Is Alien Abduction a mental disease?

Not having enough formal education to know the answer to this question I put it out there before this forum to garner hopefully several different thoughts, knowledge, and opinions.

Many abductees seem to have generational experience and therefore some of the same personality traits that are considered genetic abnormalities in their families history. Traits such as obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse, Bi-polar to name just a few. In the past, we did not have the mental health boxes to place people in and people did not rush out to the Psychiatrists and therapists like today's society.

The majority of abductees are average people, not professionals, yet UFOlogy and paranormal studies continue to discount their experiences as invalidated and unworthy of serious consideration. The most outlandish cases, however, do sometimes end up in the countless volumes written by for the most part outsiders to these events.

So if you spill the beans to Mental Health facilities what will be the diagnosis?

a reply to: antar

Your ignorance is striking in the field but well done for acknowledgement of the fact, if it's a topic of interest to you then check out the work of the late John Mack:

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: antar

Hard to say..
Because its your "average" person that comes forth and tells the story..
Not often a person in a higher position where a good reputation is important will risk it all telling the story
Some of the average persons will be made up stories that comes from mental problems.
But those kind of sick people are to be found in all parts of issues, rape, murder, religion, and so on.
I would say 60% of the people speaking about a abduction experience, is telling the absolute truth from their perspective.

originally posted by: antar
Traits such as obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse, Bi-polar to name just a few. In the past, we did not have the mental health boxes to place people in and people did not rush out to the Psychiatrists and therapists like today's society.

I love Love LOVE that you are calling ALL Abductees incredibly Fat, alcoholic, drug addicted crazy people!

Well Played!

a reply to: abeverage

Being overweight is a protective mechanism.
Alcohol can dull memories and past trauma.
Drugs can open the mind to alternate understandings.

Not all, some find themselves using these techniques as coping mechanisms when being a normal person only garners ridicule and skepticism when attempting to find others of like experience.

a reply to: Spacespider

Agree especially when threats against self and family have been known to happen to first-hand witnesses and whistleblowers.

a reply to: Zcustosmorum

Yes in the field intentionally. The Op touches on the average person, not the professionals who document cases.

a reply to: antar

Well apparently Kit Green and many other very informed experts
consider most UFOlogists and paranormalists to be mentally ill.

And If I remember correctly, the DSM V+ has categories for extreme
religious belief to be a mental illness.

For me, the dividing line is whether a person will drop their 'crazy
theories' in the light of solid evidence.

If they will, they might just be a researcher of the odd.. which is
fine...

I mean, alchemy predated chemistry.. astrology preddated astronomy.

Kev

Do your local Mental Health facilities think Alien Abduction a mental disease?

The business model is to treat everything as a mental disease until the money runs out...

a reply to: AttitudeProblem

Anything to sell pills that are under patent?

It seems that way.

God forbid curing anything... there is little profit in that.

Kev

So my question to students and Psychology exerts should have been worded differently. Is there currently a psychological term for those claiming to have suffered alien abduction phenomena? If not then what classification are they placed into when going through mainstream psychology/psyciatry

So Dr Kit Green was most seemingly interested in psychic/RV phenomena as is a threat to National security. HIs interests were apparently the same as our Alphabets in order to know if these paranormal abilities could be used consistently against any threats. Dr Green admits that through his findings it is rare and therefore not worthy of further investigation efforts.

If there were subjects which DR Green had studied in the UFO/abduction field, then I doubt it would have gotten him anywhere as it is so inconsistent and not scientifically repeatable. Not his field of charge?

I did find an old interesting thread here on ATS I am about to go read now. Edit to say Wow, great thread am reading links now! TY
www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: KellyPrettyBear

Well, my comp went crazy while writing that last post, had to shut down and restart but the message above was talking with you bear, thanks again.

a reply to: antar

Yup... those are some of the best links on the Internet.

a reply to: antar

No, it's not. If you knew everything that surrounds the abductions, you'll never say such a thing.

Paraphrenia

I first believed in some weird things in the womb, so the 60 year
onset age doesn't apply to me. I have NEVER once had an auditory
hallucination or "auditory vision". Really very little of the diagnosis
applies to me...

I think that the fact I have asperger's syndrome, and this kind of
stuff, not trains or whatever is my fixation is the answer for me.

Really.. I think Kit uses too broad a brush with paraphrenia..

As to a specific diagnosis for people who think that they have
been abducted? I've never heard of one.

