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Abduction Digest Number 42
Abduction Digest, Number 42
Tuesday, January 21st 1992
Today's Topics:
Salem Therapist
Abduction Video
Recall
Abuse
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From: Sheldon.Wernikoff@p0.f605.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Sheldon Wernikoff)
Subject: Salem Therapist
Date: 18 Jan 92 23:20:01 GMT
In a message to Sheldon Wernikoff <18-Jan-92 00:32>
David Jacobs wrote:
DJ> I am not sure that I can help getting your therapist involved
DJ> with abduction research. If she were to get on a local TV show
DJ> and say that she has an interest in researching the subject (a
DJ> newspaper story would also be effective) she might be able to
DJ> receive some clients that way.
Yes... that could supply prospective clients, but I'm afraid it
could also direct a substantial number of - shall we say -
"undesirables" to her office. I think she's interested in a more
screened approach, which I find understandable.
DJ> I have been doing a lot of consulting with therapists around
DJ> the country on the proper ways to do hypnosis with abductees
DJ> also how to proceed with therapy for them.
Do you mean to say that specific hypnotic technique and therapy
strategies are required for the competent handling of abductees,
differing from those normally employed by a skillful, experienced
psychotherapist? Do you not think it unwise to deviate from a more
widely accepted conventional approach, and generate case-specific
tactics? That in itself COULD yield inaccurate data.
DJ> The subject is so unprecedented that the better therapists will
DJ> take all the help they can get.
Not only will they take it, they are actively seeking it.
DJ> I have found that the weaker therapists can actually cause harm
DJ> when they thrash about not knowing what to do or say.
I agree... a therapist thrashing about, not knowing what to do or
say during a session, does not contribute to a good rapport. <g>
DJ> Therefore, if the Salem therapist wants to talk with me please
DJ> tell her to give me a call.
I shall... Can you post your office number?
DJ> (Of course I do not charge for any of my abduction work or
DJ> consultations.)
You are certainly the exception, not the rule. That is most
gracious of you. I think one of the major reasons abductees fail to
get proper counseling, is that they simply can't afford it. It's a
shame there are so few that share your philanthropic demeanor.
Take care,
Sheldon
--
Sheldon Wernikoff - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: Sheldon.Wernikoff@p0.f605.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Sheldon Wernikoff)
Subject: Abduction Video
Date: 19 Jan 92 13:54:02 GMT
I just picked up my copy of the new CUFOS video "Alien Abductions"
and must tell you, Mark Rodeghier was not hyperbolizing one bit
when he said it was good. Undersell would be more like it. It's
extremely well done and delineates the abduction phenomenon in an
objective, dispassionate manner. This enigmatic event is analyzed
in both physical and psychological terms, allowing the viewer to
contemplate the foundations and foibles of either possibility.
It contains an interesting amalgam of archival footage and
contemporary discussion with such notables as Bud Hopkins,
John Mack, Walter Webb, Eddie Bullard, Michael Swords, Betty Hill,
John Carpenter, Jerry Clark, George Eberhart, and, last but not
least, Mark Rodeghier. As the credits rolled by, I also noticed a
few "locals" such as Don Ecker, Jim Speiser, and Vicki Cooper. My
hat's off to all of you. A job well done!
The film runs a full 90 minutes, video/audio (stereo) quality is
superb, great graphics and titling, and there are NO commercial
interruptions, something I've found commonplace in tapes of this
genre. I don't mean to sound like an advertisement myself, but
the price is reasonable also. $23.00 (including postage and
handling).
It's currently available in VHS standard format, but copies will
be obtainable shortly in PAL, for those of you listening in
countries utilizing that standard.
This videotape is available from:
The Center for UFO Studies
2457 W Peterson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659 312-271-3611
-- Sheldon
--
Sheldon Wernikoff - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: David.Jacobs@f21.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (David Jacobs)
Subject: Recall
Date: 20 Jan 92 06:33:12 GMT
Jim, I know that the conventional wisdom is that consciously recalled
material is supposedly more accurate than hypnotically recalled material.
But, with the abduction phenomenon, it is a bit more complicated. The events
that have transpired in an abduction are stored in an area of the mind that is
not accessible to normal recall except under circumstances of relaxed and
focused concentration. When this happens the subject finally remembers the
experiences for the first time, as it were, and allows the memories to pass
into an area of the mind where they are amenable to normal recall. After they
have been recalled for the first time, they can then be forgotten much the
same as other memories, traumatic and nontraumatic. This is not to say that
all hypnotically recalled memories are accurate--far from it. Confabulation
is an important complicating factor that many inexperienced investigators and
hypnotists have not fully recognized. It is rare that one does not have an
account with some confabulation in it. Much of this, I think, has to do with
memory storage and its relation to the already stored memories of normal life,
dreams, and so on. Furthermore, as my book will detail, there are specific
mental procedures that are administered on abductees during the event that
cause them to think that they have seen or experienced things when, in fact,
they have not. An experienced investigator who understands the intricacies of
the abduction phenomenon can sift through these "memories" and ascertain with
some degree of accuracy the actual flow of events.
Doing abduction research is quite difficult, and one of the most
difficult things to do is to sort through the testimony and decide what is
real and what is not real (obviously, I am making assumptions here). One
thing is sure though, consciously recalled material is certainly just as
suspect as material recalled with the aid of hypnosis. Actually, a good
example comes to mind; the piece that Budd Hopkins recently wrote for IUR, I
believe, talking about two women who consciously remembered seeing a six car
pile-up in the middle of an urban intersection very late at night.
Investigation revealed that there was no such accident and both women were
made to believe that they had seen it a short time before an abduction.
Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.1
--
David Jacobs - via FidoNet node 1:104/422
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From: David.Jacobs@f21.n1010.z9.FIDONET.ORG (David Jacobs)
Subject: Abuse
Date: 20 Jan 92 07:05:29 GMT
Sorry Jim, in my previous message I forgot to address the problem of people
thinking that abductions are caused by abuse. Saying that sexual, physical,
and emotional abuse causes people to think that they have been abducted by
aliens is all the vogue these days in the therapeutic community. It seems to
make sense: The abuse is so traumatic that the person, usually child,
disassociates and buries the traumatic events under a more acceptable cover
memory. There are, of course, many problems with this theory. First of all,
the majority of abductees do not have a history of childhood abuse, but some
abductees do have abuse in their backgrounds. For these abductees, the abuse
has been dealt with in standard therapy and they have learned to come to terms
with it. Thus, they would have no psychological need to disassociate and
invent abduction tales. Furthermore, many abductions are are multiple.
People see others being abducted who will independentally confirm the events.
How this relates to abuse is difficult to imagine. In addition, parents
often come to me or to other researchers frantically worried about their
children who are describing classic abduction events happening to them.
They want me to try to alleviate the situation or help the child in some way
(incidentally, I do not work with children). Although it is possible, the
chances are against parents bringing their children in for counseling when
they are in the act of systematically, and brutally abusing them. Finally,
with all the talk of abuse and abductions, I have heard of no instances in
which abduction cases have been shown to be the result of abuse. The problem
is that talk is cheap. All someone has to do is simply claim that an
abduction was caused by childhood abuse. Saying it makes it so. What I am
saying is that there is no evidence to suggest that this is the case.
There are many other reasons militating against the facile theory of
abuse generating abductions, but I can't go into all of them. Suffice it to
say, the abuse theory is, I believe, untenable.
Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.1
--
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