[Posted with permission -- GC]

Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 11:47:15 -0700
From: Katharina Wilson 
Subject: UFOs & Mental Health / Review

UFOs and Mental Health
by Bob Teets
Headline Books, 1997

Reviewed by Katharina Wilson
[(15) = information was quoted from page 15 of Teets' book.]


Bob Teets, author of "UFOs and Mental Health" won more than 30
state and national press awards while working as a journalist in
West Virginia in the 1980s. UFOs and Mental Health "is a work in
progress - a primer to spark interest in the subject of UFOs from
the mental health community." The majority of Teets' Introduction
is geared toward his sincere acknowledgments of thirty-year
veteran psychologist and UFO researcher Dr. Leo Sprinkle.

"UFOs and Mental Health" covers several loosely associated
subjects while attempting to relate them to UFO phenomena. Remote
viewing, the church of Satan, and spirit possession are also
covered. In view of this material, it is interesting that Teets
does not mention Dr. Sprinkle's personal involvement with the
phenomenon of channeling and also does not cover the subject of
channeling in this book.

"UFOs and Mental Health" purports to be a book for "healers,"
Teets' preferred term for mental heath professionals and their
non-degreed equivalents. Nevertheless, he is marketing his book
to ufologists and abductees. Teets also makes it very clear at
the beginning of this book that he believes abductees have
misperceived their experiences. He writes, "...if you are a UFO
'experiencer' [his emphasis] in search of answers to or relief
from perceived problems associated with UFOs, you will often
discover that the answers you find and/or the degree of relief
you experience may well depend on which healer you choose." (15)

One of the things I find most disturbing about "UFOs and Mental
Health" is Teets' use of the Heaven's Gate tragedy. He uses the
sad demise of this cult as a tool in his effort to pry ufologists
and abduction researchers away from mainstream America; to make
them appear intellectually and morally inferior to those on the
"outside," in effect, making them appear as villains. A prime
example follows:

"For sure, events like this will make - or should make - people
think twice about any 'revealed truths' perpetrated by supposed
UFO experts, believers or prophets. From now on, and in order to
lead people in any march toward 'UFO truth,' these UFO myth
perpetrators and prophets will surely have to convince their
followers to keep their 'eyes on the skies' while ignoring
beneath them the dead bodies of 39 more followers over whom they
must tread." (25)

Teets perpetuates the "us and them" belief that social
psychologists often warn against when attempting to build
cohesion and understanding between groups of individuals with
dissimilar belief systems. I find this incompatible with
introducing the "healers" of this country to the subject of
ufology. I find this especially damaging to the many abductees
who need and deserve much better than this from an "award winning
journalist" addressing the mental health community.

It should be noted that MUFON, CUFOS, ORTK, and CAUS neither
supported nor endorsed any writings or thinking remotely similar
to what the Heaven's Gate cult was about. Had Teets done a little
research, he would have seen the difference between these
grassroots organizations and cults.

Mistakes

Other mistakes Teets makes - whether intentionally or not -
include his comment about the Stockholm syndrome. He jumps around
between what abductees feel and what John Carpenter, Whitley
Strieber, and John Mack, M. D. have stated. He then throws this
comment out: "The Stockholm Syndrome, recognized in victims of
terrorist-like captivity, is seemingly overlooked by these
researchers." (33) Had Bob Teets done his research, he would know
that (the late) Karla Turner, Ph.D., spoke and wrote about this
syndrome on more than a few occasions. In addition, her mentor,
Barbara Bartholic has done the same.

This brings me to a problem with this and other books written by
journalists as well as some non-experiencer ufologists. For
reasons unknown, they either refuse or are hesitant to read and
cite information directly from the sources. The "sources" in the
abduction phenomenon are not so much the
non-experiencer-researcher, but the abductees.