BTW.. I'm not totally against the notion of "psychological
abduction". I've seen it happen so to speak.. now explaing
the bites and marks some people get is the next thing to
discuss..

Most people might assume those are self-inflicted.. and that
really hurts the feeings of abductees.

now I do know under hypnosis, the body can be commanded
to rise welts and boils.. so it's entirely possible that the
"abduction process" works this way.

I don't know.

I know at least one very rational lady on ATS who swears that
she is being physically abducted.. so i don't draw any firm
conclusions..

i'm not an expert on this field.

Kev

Technically yes alien abduction would be a mental disorder. Schizoaffective in scope. But it is misleading to state the above as truth since we are dealing with things that are unknowable. A person who believes they have a close connection to a "higher power" would also be classified as such, if it is causing issues in one's life. The use of labels do not get us any closer to "truth". Our perception of observable reality, can only be classified as such. "Our perception".

A priest, a scientist, and psychic are walking late at night when an object appears before them and then disappears into the night sky. All three have the task of making sense of what just happened. Was is an alien spacecraft, a ghost or a sign from God. This is all perspective.

If you are alone with no outside opinion on the observable reality, your mind will compete the task of coherence based on your individual perspective. it in no way is this grounded in definitive truth.

But your individual perspective will be cemented by your experience. Your "truth"

I personally know people that have" I have seen aliens stories" that never divulge their person beliefs based solely on "If I can neither confirm nor deny its existence it is irrelevant to my personal existance" and I know one that swears by abduction that, in my outward view ,seems to be repressed child abuse.

The trick here is to "know you don't know" be sceptical yet open. Allow possibility without condemnation. When you push unknowable areas into the yes/no it removes fear but blinds you to the potential truth. ( I have no power over aliens nor ghosts nor God. They either exist or they don't. Having that information does not improve my ability to be prosperous and happy)

Any way just my thoughts.

I assure you if we all decided to visit a psychiatrist, we would all have a mental illness if they asked us enough question. 100% guarentee you. Now do I think contactees have a mental illness maybe some but a very low percentage. Do I think contactees suffer from trauma? You betcha.

Have a good day folks! TGIF

I have a close friend of 30+ years who claims to have had experiences from childhood up to about the time she had a kid. Did hypnotherapy sessions with one of the big names in abductee research, I forget his name. She was on a couple TV shows back in the day talking about it. I've listened to her and I've seen the physical markings she has, and I have a hard time believing they were self inflicted if it was even possible.

Antar has been around a good long while and I respect her question. You folks who are questioning her veracity are the ones that need to get an education--not her. And in answer to your question, antar, yes, definitely, in many cases. I would never claim ALL cases, but the mental stability of some of these people is painfully obvious. Dare I say t: Plain looking women with few social skills or education desperately seeking attention. That's about it in a nutshell. And unfortunately, some of the more prominent "researchers" in the field seem incredibly naive about the issue. They are amateurs dabbling in a field in which they have no expertise.

David Jacobs, for example, a history professor, got himself involved with what turned out to be a completely psychotic woman who made his life miserable. I corresponded with Jacobs about this woman and it is obvious to me that she nearly drove HIM crazy with her accusations. And Budd Hopkins, an artist, though earnest and honest, IMO, seemed totally oblivious to the possibility he was being deceived. I saw this happen once in a TV call-in show at the height of his popularity. After outlining his research he received a call on the air from a woman who suspected she had been abducted. He began asking her leading questions such as, "Do you have pock mars on your thighs which could mean skin samples were taken?" How could she say anything but "yes" after a question like that. You could just hear in her voice the craving for attention. He got all excited and told her to stay on the line and they would get her contact information to follow up. Oh, boy! Some attention at last! It was painful to watch.

Then you have the "aliens are demons and fallen angels" crowd like Betty Andreasson. These people think mentioning the name of Jesus will frighten the aliens, aka demons, enough to leave them alone. These people are already immersed in their religious fantasies. Adding one more is no big deal. Add to that the totally extravagant claims such as "20% of all Americans have been abducted" which is about 60 MILLION people and you begin to see the absurdity of such claims. We have had way too much media exposure of these issues, enough to feed a great many people's 'lonely crowd' yearnings for some attention. So, yes, antar, for the vast majority of these cases, it IS a mental illness and claims of being abducted need to be taken with a large grain of salt. And the louder the protest, which you see here already, the nuttier the claims.

a reply to: antar

I had stuff happen (alien and otherwise) which I considered to be indicators I was nuttier than a fruitcake, till someone else experienced similar right along with me.