pul9505.17a
Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 23:24:28 -0500
From: John Archer
Subject: New Era of Alien Discussions

_Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference_

Edited by Andrea Pritchard, David E. Pritchard, John E. Mack, Pam
Kasey, and Claudia Yapp.

Published by North Cambridge Press, Box 241, Cambridge, MA 02140. USA
(617) 354-6007. Limited Edition Hardcover $69.95.

Available direct from the publisher or from Arcturus Book Service 1443
S.E Port St. Lucie Blvd., Port St. Lucie, FL 34952. (407) 398-0796.

Review by John Archer

* * *

Every once in a while a book comes along that defines an era. Freud's
_Interpretation of Dreams_ was one such book. It closed the books on
prior strands of dream theorizing and started a new era in which
thinkers, whether for or against, defined themselves in relation to
Freud's ideas.

_Alien Discussions_ is another such book. Its publication marks the
transition to a new era in thinking about UFO related issues.

Traditionally, the field got started when people were interested in
the craft said to be flying by (and and sometimes crashing into) the
earth. Little thought was given to the occupants of the craft.

When contactees began surfacing, many UFO researchers distanced
themselves from the contactees whose seemingly outlandish reports drew
the fire of derision from skeptics and the general public alike.

Time passes.

Abduction reports began to surface and people began testifying with a
sincerity unmatched since the early Christians testified to a truth
they knew would get them sent to feed the lions.

Time passes.

On June 13 - 17, 1992, A Conference was held at MIT in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA. Its focus totally reversed the prior
nuts-and-bolts fetish. It was a conference focusing on the Alien
Abduction Experience [AAE].

_Alien Discussions_ contains the papers delivered at the conference
and transcripts of author/audience discussion about the papers.

This book is huge: 683 large size (8.5 X 11) pages counting Index and
Glossary. But, of course, it is the quality of the papers that give
the book its value.

Phenomenological Description of the Abduction Experience

John G. Miller, MD, leads off with a discussion of 'The Realization
Event' that makes a person come to suspect or decide that he or she
has been abducted. Many of the factors that bring about the
realization event are problematic for researchers. These include
exposure to books and movies with abduction related themes, contact
with other abductees and hypnotic retrieval of memories.

Other features examined include a lengthy section on the medical
examinations described by abductees. Four papers detail the variety of
aliens depicted in AAE reports and several experiencers give a
poignant accounts of the impact of the experience on self, family,
friends and lifestyles.

Thomas E, Bullard, the noted folklorist, has a piece on anomalous
cases, such as the 'psychic abductions' which is an out-of-body
experience where the experiencer's report contains themes familiar
from abduction reports, but where it is known with certainty that the
experiencer's body was not removed from its surrounding. It may have
been under observation of a witness while incapacitated due to medical
emergency, for example.

Budd Hopkins has a short piece on the Return of the Abductee. It
focuses mostly on cases where the abductee was no has been found to
specifiy a personality profile for the abductee, but there is good
evidence that some abductees were suffering from serious psychiatric
illnesses. However, more research would be needed to indicate whether
psychiatric illness is more or less prevalent in the abductee
population compared to the non-abductee population.

Some mention is made of the similarities between the AAE and the Near
Death Experience [NDE], but the paper by John B. Alexander drifts off
topic and discusses the generic methodology of comparing the
phenomenologies of possibly related experiences.

A paper by Gwen L Dean, a clinical psychologist, comparing the
phenomenology of AAEs with accounts of Ritual Abuse by surviors really
opened my eyes to the many points they have in common --- and the many
points of difference.

Both types of experience are associated with reports of Out-of-Body
Experiencing, but no one knows whether two different types of trauma
each produce OBEs in some experiencers or whether the OBE is the core
event that produces an experience that is recalled as an abduction or
as ritual abuse depending on the experiencer.

The possible connection between OBEs and AAEs certain needs further
exploration. A second very interesting paper by Ann Druffel describes
cases in which experiencers used various techniques to fight off
entities who were about to abduct them. Interestingly enough, these
cases all involved attempted abductions from the experiencer's
bedroom. And some of the techniques used are identical to those that
are used to resist 'Old Hag Attacks', a subjective experience whose
physiological correlate is REM sleep paralysis. This state of
Awareness during Sleep Paralysis [ASP] is itself intimately related to
both the OBE and the more common Lucid Dream Experience.

David Hufford has a very interesting paper exploring the 'Bedroom
Visitor' phenomenon from precisely this angle. Up to now, skeptics
have dismissed abduction reports as due to sleep parlaysis, but
Hufford shows that sleep paralysis is simply the physiological
correlate of a real experience.

The Dr. Mack Connection.

Although the conference occurred three years ago, it could become a
factor in the controversy surrounding Dr. Mack who is being
investigated by Harvard University for possible failure to approach
abduction related phenomenon in as scientific a manner as is expected
of a Harvard professor.

Dr. Mack has three pieces in the book. It was here at this conference
that he gave his famous "Why the Abduction Phenomenon cannot be
Explained Psychiatrically" address; in the midst of scores of reports
calling for further research.

He rejects Jung's idea that we may be seeing the emergence of a myth
for our times on the grounds that Jung's idea destroys the distinction
between internal (psyche) and external (material) reality. Yet, in his
closing address he challenges us to adopt a new world view going
beyond dualism because the abduction phenomenon shows that we are
connected with a spiritual dimension as well as the material dimension
we all share.

Well, recognizing the spiritual dimension is certainly a constructive
step, but that *is* dualism, not an argument against dualism.

His third paper is potentially more troublesome. Having decided that
the abduction phenomenon can't be explained away as a purely
psychiatric phenomenon (probably true, though the question the Harvard
committee is ostensibly asking is 'Would you share your evidence with
us, John?'), Dr. Mack then presents a relatively long paper describing
his approach to counseling patients to help them over the various
anxiety and stress disorders they may have as a result of their
undeniable trauma.

What is conspicuously lacking in his proposal is any