Abducted. How people come to believe they were kidnapped by aliens

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jan 2008  by Chapman, Robin A

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Clancy, S.A. (2005). Abducted. How people come to believe they were kidnapped by aliens. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

At first glance, the title of this book suggests the topic would be more appropriate for a talk show than a professional journal. Susan Clancy's work should not be confused with that of John Mack, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist whose work with alien abductees became a subject of an investigation into his research practices. Clancy is a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Harvard University who approaches this topic in a scientific manner, and she posits that hypnosis occupies a central role in the recovery of so-called alien abduction memories.

In the first chapter, Clancy presents a concise review of the research in the area of repressed memory. Her summary of the research concludes that, while "some details of traumatic events may be forgotten or confused, the core of the memory-what actually happened -generally remains intact." Although her initial research was in the area of testing false-memory creation in sexual abuse victims, Clancy disliked the controversial implications of this topic. She was then given the opportunity to study repressed memory of individuals who claimed they were abducted by aliens; interestingly, she viewed this as less controversial. Clancy considered these individuals less complicated as their memories were associated with events that probably had not occurred. It was much more difficult to determine if memories of sexual abuse had occurred during childhood. The remaining chapters systematically explore Clancy's research into the memory and beliefs of those who believed they were abducted by aliens.

In the second chapter, Clancy explores the development of beliefs of alien abduction. To recruit subjects for her research, she placed an ad asking, "Have you been abducted by aliens?" The majority of people who answered her query had no detailed memories of abduction, but they believed that they had been abducted. The subjects also explained their belief that aliens had rendered their memories inaccessible. These subjects began to consider abduction after they had unusual experiences, such as nose bleeds, marks on their body, and changes in personality. However, researchers have offered sleep paralysis as a possible explanation for unusual experiences, sleep paralysis being a condition that occurs when states of sleeping and being awake become desynchronized. This produces hallucinations and body sensations similar to those reported by victims of alien abduction. About 20 percent of the population has experienced at least 1 episode of sleep paralysis. Clancy also explores the possibility of delusional thinking, and she agrees with the research that suggests that delusions may be the person's explanation for anomalous experiences. She proposes that this would explain nonpathological beliefs such as alien abduction. Clancy concludes that abductees endorse abduction as it is "the best fit for their data, their personal experiences. And skeptics can not critique those data, because they have no access to them."

In Chapter 3, Clancy describes the role of hypnosis in alien abduction memories. She states that the most of her subjects acquired their memories through hypnosis and related psychotherapy techniques. Her summary of research concludes that hypnosis can create false memories, a conclusion that has long been known by scientific investigators. It appears that this ability is not regulated solely by hypnosis, since relaxation, massage therapy, yoga and marijuana are also described as methods that can create false memories. Clancy strongly believes, however, that hypnosis is a poor method to uncover memories and states that professional societies such as the American Medical Association and American Psychological Association agree. Given the general reservations about hypnosis as a technique to uncover memories, it is interesting and somewhat alarming to find that about one fourth of practicing psychotherapists used guided imagery, hypnosis or free association to retrieve memories according to a 1994 poll. Clancy herself believes that these practitioners and the general public are not aware of the scientific research regarding hypnosis and memory, but this conclusion merits further study. Abduction researchers have also contributed to the use of hypnosis in uncovering memories by strongly advocating hypnosis as essential and integral in overcoming the amnesia created by the so-called aliens.

In the fourth chapter, Clancy explores the consistency of abduction stories, since many advocates of alien abduction point to the similarity of the stories to support their veracity. Clancy begins her exploration of this topic by reviewing the history of speculation about extraterrestrial life and concludes that this has existed for centuries. However, stories of alien abduction did not exist prior to 1962, and they appear to have begun after they were dramatized on TV and in the movies. The first movie to depict alien abduction was the 1953 movie Invaders from Mars, and the Outer Limits television series presented a number of alien abduction stories from 1961-1964. Clancy posits that the recovering of memories of abduction can be traced to the oft-cited story of Betty and Barney Hill. This couple reported that they were abducted in 1961 and recalled these memories several years later under hypnosis with a mental health professional. Clancy concludes that the Hills were influenced by the popular media of their day. Additional books have been written concerning alien abduction with Whitley Strieber's Communion being the one of the best selling and influential of these books. Research has been conducted to ascertain the impact of media on the reports of alien abduction. Volunteers, who were not interested in this subject, were asked to imagine alien abduction and produced reports that were similar to alien abductees. Such research has been conducted with and without hypnosis, resulting in similar findings. Clancy concludes that consistency of alien abduction stories are based on shared UFO scripts that are part of our popular culture.