CHROI\lC CG\IMS
OF ALIEN ABDCCTION
A~1) SOME OTHER
TRAU\,gS AS SELF-
VICTnnZATIO:\
SY~DROMES
Jim Schnahel
Jim Schnabel is a science writer with an interest in dissocia-
tive phenomena.
For reprints writeJim Schnabel, 6000 Kennedy Drive, Chevy
Chase, MD 20815, (301) 907-2662.
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the case ofan alleged alien abduction victim
who claimed a wide range of dissociation-related and traumatic
experiences, with a heavy thematic emphasis upon sexual abuse,
extending back to a traumatic non-abuse incident in childhood, for
which she apparently was never amnesic. Certain aspects ofher his-
tory seem consistent with dissociative disorders, organic mental dis-
orders, andMunchausen 's syndrome. This caseand thealien abduc-
tion syndromeas wellas someorallnarratives associated with multiple
personality disorder and "Satanic ritual abuse, "do not derive exclu-
sively from severe exogenous trauma and may be viewed more use-
ful~ as manifestations of manipulative self-victimization syn-
dromes.
INTRODUCTION
In recentyears, numerous individuals have claimed that
they have been, and periodicallyare, abducted and subjected
to medical examination and manipulation by extraterres-
trials. The phenomenologyof the syndrome is complex, and
has appeared to evolve continuouslysince abduction accounts
first began to appear widely in print in the mid 1960s. It cur-
rentlyinvolves claims offrequentamnesicfugues; unexplained
scars; sudden memories (in adulthood) ofchildhood abduc-
tion; mysteriously-originating and mysteriously-disappearing
pregnancies; mysteriously-originating and mysteriously-dis-
appearing neurological and reproductive monitoring devices
or "implants"; sudden awakening, paralysis, and a sense of
presence in the early morning hours; poltergeist phenom-
ena and other mysterious electrical disturbances; eating dis-.
orders and food allei:gies; and an anxiety syndrome which
has been termed "post-abduction syndrome" by some abduc-
tion researchers (Fuller, 1966; Keel, 1975; Hopkins, 1981;
Evans, 1984; Hopkins, 1987; Strieber, 1987; Bullard, 1987;
Jacobs, 1992; Schnabel, 1994).
The view of prominent abduction researchers in the
U.S. is that this phenomenology indicates a covert alien pro-
gram in which, among other things, human sperm and ova
are collected for the creation of human-alien hybrids
(Hopkins, 1987;Jacobs, 1992).
However, otherobservers (Evans, 1984; Ganaway, 1989~
Noll, 1989; Powers, 1991) have noted that the phenomenology
of the syndrome bears a strong similarity to the experiences
claimed by individuals who are prone to dissociation. Even
Ring (1992) ,who does not contend that the etiology ofabduc-
tions is necessarily mundane, has noted from his own sur-
veys that abductees tend to report a history of (mundane)
childhood abuse or trauma, and tend to score highly on
measures of dissociative experiences.
The following is a report of a woman who has claimed
frequent abductions and manipulations by aliens; frequent
rapes, abuse, and harassmentbygovernment agents and other
men; and frequent mysterious ailments which have result-
ed in inconclusive but expensive and intrusive hospital tests.
Her experiences are discussed in the context of a number
ofdissociative and other syndromes, including Miinchausen's
syndrome, and a framework for understanding the connections
between these syndromes is proposed.
CASE REPORT
"Annette" (a pseudonym) is a woman in her late twen-
ties, intelligent, with a university degree, and quite person-
able, although apparently prone to depression and despair
as a result of her experiences. Her story was told to this
researcherwith the understanding that it mightbe discussed
in a book being written about the history of UFO-abduction
research (Schnabel, 1994). This story - which I must
emphasize is largely unverified - is as follows:
Annette's mother developed measles when pregnant
with her, and Annette was born with severe ear problems, a
heart murmur, and a cleft palate which subsequently was
reconstructed surgically. During her first year, she experi-
enced two minor convulsive seizures, but none thereafter.
When Annette was eight years old, a man in the neighbor-
hood began to harass her family, and Annette's father bought
and loaded a gun for protection. Annette's father was killed,
in Annette's presence, when he attempted to unload the
gun and it discharged accidentally. Annette's mother then
hastened her from the room, and Annette was not allowed
to attend the funeral.
