Tuesday, 18 February, 2003, 12:24 GMT
Alien
'abductees' show real symptoms
Many
abductees share personality traits
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People
who claim to have been kidnapped by aliens have a tendency to believe in
fantasies and suffer disturbing experiences in their sleep, scientists have
found.
But the researchers say "abductees"
also believe in their experiences so deeply that they display real stress
symptoms similar to those of traumatised battlefield veterans. The latest
research on the "taken" phenomenon was unveiled at the annual meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. "This
underscores the power of emotional belief," Professor Richard McNally,
from Harvard University, told the BBC.
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'Abductees' |
I've
had several encounters with alien craft and I've had an alien implant removed
from my body
"If you genuinely believe you've been
traumatised and recall these memories, you'll show the same psycho-physiologic
emotional reactions as people who really have been traumatised."
A group of abductees told the BBC about their
experiences on Saturday. One of them said: "I've had several encounters
with alien craft and I've had an alien implant removed from my body."
New-age beliefs It was typical of the stories they all had to relate.
It is thought there are about four million Americans who believe they have been
abducted by extraterrestrials. Scientists believe this clearly is not true, so
why do abductees believe they have been taken? Professor McNally has found that
many of them share personality traits and sleep disorders. "Most of them
had pre-existing new-age beliefs - they were into bio-energetic therapies, past
lives, astral projection, tarot cards, and so on," he said.
"Second, they have episodes of apparent
sleep paralysis accompanied by hallucinations."
Lab experiments
These frightening experiences usually
prompted the individuals to visit therapists, who would frequently suggest
alien abduction as a cause - an explanation which the abductees readily
accepted, he said. Professor McNally has come up with a rational explanation of
alien abduction experiences which was endorsed by other psychologists in
Denver. He said the individuals conformed to a "common recipe". But
the researcher stressed that many of the people really did believe what they
were saying.
In laboratory experiments, individuals were
asked to relate their experiences. These stories were played back to them and
their physical responses recorded.
"When a Vietnam vet has his experiences
played back to him in the lab of some combat event, his heart rate goes up and
you see an increase in sweating. If you don't have post-traumatic stress
disorder, you don't react that way.
"The heart-rate responses and sweating
responses were at least as great in the alien abductees when they heard their
memories of being taken and molested by space aliens and subjected to
experiments as those of people with genuine traumatic events."
Read a selection of your comments on this
subject below.
As someone who regularly suffers from sleep
paralysis, I can see why many sufferers mistake the experience with that of
Alien abductions. Paralysis combined with visual hallucinations and feelings of
intense fear are common symptoms of this condition. As I am sceptical of aliens
and the paranormal I do not relate my experiences with an abduction, however I
do see a spirit like entity. I know it is not real, but it seems to be there.
If I had believed in aliens before I started having these episodes, I can well
imagine that I would be another alien abduction statistic.
Henry Coleman, UK
Aliens do not exist, and until they do we
shouldn't worry
Timothy Howard, London, UK
I am curious to hear if their stories are
similar in content. Did they see and experience the same things?
Nicole, USA
The story says "therapists" suggest
to distressed people that they may have been abducted by aliens, but offers no
insight as to why therapists would say such a thing. I find this therapy every
bit as curious as abductee belief.
ML Titius, USA
I believe these people are not fabricating
the experiences they relate.
Tish Payne, USA
I think this thing of being abducted by
aliens is totally crazy and people who claim this has happened to them need
help.
Emily, Kenya
I love to hear people like Professor McNally
try to explain events that fall outside the accepted realm of what scientists
allow themselves to believe or understand. Before I go any further, I have to
say that I have never been abducted or claimed to have been abducted. But I
find it outrageous to label another person's experience a "hallucination"
just because it falls outside of my experience or the expected
"norms" of most people's experiences.
Bill Eck, USA
I used to experience sleep paralysis and I
used to see little figures scuttling at the bottom of my room. at first I
thought it was devils or Martians, but then I grew up and realised it was a
dream.
COS, UK
Usually when someone suffers from PTSD it's
due to real experiences. If a Vietnam veteran suffers from PTSD, no one
questions whether his experiences were real. However, when an abductee reports
similar experiences, they are automatically disregarded as fantasy. Most
abduction research indicates that the "fantasy" theory doesn't
explain abductions. The balance of evidence points to a real, albeit strange,
phenomenon.
J. Morton, US
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