But are they real? Regarding the problematic question of the reality of the experience, Dr. Mack observed:

Jung took a position (that I share) regarding discussing the physical reality of flying saucer reports, as they were called in the early 1950s:

As a psychologist, I am not qualified to contribute anything useful to the question of the physical reality of UFOs. I can concern myself only with their undoubted psychic aspects, and in what follows shall deal almost exclusively with their psychic concomitants. (Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies, p.7)

In fact, there have been accounts of moon beings since the days of Plutarch. With the advent of powerful new telescopes in the 1800's, there were many reported "sightings" of winged demons on the moon's surface. Current fascination with extraterrestrial life has achieved greater prominence than ever before, as evidenced by reports of encounters with space aliens in media news, nonfiction first person accounts such as Communion, science fiction literature and movies such as ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The question of extraterrestrial life has also become an important topic in stretching the scientific imagination to its limits [2].

Structurally there are parallels between UFO abduction and shamanic initiation experiences, an ancient mythic pattern which can be traced back to 30,000 B.C.. The abductee is taken taken aboard a spaceship ("other worlds" on a "cosmic pillar" in a shamanic journey), is forcibly examined (which parallels the painful dismemberment of the shaman), and then the abductee returns with a message (just as the shaman returns with songs and other instruments of healing). Ralph Metzner, PhD considers space alien/UFO themes to be a variation of the shaman's "upper world journey":

experiences in which we are granted a preview or vision of our life or of some aspect of the world. They are usually accompanied by insights, intuitions, and new images; and they often instigate a mood of playful and euphoric creativity (The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience, p. 118).

Similarly, Terrence McKenna viewed contacts with space aliens and UFOs as initiating a new era of exploration — of the inner world — as significant as the discovery of the New World.

Theodore R. Sarbin's, PhD concept of "believed in imaginings" (subjectively compelling distortions in the perception of reality) is also relevant to this question. He points out that the popular belief in the existence of angels is considered normal by mentally "healthy" people while belief in the existence of aliens is considered abnormal and a sign of mental illness. Yet, insofar as angels and aliens are both hallucinations (that is, self-reported imaginings), there is no difference between believing in angels and believing in aliens. Moreover, people who believe in angels are just as adamant in claiming the reality of angels as are those who insist on the reality of aliens. The difference between these two hallucinations has to do with the effect of these self-reported imaginings on others (See: Sarbin, T. Towards the Obsolence of the Schizophrenia Hypothesis in Challenging the Therapeutic State: Critical Perspectives on Psychiatry and the Mental Health System by David Cohen, Editor).

UFO ABDUCTION AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
While some psychotic patients have delusions involving UFO abduction (I personally have worked with two patients who did [3]), psychopathology cannot explain all of the phenomena associated with these experiences. John Mack,MD, a Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School who has studied over 200 UFO abductees and written two studies on this phenomenon during the past 10 years, found,

The reports, for example, surely sound delusional, or like hallucinations. They even defy our physical laws, suggesting some sort of psychosis. Abductees are often anxious, or suffer from bodily aches and pains, indicating some form of neurosis. Their recall of what they have been through is frequently spotty, so perhaps they have an organic impairment of the brain, for example temporal lobe epilepsy. The experiences are traumatic and often contain reproductive or sexual intrusions, which seems to point to a history of rape or possible childhood sexual abuse.

[However] Psychiatric evaluations and psychological studies of abductees, including several of my own cases, have failed to identify consistent psychopathology. Abductees may, of course, suffer from mental and emotional distress as a result of their often traumatic experiences, and a few have been found to have accompanying psychiatric conditions. Many come from troubled family backgrounds. But in no instance has the emotional disorder provided an explanation for the abduction experience. (Why the Abduction Phenomenon Cannot Be Explained Psychiatrically)

In PEER's survey of abduction experiencers, the percentages of the sample seeking help for psychological symptoms were mostly comparable to the proportions in the general U.S. population:

• depressive symptoms (17 percent)
• schizophrenia (1 percent)
• bipolar (1 percent)

However, at 17%, the sample was about two times more likely to seek help for anxiety as the general population. The findings are similar to those of other researchers of abduction experiencers, who have found a low incidence of serious psychopathology among individuals reporting such experiences (Extraordinary Experience and Research at PEER, Caroline McLeod, PhD).

Thus a client's report of a UFO abduction experience cannot be assumed to be related to psychopathology. 