Within a few months ofthe incident, Annette was abrupt-
lytold by her mother that itwas time to attend summercamp.
She was taken into the backyard ofthe house, where a coarse-
featured young man of about 16 took her hand and some-
how conveyed her to a remote cabin where he repeatedly
raped her over a period of three days. The man's name was
51
.b-- -----l _
CHRO~IC CLlli\IS OF ALIEN ABDUCTION
-- -- --
"Luke n (a pseudonym). He told Annette thal in fact she had
killed her father and that from now on, no one but he would
truly befriend her or fully undersland her. When Annette
returned from "camp," her mother said, "Oh, look at you,
you've been sitting on some poison ivy! vVhat were you doing
sitting on poison ivy without your underpants on?"
Annette had had imaginary playmates and a vivid imag-
ination, but she knew the difference between such fantasies
and the reality of Luke, who continued periodically to visit
her. Usually he lOok on a malevolent aspect, taunting her
("You're going to like this") andsexually and physically abus-
ing her, al th ough on occasion, he seemed reasonably placid.
He once allowed Annette to pull hair from his chest to ver-
ify that he was reaL Luke also claimed to be a member of
Annette's family, and although he was never specific about
this claim, Annette's mother appeared to recognize him.
'When at age nine Annette drew his picture in school and
afterwards presented it to her mother, her mother burned
the picture and told her never again to draw or to discuss
the person whom Annette had depicted.
As a teenager, one of Annette's brothers once under-
went a strange experience, changing his voice and person-
ality briefly when confronted at home with the news of a
grandparent's dealh. He reported afterwards that he had
seemed to float out of his body across the room, from which
vanlage point he had observed his altered self. Annette also
had an uncle who was widely known to be a psychic.
Annette's oddexperiencesseemed to be far more numer-
ous than those ofanyofherrelatives. She hadfrequent episodes
of somnambulism. She had out-of-body experiences while
in bed at night, and experienced occasional periods ofamne-
sia, even in daytime, often awakening in a strange place, cov-
ered with scars and bruises. In one incident, which alarmed
her family, she disappeared while snowmobiling in freezing
weather and was discovered hours later, lying in the snow
beside her snowmobile, with her scarf folded neatly next to
her. Oddly, she was neither hypothermic nor injured in any
other way. On other occasions when she suffered minor,
prosaic injuries, she noted that she had a remarkable insen-
sitivity to pain.
Annette also noted that machinery would sometimes
malfunction around her. Electric wristwatches - even with
new batteries - frequently ran slow or Slopped altogether.
Occasionally the telephone would ring but when she would
pick it up, she would hear an ordinary dial tone, as if no one
had called.
'When Annette became sexually active, she noticed that
her "first time" hadn't been at all painful. She mentioned it
casuaJly to her mother and her mother responded thatAnnette,
when only a year old, had broken her hymen by sitting on
a funnel; she had bled for a day or two and then she had
been brought to the hospital.
Annette's mother eventually remarried, and Annette
grew up amidst relative prosperity, although her relation-
shipwith hermother, who had alwaysseemed to favor Annette's
younger sister, at times seemed strained. Annette continued
to be visited by Luke, and now also by a Hispanic-looking
man narned 'Juan. ~Juan seldom molested her sexually, pre-
52
ferring to molest her psychologically instead. For example,
he would arrive on her doorstep in the middle of the night
and pound on her door, apparen t1y to make herpanic. Annette
also occasionally was visited by her dead father, although
these visits seemed entirely benign. On at least one occa-
sion, Annette noted that a pillow thrown at her dead father
went tluough him, indicating that he was only a ghost; her
other visitors were unfortunately more substantial.
Annette's strange experiences, and in particular her
tendency to disappear suddenly, made relationships with
men difficult; in one case, she disappeared from a house
one night during a date wi th a potential boyfriend. She awoke
in a remote part of the house in the morning, amnesic for
the period of her disappearance, and attempted to explain
that she didn't know what had happened. The young man.,
who had slept alone for the night, called her a liar and angri-
ly departed.
