psychology of alien abductions

[Frostbite]

Ok I'm beating a dead horse here, but here's an extremely long and interesting article about the psychology of alien abductions. Haven't read it whole but in parts.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/htdocs/prod/PTOArticle/PTO-20030527-000002.asp

[c0rbin]

Before I read Demon Haunted World, I thought people who claimed to have had Alien Abductions were probably having deep memories of thier birth.

You know the mythos around abduction...can't move, can't communicate. Uncomfortable examination, huge heads without mouths and big eyes (like doctor masks).

Probing of the loinal regions and privates, weird tubs shoved in mouth and nose.

Next time you get the opportunity to watch a birth (unedited) think about the alien abduction cliches.

[Frostbite]

Yeah exactly. Although I do consider myself as a.. hmm... somewhat of a UFO enthusiast, everytime I read abduction reports such as those in that article, they seem to have "false memory syndrome", "psychotic episode" and "alien fetish" written all over them.

[Dancing David]

Always beware anything that involves hypnotism to recover memories. I always wondered about the family histories of abducties. And if they have delusional disorders.

I used to have night terrors, you can really see some wierd stuff in tha hynogogic state.

[uneasy]

That's a good article. At risk of being flippant, I summarize it this way.

On one side, one researcher basically says, "People really do believe strange and horrible things happened to them, and I've proven that their memories of these things really does make them upset."

On the the other side, another researcher basically says, "Those people are shown in tests to have a higher degree of creating false memories than other people."

The more convincing of the two approaches is obvious to me. That's quite a misleading title that seems to promise proof of abductions. But he's just trying to "sell" the article with that title so people read it.

[Frostbite]

Originally posted by uneasy
The more convincing of the two approaches is obvious to me. That's quite a misleading title that seems to promise proof of abductions. But he's just trying to "sell" the article with that title so people read it.

Yeah, the title made me think the doctor would get into UFO evidence later in the article, but he doesn't. He rather goes into more convincing evidence against it hehe. It's very interesting.