Teets published one article in his book by Donna Higbee titled
"Are Abductees Being Brainwashed?" which I admit was nice to see,
but what about books that have been authored by abductees? Why
don't these so-called "award-winning journalists" look at Dr.
Karla Turner's self-published works, "Taken: Inside The
Alien-Human Abduction Agenda" and "Masquerade of Angels;" or my
books "The Alien Jigsaw," its related "Researcher's Supplement,"
and "Project Open Mind"? What about Leah Haley's "Lost Was the
Key"?

There are also countless monographs that have been written by
abductees, as well as important books by abductees that managed
to weather the major publishing houses editing "machine" but,
nevertheless, still contain valuable information. One of the
latter examples that immediately comes to mind is Debra Jordan
and Kathy Mitchell's "Abducted!"

Having provided these references to Teets, I must admit that I
dread what he will do with our information. God forbid we should
all end up - as Mack and Strieber did in this book - in a chapter
titled "The Prophets"!

Another research mistake Teets makes is with his comment relating
to the movie "Phenomenon" staring John Travolta. (58) Teets
writes,

"Another way that this phenomenon can take a person is on a ride
of educational weirdness, as researcher Robyn Andrews Quail
contends she's seen demonstrated in people whose IQ's shoot up
immediately after a close encounter... John Travolta did a movie
not long ago which sort of highlighted this, entitled
'Phenomenon.' "

It is obvious that once again, Teets did not do his research. The
movie "Phenomenon" had nothing to do with UFOs! Travolta's
character had a brain tumor which, in the end, killed him.

There are portions of this book that ramble on so much, I simply
gave up at times and had to put the book down. Sentences that
contain 45 words? Please! It is fortunate the book has an index,
otherwise I would not have known where (in Chapter Five) Dick
Farley's "discussion" ended and Teets' anti-ufologist sermon
began again. (58)

Another critical point I want to mention is Teets' statement that
"all hypnosis is self-hypnosis," as he claims "we are taught
early during our hypnotherapy training. (77) Teets also describes
hypnosis as a form of passive mind control. I will leave the bulk
of this argument for someone else to write about, but from
experience and study, I can tell you that there is nothing
passive about mind control and nothing could be further from the
truth than to claim "all hypnosis is self-hypnosis." Being
hypnotized by someone else is entirely different from
self-hypnosis. Teets is bordering on recklessness by making these
accusations.

The reason, however, that I brought this up is because while
searching for the "stats" on dissociation that Walter Bowart
referred to, I came across this strange comment again. Bowart is
quoted in Teets' book as saying, "Be sure you don't overlook the
stats on the number of dissociative cases in [sic] among the
'abductees.' Tests that have been given indicate it to a high
percentage. See "Alien Discussions," the MIT thing..." (92)

While I searched for these statistics in my copy of "Alien
Discussions," I came across this comment by psychiatrist George
Ganaway. "At our center I've treated over 250 patients now over
the past several years, and I have several colleagues who have
treated many others. Since we don't know what causes
dissociation, the most replicable finding is that they're all
hypnotic virtuosos. *All hypnosis is self-hypnosis*, when it
comes right down to it..." [my emphasis] ("Alien Discussions," pg
521; "Therapist Panel: Helping The Abductees.")

Are psychiatrists (and journalists) really taught this "mantra"
in hypnotherapy school - or did Teets discover this little saying
by reading Ganaway in "Alien Discussions?" Like Teets, I'm not an
expert in hypnosis, but I have read enough - and experienced
enough to know that all hypnosis is NOT self-hypnosis. This
sounds like a convenient way to place the responsibility for
whatever memories that do surface - and any associated problems
with those memories - squarely on the shoulders of the person
being hypnotized. This includes people remembering childhood
sexual abuse and abductees.