ASSOCIATED CLINICAL PROBLEMS
Abduction experiencers often suffer from post-traumatic symptoms such as nightmares, trouble concentrating, phobic avoidance of situations and objects symbolically linked to the abduction material (Extraordinary Experience and Research at PEER Caroline McLeod, PhD).

Other symptoms and potential problems following their experience include:

1. Anxiety and irritability
2. Intrusive thoughts about UFOs and abduction
3. Labile mood
4. Disorientation, derealization, and depersonalization
5. Psychic experiences presumed to be from an extraterrestrial source (e.g., telepathic messages)
6. The belief that their thoughts are being shared with an extraterrestrial being
7. Change in spiritual or religious values, beliefs, and practices
   (The Differential Diagnosis of Close Extraterrestrial Encounter Syndrome by Richard Boylan, Ph.D.)
   

In surveys returned to PEER on abduction experiences, 7 percent of the sample described their memories in a manner that made PEER staff wonder about pre-existing or co-existing psychopathology because the reports showed pervasive lack of coherence, grandiosity, or paranoia. But for the rest, the experience itself seemed to be the major cause of distress and associated symptoms. As PEER (see below) pointed out,

A person attempting to speak about an experience for which we have no language cannot help but feel isolated.

TREATMENT
The Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER) was established in 1993 by John Mack,MD to forge an approach to UFO abduction experiences that addresses their clinical dimensions and also leads to a scienfitic understanding of the phenomenon.

PEER's efforts to deepen the understanding of abduction reports have shown that it is difficult in our culture to credit and trust extraordinary experiences...The listener attempting to comprehend what is being communicated may find it easier to dismiss the experience and the experiencer as irrational.

PEER forms a bridge between speakers and listeners, between subjectivity and science. Working in the tension between direct human experience and larger scientific and philosophical questions, PEER does not seek to prove or disprove the existence of "aliens," but to develop a framework for communication about such controversial topics.

There are also some unique challenges to working with UFO experiencers. Many therapists find their own values challenged by the assertions of abductees, and this can interfere with their trust and empathy for the client:

What we hear may seem so bizarre or impossible from the standpoint of the world view in which we were brought up that our minds rebel and want to intervene with the reality-testing confrontations that psychiatrists know so well. But to do this would abort communication and destroy trust. We are, of course, aided in this curious "suspension of disbelief" by the fact that we are concerned only with the authenticity and honesty of the client's report, and the presence or absence of psychopathology or another biographical experience that might account for it. There is no injunction to establish the literal or material actuality of the reported experiences...I do not consider that abduction reports necessarily reflect a literal, physical taking of the human body (John Mack, MD Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters, p. 29, 31).

The clinical stance developed at PEER involves being able to tolerate not knowing about the reality status of the experience, while paying attention to the feelings and struggles of the person involved. This approach can be applied to all spiritual emergency experiences that have an extraordinary quality.

Therapists also need to maintain a perspective that acknowledges the growth potential in such bizarre experiences:

I have come to regard the phenomenon not merely as a negative and cruel intrusion, which it can be, but also as one that can bring about new understanding ofourselves and our identity in the cosmos (John Mack, MD, Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters p. 29).

That speaks to the need to avoid judging the reported phenomena by the standards of normal awareness; rather, therapists should consider whether this unusual experience points to new possibilities for the client that are alternatives to or even superior to their prior functioning. As with other forms of spiritual emergency, therapy with UFO abductees involves the integration of spiritual issues raised by the experience.

PEER operates a clinic in the Boston area for both treatment and research. Clients are allowed to return as often as needed to integrate their experiences and also for

They have published an Experiencers' Guide to Therapy. This 8-page guide explains the ways in which therapy may be helpful, describes the major therapeutic professions, and provides suggestions for how to choose a therapist sensitive to abduction experiences.

CASE EXAMPLE
From the Edge of Experience by Dianne

WWW Library
The WWW Library includes interviews with John Mack, MD and articles on the symbolic and archetypal dimensions of UFO experiences.

REFERENCES
1 Lawson, A. (1980). Archetypes and abductions. Frontiers of Science, Sept-Oct., 32-39.
2 Regis, Jr., E. (1985). The extraterrestials: Science and alien intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.
3 Lukoff, D. (1988). Transpersonal therapy with a manic-depressive artist. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 20(1), 10-20.

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