One day in the late 1980s, at a bookstore on her uni-
versity campus, Anne tte saw a copy of'Whi tley Strieber's best-
selling book Communion, with the face of a gray alien on its
cover. The shock of recognition was so great that she sank
to her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably. Later, she
read Communion and other books about aliens and abduc-
tions, and contacted a prominent abduction researcher, ''Frank
Taylor" (a pseudonym), who interviewed her abouther expe-
riences and began a series of regression hypnosis sessions
that continues to this day. In each such session, Taylor would
elicitmemories ofone or more ofAnnette's numerous abduc-
tion episodes, which apparently stretched back to her child-
hood, and continued with remarkable frequency in the pre-
sent, occurring every few days. At first, Annette withheld
from Taylor the information about Luke andJuan, fearing
that he would not believe her story ifnon-alien beings were
involved. Taylor therefore interpreted Annette's odd expe-
riences, fugues, and anxieties as relatively uncomplicated
alien-abduction experiences. The fact that Annette often
awoke from her amnesic episodeswith bruises, scars, orother
signs ofalien manipulation helped to convince him that her
experiences were real.
In the early 1990s, Annette told Taylor abou t Luke and
Juan, but because they now often appeared in conjunction
with the aliens, it began to seem to her, and lO Taylor, that
they might be "screen-memo:ry~aliens, or perhaps hybrids
orhumans working with the aliens. Under hypnosis,Annette
now decided that Luke's firsl appearance in her backyard
had been in association with a luminous object, and that
J nan seemed anatomically non-human, with fingers that ended
abruptly at his wrists.
Luke and Juan and the aliens seemed to appear most
frequently at night, during sleeping hours, and when Annette
was abducted, she frequently found herself in the company
of other abductees, either in spaceships or in apparently
earth-bound locations such as furnished offices and caves.
During waking hours, beginning approximately in early 1992,
Annette began lO experience frequentseveral-hollr amnesic
episodes from which she would awaken, dishevelled, par-
tially un dressed, and occasionally with cuts and bruises. On
at least one occasion, the experience was followed (a) by a
D1SS0CIATlO\. \'01. \'11. \0. 1. ~Ial eh 199~
feeling of extreme thirst which was only quenched by a gal-
lon or so ofwater, and (b) by inappropriate sensations, over
about 24 hours, ofambientwarmth or chill. Hypnotic regres-
sionwithTaylor often revealed thaton these occasionsAnnette
had been abducted by men in dark suits and driven in a
black limousine to a secluded place where she had been
gang-raped. This began to suggest to her and to Taylor a
government conspiracy related to the aliens' abduction pro-
gram.
Occasionally, Annette's disappearances or abductions
would occur during her visits to Frank Taylor's house. On
at least one occasion, Taylor prevented her from leaving the
house in the middle of the night, and told her later that she
had been in a trance-like state, insisting that she had to go
outside to meetsomeone. On another occasion, she was met
by several men outside Taylor's house who gave her a bot-
tle of wine to give to Taylor. On yet another occasion, after
an abduction experience at her home, she noticed alien
residue of some kind on her sheets. She sent the sheets to
Taylor, but they disappeared in the mail. Once, when attend-
ing an abduction conference with Taylor, she rose in the
middle of the night and Taylor, who was sleeping nearby,
attempted to prevent her from leaving the house. She
<,;xplained that she was only going to the bathroom. Taylor
returned to bed and in the morning Annette, who herself
awoke fully clothed, reported that she had been abducted
again. She wasn't sure why she had deceived Taylor during
the night.
Annette usually could "feel" when an abduction was
about to occur, sensing a certain pain above her right ear,
but even so, both the daytime and nighttime experiences
interfered with Annette's sleep patterns and with her work
as a secretary in a large office. She seldom had a full night's
sleep, and often went to bed only in the early hours of the
morning. She frequently took sick leave, and her occasion-
al disappearances during work hours brought her into con-
flict with her employers.
