apr 91 07:43:00 GMT

<<<Continued from previous message>>>

        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 re-

examining 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.

<Continued in next message..>

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