The Alien Abduction Reality

Sometimes, what we think and feel can be weirder than that of what we see and hear.
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Roger
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The Alien Abduction Reality

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Since Barney and Betty Hill's widely publicized claim of having been abducted by extraterrestrials, there have been a steady increase in such abduction reports. Alien abduction phenomenon became such a popular subject that it took on the trappings of a sub-culture, garnering a closer study by a Harvard Medical School psychologist, John E. Mack, PhD. In his study and investigation of two-hundred people claiming to have been abducted, Mack could find no apparent mental health issues, and in his own words, stated,
The majority of abductees do not appear to be deluded, confabulating, lying, self-dramatizing, or suffering from a clear mental illness. - John E. Mack


Initially, Mack was of the mind that those people claiming to be abductees were either lying or suffering from some form of mental disorder. Later, after conducting clinical examination and standardized tests, then interviewing the 'experiencers', Mack came to believe that these otherwise ordinary people, from all walks of life, were telling the truth. Although Mack never claimed to believe in a alien existence as the cause of the abductions, he did acknowledge that something strange and unknown was in operation.
I would never say, yes, there are aliens taking people. [But] I would say there is a compelling powerful phenomenon here that I can't account for in any other way, that's mysterious. Yet I can't know what it is but it seems to me that it invites a deeper, further inquiry. - John E. Mack


When John Mack's book Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens was published, it's immediate popularity made John Mack a household name and had him on many radio talk shows and television programs. It was at this point that Harvard decided it had had enough of the genre's fracas. Harvard convened a non-disciplinary secret committee to inquire into Mack's research on alien abductions.
They tried to criticise me, silence me - by saying that by supporting the truth of what these people were experiencing, possibly I was confirming them in a distortion, or a delusion. So instead of being a good psychiatrist and curing them, I was by taking them seriously, confirming them in a delusion and harming them


This unexpected and surprising move was the first time in Harvard's history that a tenured professor was subjected to such an investigation. After fourteen months of tense and bitter negotiations, in which the inquiry's nature became widely known, arousing public complaint and peer condemnation of the school, Harvard officially issued a statement reaffirming Mack's academic freedom to study what he wished and concluding he remained a member in good standing.

By this time, many 'experiencers' had come to regard John Mack as a guiding ray of hope in a world filled with the dark and forboding professional naysayers.

Naturally, as well liked and respected as this eminent Harvard psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and Pulitzer Prize winner is, John E. Mack was only one person against a monstrous tide of ridicule, dismissal and ignorance. Too many professional physcologists and other mental health specialists take the position of denial and automatically assume an abductee is suffering from mental illness. No doubt, there are some people who've not been abducted, and claim they have, who are mentally afflicted. Yet, there remain countless others who relate their experiences truthfully and honestly, and despite what the nature of this phenomena turns out to be, either of a alien operation, human operation or other, the fact that so many ordinary unassuming people experience alien abduction does call into question the ability of professionals to objectively approach the phenomena and performn a proper study. At least, with the standards set by John E. Mack.


What reality are you from?
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