Annette was seeing a professional therapist during this
time, and in the summer ofl992, after she experienced anoth-
er abduction during a UFO abduction conference in the cen-
ter ofa large east coast city, she complained to the therapist
that her repeated abduction experiences were making her
suicidal. The therapist referred her to a neurologist, who
arranged for a temporal lobe epilepsy test with nasal EEG
probes and a strobe light in her eyes. The strobe light quick-
ly put her into a pleasant trance within which she experi-
enced floating sensations, and from which the neurologist
and his staff had difficulty in retrieving her. There were no
EEG abnormalities and the neurologist subsequently diag-
nosed her as having a susceptibility to "reflexive trance." Her
therapist, after reading the neurologist's report, told her
that the aliens and her other abductors were most likely the
hallucinatory product of her trances, which her mind used
to avoid or to distract her from stressful situations. Annette
disagreed, explaining to the therapist that the aliens, when
they abducted her, often did the same thing that the neu-
rologist had done, putting her on a table and flashing lights
in her eyes and forcing her into a trance, and they had been
doing this all her life, which was why she slipped into trances
so easily. The same, she told him, was true ofother abductees.
The therapist, however, continued to disbelieve her abduc-
tion accounts, andwould prescribe her onlyValium (diazepan)
for her sleeplessness. Annette flushed the medication down
the toilet and terminated hervisits to the therapist. She began
to see another therapistwho believed in the reality ofabduc-
tions.
At about this time, Annette missed her period and it
seemed as though she were pregnant. She believed the father
to be an alien or a government rapist. Then one day she
began to bleed heavily, and eventually lost consciousness.
When she awoke, covered in blood on the floor of her bath-
room, she noticed that she had passed what may have been
a large blood clot or a dead fetus. She flushed it down the
toilet and afterwards her periods resumed.
In the autumn of 1992, Annette began to have the feel-
ing that she could eat only certain foods. Under hypnosis
with Frank Taylor, she learned that the aliens had forbid-
den her to eat anything besides eggs and vegetables. Annette
began to experience abdominal pains. Whenever she attempt-
ed to eat a proscribed food, she would break out in hives
and become nauseous.
One night in early 1993, Annette experienced a joint
abduction with another abductee, "Beth," who had been
staying in her room at the time. Afterwards, Beth described
a human-looking entitywho had abused her during the abduc-
tion; Annette recognized him as Luke. Beth, an accomplished
artist, drew Luke and gave the drawing to Frank Taylor, who
displayed it at several abduction conferences where, to his
surprise, a number of abductees came forward with claims
that they too had seen Luke during their abduction expe-
riences.
Annette had a history of numerous hospital visits, for
various ailments including heart problems, ear problems,
and wrist problems, and in the late winter of 1993, having
quit her job and having moved several hundred miles to a
town near her parents where she lived in a single apartment,
Annette consulted a gastroenterologist about her abdomi-
nal pains. The gastroenterologist asked for a stool sample,
whichAnnette promptlydelivered andwhich contained blood.
Additional stool samples also contained blood. A number
ofinvasive examinations, including colonoscopy, gastroscopy,
and upper and lower barium radiography, were carried out
without finding a lesion which might be the source of the
blood. After further tests it was revealed that Annette had a
malfunctioning gall bladder. However, a residual uncertainty
on the part of the consulted physicians led to further tests
and an indefinite postponementofany operation to remove
her gall bladder. One series of tests suggested that Annette
mighthave hypoparathyroidism. Afterfurther testswere con-
ducted by an endocrinologist, this condition was confirmed,
the endocrinologist expressing surprise because the condi-
tionwas unusual in individualswho had not previouslyunder-
gone thyroid surgery. Annette was given a course of calci-
um injections andwas later prescribed calcium pills andvitamin
D. Within a month her serum calcium level, which had been
low at 6.9 [mg/dl], rose to about 7.2 [mg/dl]. The lower
53
D1SS0CIHIO\. Yol. \11. \0. 1. \laldllq9~
C] IRONIC CL-\lht'i OF ALIEN ABDUCTiON
limit of the normal range is 8.5 mg/dl (Alfrey et al., 1992).
