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From: Mark Cashman <mcashman@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 11:54:15 -0400
Fwd Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 21:37:23 -0400
Subject: Re: Purely Psychological 'Experiences'


>Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 03:28:32 -0500
>To: UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
>From: John Velez <jvif@spacelab.net>
>Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Purely Psychological 'Experiences'

>>From: Mark Cashman <mcashman@ix.netcom.com>
>>Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 11:13:51 -0400
>>Subject:
>>To: updates@globalserve.net

>The following news story piqued my interest.

>(excerpts from http://www.newspage.com)

>===

>"Illinois has moved to discipline a prominent psychiatrist
>accused of convincing a patient that she was a cannibal who ate
>human flesh meatloaf, a child molester and the high priestess of
>a satanic cult."

<snip>

>The case sighted is an aberration. A 'one off' at best. It
>_assumes_ deception and intentional tampering/fraud on the part
>of "amateur hypnotists" who work with "abductees." It paints a
>picture of the average "abductee" as a mindless boob that can
>duped into believing anything, or as P. Klass has said, "little
>nobodys who only want to get on TV."

>I'm not like that. Neither is anyone else I've met so far. Yup,
>there's always a 'joker' in the deck. But for the most part, the
>people that I have met and communicated with come from all walks
>and economic strata of life. They are for the most part, honest,
>hard working family people that find themselves in the
>unsettling position of having to deal with something that isn't
>even supposed to exist.

>Studies/tests have already been conducted on abductees that have
>shown the test subjects to be no more 'crazy' or 'neurotic' than
>anyone else. (Myself included) It bothers me that -extreme
>examples- such as the one above are presented as somehow "valid"
>or applicable inquiries. I find them to be condescending and
>insulting in the extreme.


John -

I appreciate your forthright comment on this news story. However
I fear you have misunderstood my request.

The story represents something which allegedly happened. At this
point, I can't say we know for sure that it did happen as
alleged.

But if it did happen, it apparently took a psychological
professional in a hospital setting, using drugs as well as
hypnosis over an extended period of time, to accomplish putting
these false memories into the psyche of the patient. This is
obviously far beyond the resources of the amateur hypnotists who
have been involved in some of the more questionable abduction
work.

And yet, even despite the available resources, the patient
apparently came to her senses.

My curiosity was aroused. This seemed to suggest that even a
"brainwashed" patient could distinguish between imposed fantasy
and reality given the slightest chance.

Yet, I must admit that I cannot believe that all abduction cases
are descriptions of objectively existent events. Just as 70-90%
of all UFO cases represent a variety of errors, misperceptions
and outright lies, some percentage, as yet poorly delineated, of
abduction cases very likely also represent purely psychological
events, some of which are exacerbated by poor treatment by
unprofessional researchers.

So my intent was not to suggest that abductees in general were
nut cases or easily manipulated fools (and I thought I was clear
about this in the preamble to my questions), but simply to say -
if this event happened as described (i.e. the woman was
brainwashed into thinking these things but spontaneously came to
her senses) then what are the implications for the poorly
defined percentage of "psychological" abductions? Does this
happen to "psychological" abductees or not? If not, is it
because, unlike the cited case, the abduction remains impossible
to confirm (unlike being a cannibal in a small town, which the
patient realized would have become known to others long before)?

Further, is it another confirmation that it is far more
difficult than one might think for amateur hypnotists to
"implant" memories, given their lack of such extensive
facilities and the fact that they do not make any use of drugs?

And, finally, if the evidence suggests that manipulation by the
investigators is less likely to cause "psychological"
abductions, then do we need to look for other psychological
causes, such as those shown by sufferers of Munchausen's or
other factitious disorders?

John, these are serious questions to people such as myself who
remain fence-sitters on the objective reality of much of the
abduction case lore. As you know, I am very concerned about the
exposure of witnesses to investigators who force their cases,
particularly when it is possible that those cases may actually
be manifestations of some important psychological problem which
will not receive treatment due to the involvement of abduction
investigators in the problem. As an analyst, I am also very
concerned about the validity of abduction data, especially since
large and sweeping conclusions are being derived from that data.

>Sorry man, the example that you presented not only has no
>bearing to the abduction phenom, it has no bearing to anything
>other than the study of 'freak cases' of abuse. If you are
>suggesting that there is a correlation beween the above
>(freak/one off case) and abductees then I take umberage at your
>insinuation.

As I think I've shown above, it does have relevance to the
abduction question. We need to be looking at false memory
syndrome, factitious disorders, PTSD, and other psychological
phenomena, as well as the criminological record of forensic
hypnosis, if we are to determine the validity of the abduction
phenomenon, and the percentage of cases that represent a
potentially objectively existent event.

But I appreciate your concern, and I hope you will understand
from the above that my intent is far from what you were reacting
to.

------
Mark Cashman, creator of The Temporal Doorway at
http://www.temporaldoorway.com
- Original digital art, writing, and UFO research -
Author of SF novels available at...
http://www.temporaldoorway.com/library.htm
------