Reality Or Not, UFO Abductees Suffer from Real Psychological Symptoms

The idea that extraterrestrial creatures may have visited Earth has been a source of science fiction fare for decades, and sightings and video tapes of mysterious flying vehicles seems to vindicate that, there may be other intelligent life forms that we do not, as yet, know about.

The idea that extraterrestrial beings may kidnap humans for various scientific experiments, however, is quite a terrifying thought. According to BBC news, at least 4 million Americans claim to have been kidnapped by aliens.

While the figures are alarming, does this mean that alien abductions are real, or is it just a product of man's fertile imagination?

A History of Alien Abductions

While the idea of extraterrestrial kidnappings did not become widespread until the 1960s, UFO kidnappings were reported as early as the late 1800s, when Colonel H.G. Shaw claimed that he and a friend were harassed by three tall, slender humanoids who were covered with a fine, downy hair covering their bodies. The beings tried to accost or kidnap Shaw and his friend, who were able to fight them off. His account was published in the California Daily Mail in 1897.

In 1954, an account was published in Paris Match, where an anonymous writer claimed that, as a child, he was snatched by two tall "men" who wore helmets and "diving suits¡±. They took him to an oddly shaped tank, before releasing him.

Self-Proclaimed Alien Abductees Showing Signs of Stress

While it is easy to dismiss such claims as fraudulent, the psychological stress, at least, is real enough.

According to research by American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver, alleged abductees suffer tormented sleeping patterns, and exhibit signs and symptoms reminiscent to combat stress, a psychological illness linked mostly to war veterans.

Such behavior, however, may not vindicate real abduction activities. Rather, it may have stemmed from something more inane.

Professor Richard Mc Nally, from Harvard University, told BBC: "This underscores the power of emotional belief. If you genuinely believe you've been traumatized and recall these memories, you'll show the same psycho-physiologic emotional reactions as people who really have been traumatized."

Widespread, conformist, new age beliefs, according to Richard Mc Nally, may account for the vast numbers of self proclaimed abductees, and a combination of these beliefs and inherent psychological disorders may be the reason: "Most of them had pre-existing new-age beliefs - they were into bio-energetic therapies, past lives, astral projection, tarot cards, and so on. Second, they have episodes of apparent sleep paralysis accompanied by hallucinations."

These mental hallucinations, according to Mc Nally, are so real, that during lab tests, these alleged abductees exhibit signs that are normally associated only with combat stress.

Mc Nally observed that, "When a Vietnam vet has his experiences played back to him in the lab of some combat event, his heart rate goes up and you see an increase in sweating. If you don't have post-traumatic stress disorder, you don't react that way. The heart-rate responses and sweating responses were at least as great in the alien abductees when they heard their memories of being taken and molested by space aliens and subjected to experiments as those of people with genuine traumatic events."

While such symptoms may not be the result of real time alien abductions, it seems that, at least to the alleged abductees, the events seem real enough to warrant a deeper analysis into what is essentially a non-existent phenomenon (unless, of course, you believe in the existence of weird, human-kidnapping aliens).