However, she continued to experiencegastrointestinal prob-
lems, and presented herselfto th e local hospital's emergency
room at least once in the month following the initiation of
her calcium treatment. She began a course of "sulfa" for sus-
pected colitis. She also experienced further dramatic abduc-
tions and abuse. In one such episode, she was driving back
from a visit to Frank Taylor when she felt ill and pulled her
car over to the side of the highway. She went into the woods
to vomit, but was there accosted by Juan, who abused her
physically and sexually over a period of several hours, leav-
ing bruises and abrasions on her back, and rope-burns on
her wrists, and smearing the blood of a mutilated cat upon
her face and breasts. She lost consciousness intermittently
throughout this experience, but remembered the abuse and
thatJuan told her that this was in retaliation for her having
told Taylorabouta previous abduction she had experienced,
involving drugged wine in a Manhattan restaurant, and a
hazily-remembered cross-tOwn journey to a secret meeting
with several military officials in a Hasidic Jewish neighbor-
hood in Brooklyn. Juan .,.,earned her that he and the others
could confrontand abuse heran}'\vhere, whenever they liked.
Annette believed him, later telling this author, "My life is
over." Even so, Annette afterwards took a gun secretly from
her parents' house, loaded it, and placed it beside her bed
- to protect herself from Juan and the others. She wrote a
long letter, addressed to her persecutors, pleadingwith them
LO leave her alone. She also secretly took Valium from her
parents' house, to help her sleep, although she discarded it
when the Valium seemed to produce vivid nightmares from
which she found it difficult to escape intowaking consciousness.
This was Annette's story. Most of it is obviously uncon-
firmable, but in conversations with Frank Taylor, other
abductees, one ofAnnette's former roommates, and Annette's
parents, it was possible to obl..:-Un corroboration for the fol-
lowing: Annette had 'witnessed her father's death in a gun
acciden twhen she was eight years old. She claimed freg uent
abductions, and was a frequentvisitor to FrankTaylor's house
for hypnotic regression. Beth claimed that she had been
involved in a traumatic double-abduction involving Annette
and Luke. Beth's drawing of Luke was recognized by other
abductees at an abduction conference. Annette had been
seeing a therapist in the citywhere she had lived before mov-
ing closer to her parents. Annette had been seen on sever-
al occasions with inexplicable bruises or scars. Annette did
present with a gastrointestinal problem the nature of which
was elusive, and did undergo a battery of medical tests con-
cerning a possible gastrointestinal and gall bladder prob-
lem. Anneue was diagnosed with hypoparathyroidism -
although a CT scan of her brain was negative for the calci-
fication that sometimes accompan ies parathyroid disorders.
This author is not aware of any direct disconfirmations or
contradictions byother individuals ofanyaspecls ofAnnette's
story, although relatively few of her claims were checked.
This author also had the impression that relations between
Annette and her family were quite good, considering her
claims.
54
CASE DISCUSSION
Dissociathm
Itis difficult to know precisely howto interpretAnnette's
story, since so little ofit has been confirmed by othersources.
.Also, this author is not a trained mental healtll profession-
al, and his observation of Annette was made in a non-clini-
cal setting in which tilere was tolerant listening, but no ther-
apy was attempted.
It can be said, however, that although Annette's expe-
riences are generally more complex and much more fre-
quen t than tllOse of other abductees, they encompass most
ofthe standard abduction phenomenology. Itshould be noted
that abductions involving human orsemi-human en Iities occur
infrequently in the abduction literature but at presentwould
appear to be rapidly on the increase, following the sensa-
tional case ofanother female abductee in Frank Taylor's cir-
ele, Linda, who has claimed, with sometimes elaborate phys-
ical "evidence," that she is the target of harassment by
government agents with whom she, and a major political fig-
ure whom they were guarding, were once abducted by aliens
(Schnabel, 1994).1
Annette's history as reported, and to some extent as
confirmed, seems to reflect a dissociative disorder. Some of
the more prominent features in this regard are her report,;
of (a) chronic sexual abuse from childhood, (b) childhood
imaginary plaYJnates, (c) frequen t somnambulism or fugue-
like states with bruising or other injuries, and (d) an abnor-
mally high susceptibility to trance states (Coons, 1984; Bliss,
1986; Pu lOam, Guroff, Silberman, Barban, & Post, 1986; Ross,
1989).