Accusations

Teets makes a lot of accusations in his book. I will only touch
on a few that I believe are the most important. Teets accuses
Corso "and others in government" who are retired, of going public
with their information because they  "... prefer to cash in on
the current 'UFO rage,' rather than face civil rage after a
Presidential release of information about past roles in Project
Paperclip..." (61)

Two easily detectable flaws in Teets' logic is that public
knowledge of Project Paperclip is *not new* and there has been,
unfortunately, very little civil rage about it. Secondly, Colonel
Corso is an old man. If Corso is becoming wealthy off of his
book, he is not likely to live a long time to enjoy the fruits of
his labor. In addition, if Colonel Corso was interested in making
money, he would have begun decades ago with the alleged
extraterrestrial technology he possessed. Perhaps an
investigative journalist could look into Corso's past to at least
see how many high-tech patents he holds.

Bob Teets also accuses Whitely Strieber and John Mack's writings
of being so similar with cult leader Marshall Applewhite's that,
"It does, indeed, seem quite difficult at times to tell these
men's writing apart." (40) He labels Mack, Strieber and other
ufologists and researchers as "UFO Prophets," and alleges that
these prophets are "making the rounds and making a lot of money."
Since Teets is so concerned about who is making money off of
UFOs, he should add his own name to his list of imaginary
conspirators.

One accusation by Teets that is sure to ruffle a few proverbial
feathers is made in Chapter Five - "The Grassroots: Highlights
and Discussion:" "...joining the U.S. Air Force and CIA in
opposing (and defusing) Rockefeller's efforts were our
long-present 'UFO investigation' organizations, clearly tied to
government through their memberships and leadership." (63)

The longest existing grassroots UFO investigative organization in
the United States is MUFON, The MUTUAL UFO Network. Teets knows
this as well as anyone involved in the investigation of UFOs and
abductions. Is Teets saying that MUFON, their board of directors
and its International Director Mr. Walter Andrus, Jr., have been
trying to defuse  Laurence Rockefeller's efforts to encourage
governmental openness regarding the UFO phenomenon? If Teets is
indeed an "award-winning" journalist, where is his proof to back
up this claim?

On the Positive Side

There are some positive mentions made in "UFOs and Mental
Health." One is the chapter on remote viewing. After bashing
David Morehouse (author of Psychic Warrior) we get a relatively
positive spin on remote viewing. I suspect this is because the
United States Government supported research into remote viewing
for nearly 20 years and, as Teets states, "Lyn [Buchanan] once
gave me and a few other friends a long lecture about remote
viewing, then allowed us to try it. We all scored quite well. And
I must admit I've often thought about taking Lyn's training."

It is curious that Teets seems to have so much faith in remote
viewing after only having one short experience with it. I wonder
if Teets would be a "believer" of abductions if he ever had to
listen to the screams of his children being taken at night while
he lay paralyzed in his bed?

There are also new labels for abductees that can be gleaned from
reading and purchasing the books Teets promotes in "UFOs and
Mental Health." A couple of examples are "anomalously sensitive
persons" and "information virus" syndrome. Two examples of books
that are promoted are "Virus of the Mind" by Richard Brodie and
"Unmasking the Enemy," by Nelson Pacheco. A paraphrased quote by
Teets from the latter follows: "If you want to do UFO research,
one clear way is to follow the trail of bodies." (27)

Teets' good friend William J. Baldwin, Ph.D. and the author of
"Spirit Releasement Therapy: A Technique Manual" is also
promoted. Quoting Teets: "One of the traits Baldwin sees in many
of his clients, and which he writes about in his book, is a sort
of possession of a human being by an interstitial
extraterrestrial-type entity. Where it gets interesting is at the
point where this extraterrestrial is found to itself be possessed
by a classic demon, or jinn." (29) Where's Mulder when you need
him...

Bob Teets states in his Introduction, "The UFO phenomenon...has
very little to do with aliens and exotic space ships visiting
earth and interacting with humans..."

*** "UFOs and Mental Health" has very little to do with the
subject of UFOs and even less to do with mental health. --
Katharina Wilson

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