It could be argued that Annette's behavior during her
amnesic fugues represents the behavior of an alter or semi-
alter who is not sufficiently distinct to meet the criteria for
MPD. Alternatively, it could be that Luke and Juan are for-
mer imaginary playmates who, like t.he more recently cre-
ated aliens, confront Annette within "internal landscapes"
(Ross, 1989, p. 115) but do not take full executive control,
and perhaps only manifest behaviorally as self-wounding
impulses. Both interpretations would seem consistent with
a diagnosis, according to DSM-JIJ-R criteria, of Dissociative
Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (American Psychiatric
Association, 1987), although Coons (1992) notes thatin cases
of non-executive influence the other characters are usually
not experienced as completely separate entities. It is possi-
ble that Annette's fugues, bruises, and horror stories reflect
the fully executive actions of alters who woule emerge with
clinical investigation and would justify a diagnosiS of MPD.
Other features of Annette's history which are consis-
tent with a diai,,'TIosis of dissociative disorder or at least of
dissociation-proneness include eatingdisorders, unexplained
somatic symptoms, suicidal ideation, complex and chronic
(presumed) visual hallucinations, an occasional abnormal
insensitivity to pain, insomnia and abnormal sleep patterns,
paranormal-type experiences, an apparent history of disso-
ciative or paranormal-type experiences in near relatives, and
a childhood experience ofsevere llon-abuse-related trauma
(the death of herfather) (Coons, 1984; Pettinati, Horne, &
lllSSOCI.mO:\. \'01. \'II. :\0. 1. ~[~Ich 1991
Staats, 1985; Putnam et al., 1986; Bernstein and Putnam,
1986; Bliss, 1986; American Psychiatric Association, 1987;
Ross, 1989; Ross, Heber, Norton &Anderson, 1989; Demitrack,
putnam, Brewerton, Brandt & Gold, 1990). Annette's mys-
terious "pregnancy" is difficult to evaluate since it is unclear
whether it ever occurred, but itmay have represented a men-
strual problem or pseudocyesis-type episode which was then
interpreted by Annette in accord with the standard abduc-
tion motifofmissing alien-induced pregnancies. Pseudocyesis
does appear to have a relationship to dissociative potential
(Wilson & Barber, 1983).
Organic Psychosis
Some of Annette's reported symptoms, of course, are
consistent with other disorders. The most obvious of these
disorders would seem to be the psychoses, and the corrob-
orated report thatAnnette had hypoparathyroidism suggests
an organic psychosis. Hypoparathyroidism is one of several
endocrine abnormalities which apparently result in the cal-
cification of brain areas, especially the basal ganglia; these
calcifications have been associated with a variety of neuro-
logical or psychiatric conditions including seizures, hallu-
cinations, and persecutorydelusions (Tambyah, Ong, &Lee,
1993; Bilous et al., 1992; Fulop & Zeifer, 1991; Friedman,
Chiucchini, &Tucci, 1987; Cummings, Gosenfeld, Houlihan,
& McCaffrey, 1983; Francis & Freeman, 1984; Dimich,
Bedrossian, & Wallach, 1967). In Annette's case, however,
there apparently was no finding of brain calcification, and
her pre-treatment serum calcium level was only moderate-
ly low compared to the levels ofother reported hypoparathy-
roid patients (Dimich, et al., 1967). There was no unequiv-
ocal evidence in her self-reported history of the epileptoid
seizures, tetany, parkinsonism, dementia, or skeletal defects
which are often found in adults with idiopathic hypoparathy-
roidism (Tambyah et al., 1993; Fulop & Zeifer, 1991;
Friedman et al., 1987; Cummings et al., 1983, Dimich et al.,
1967). It also should be noted that in a review of267 patients
with hypoparathyroidism, only 1.9% manifested clinical psy-
chosis (Denko & Kaelbling, 1962).
Eyen if hypoparathyroidism were not directly respon-
sible for Annette's hallucinatory experiences and delusions,
however, it may have represented a background source of
neurological or psychological stress. Lawlor (1988) has
described a patientwith acute organic anxietysyndromewhich
apparently resulted from surgery-related hypoparathyroidism
and resolved with the return of the patient's serum calcium
levels to normal. Lawlor has argued from a review of the lit-
erature that there is a frequent association between
hypoparathyroidism and anxiety states.
Temporal Lobe Lability
Annette's history, despite the apparent negative TLE
test, also includes a number of features which one could
argue are indicative oftemporal lobe liability. These include
premonitory aura-type sensations, apparent hallucinations,
floating sensations, paranormal-type experiences, apparent
paranoid delusions, apparent "ictal" sexual sensations, ther-
moregulatoryabnormalities, possible mild hypergraphia (the
letter to her persecutors) , dependence and passivity, depres-
sion, and unusual somnambulatory-type behavior followed
by full or partial amnesia (Dewhurst & Beard, 1970; Bear &
Fedio, 1977; Bear, 1979; Remillard et al., 1983; Persinger,
1989; Trimble, 1991; Mikati & Holmes, 1993).
A number ofauthors have described patients with con-
current MPD-type symptoms and temporal lobe epilepsy or
otherEEG abnormalities (Coons, Bowman, & Milstein, 1988;
Benson, Miller, & Signer, 1986; Schenk & Bear, 1981;
Mesulam, 1981; Brende & Rinsley, 1981).Jacobs (1992), a
UFO abduction investigator, has noted that one of the
abductees he has worked with has temporal lobe epilepsy,
although he has argued that this was a coincidence. Persinger
(1989) has reported the termination ofUFO abduction expe-
riences in one abductee with the anti-convulsant drug car-
bamazepine, and has argued that UFO abduction experi-
ences and other "visitor" experiences are mediated by
temporal lobe microseizures or electrical abnormalities
which may not be detectable by ordinary EEG surveillance.
Most MPD patients, however, not only appear to have
normal EEGs, and are unresponsive to anti-convulsant med-
ication, but are otherwise clinically distinguishable from
patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (Devinsky, Putnam,
Grafman, Bromfield, & Theodore, 1989; Loewenstein &
Putnam, 1988; Ross et at, 1989; Ross, 1989). Annette, for
example, displays none ofthe religiosity, expansion ofaffect,
hypermoralism, or humorlessness that are commonly report-
ed in temporal lobe epileptics (Bear &Fedio, 1977). Ofcourse,
the fact that she does not seem to display these factors could
be due in part to the constraints posed by Frank Taylor's
"nuts-and-bolts," anti-metaphysical view of the alien abduc-
tion phenomenon (Klass, 1989; Schnabel, 1994) .Moreover,
even Devinsky et al. (1989), who discount a primary role for
epilepsy in the etiology of MPD, argue that: "the high inci-
dence of non-epileptiform abnormalities in our [MPD]
patients suggests that a neurophysiologic abnormality may
contribute to the pathogenesis ofMPD."Alternatively, it could
be speculated that whatever causes MPD also contributes to
the development of neurophysiological abnormalities
(Putnam, 1984). The literature on shamanism (Eliade, 1989;
Lewis, 1989; Kalweit, 1992) also indicates that epilepsy, or a
disorder like it, is regarded in some cultures as a precursor
to chronic supernatural encounters. One of the abductees
this author met through his research reported that she had
a history of convulsions as a child, usually following illness,
and usuallysignallinga sudden recoveryofher health, although
she no longer seemed to have these convulsions as an adult
(Schnabel, 1994). This would be consistent with the hypoth-
esis, somewhat after the argument ofDevinsky et al. (1989),
that neurological abnormalities may underlie or promote
an overall psychological abilitywhich the individual can uncon-
sciously or consciously learn to suppress or control. In this
regard it should be noted that reflexive epileptic seizures,
like dissociative states, are often manifested during episodes
of psychological stress (Zifkin & Andermann, 1993).
55
b-- ---'-__-J__ ~~~__
CHRONIC CLAI~'{S OF AJ~.Ir~\T .ABDUCTION
MiincJuwsen's Syndrome
'Whether the causes of Annette's experiences are neu-
rological or psychosocial, or both, there are specific aspects
of her reponed history which, although they cannot be con-
clusive, do suggest deliberate rather than unconscious deceit;
for example, the disappearing alien-stained sheets, the wine
proffered by strange men, and the nocturnal deception of
Frank Taylor - none of which was associated by Annette
with amnesia. Indeed,Annette'sstory, with its central theme
of frequent fantastic injury or mysterious illness requiring
hospital investigation bears a strong resemblance to stories
told by individuals with Miinchausen's syndrome (Asher,
1951). In particular, Annette's presen tatio n with abdomi-
nal trouble requiring extensive and invasive but inconclu-
sive diagnostic techniques fits well within th eMiinchauseniall
pattern. Of course, it is true that in routine medical prac-
tice stool blood occasionally has no obvious internal source,
but it is also true that the addition of blood to laboratory
samples is a classic Miinchausenian technique (Spiro, 1968;
Atkinson &Earll, 1974; Ifudu, Kolasinski, &Friedman, 1992).
Miinchausen'ssyndrome occasionally has been suspected
to have an organic etiology: there are repons of
Mi:i.nchausenians with severe hypothyroidism (Brecker &
Trepte, 1990), brain MRl abnormalities (Fenelon etal., 1991);
histories of meningitis, neurosurgery, and head injury
(Barker, 1962); abnonnal EEGs (Barker, 1962; Ireland,
Sapira, & Templeton, 1967); and serious brain dysfunction
based on other neuropsychological testing (Pankrantz, 1981;
Pankrantz & Lezak, 1987). Lawrie. Goodwin, & Masterson
(1993) describe a patientwho exhibited a personality change
following a cholecystectomy, and within several years began
overdosing on co-proxamol, dramatizing her medical con-
dition and using a variety of aliases and addresses to obtain
the drug. Co-proxamol abuse in this patient was associated
with fugues and tonic-clonic seizures. Three months after
her use ofthe drugwas terminated by clinicians, SPECT imag-
ing and neuropsychological testing revealed evidence ofseri-
ous brain dysfunction, including fronto-temporal lobe
deficits, poor concentration and short-term memory, con-
structional apraxia, and an accounting ofevents whose "bla-
tant" inconsistency seemed lost on the patient. Lawrie,
Goodwin, & Masterson suggest that during cholecystectomy
the patient incurred a brain injury which led to an organic
anxiety syndrome, which in turn led the patient to alleviate
her anxiety through psychotropic drug abuse.
Munchausen's also has been linked to the dissociative
disorders. Goodwin (1988) and Toth and Baggaley (1991)
have noted cases inwhich Multiple Personality Disorder coex-
isted with Munchausen's-type behavior. In the cases report-
ed by these authors, the suspicions of a coexistence of
Miinchausen's and MPD was supported by a reported histo-
ry of childhood abuse, neglect, or trauma plus an early his-
tory of receiving attention in a medical setting. Both such
conditions appear in Annette's self-reported history.
Goodwin (1988) has noted that in general, there are
numerous behavioral parallels between Munchausenians and
patients with dissociative disorders, including compulsive
self-injury, pseudoseizures, active imaginations with elabo-
56
rate pseudohistories, the use of different names, and claims
of childhood abuse, neglect, or trauma. Good,vin has pro-
posed on this basis that Mi:i.nchausen's syndrome be reclas-
sified as a dissociative disorder.
Mi:i.nchausen's-type behavior has been reported in a
woman who claimed Satanic ritual abuse (Coons & Grier,
1990). SaL:'U1ic abuse claims are similar to alien abduction
claims not only in their themes of "sudden remembering"
of childhood abuse or trauma, and in the dissociative his-
tories of their claiman ts, but also in their reported imagery
which typically features the claimant prone and naked, under-
going sexual or gynecological manipulation and later giv-
ing birth to babies which are harvested by the ritualists or
aliens (Ganaway, 1989; Schnabel, 1994). Post-traumatic
stressdisorder, which is occasionallydiagnosed in IvlPD patienl~
(Ross, 1989) and, less formally, in UFO abductees Uacobs,
1992), also has attracted Munchausenialls (Lynn & Belza,
1990).
As for UFO abductions, some authors (Bullard, 1987;
Klass, 1989; Jacobs, 1992) have noted cases in which alien
abduction claimsappeared to have been presentedwith delib-
erate deception. Klass (1989, p. 174) reports the case of a
young woman who, following her confession, argued that
the kind ofdeception that she had perpe trated was,videspread
among other abductees: "the only way they can get any kind
of satisfaction is to fabricate some sort of story to get the
focus of attention that they need."
THE ISSUE OF ABUSE
Goodwin (1988) has attempted to forge an etiological
link between MPD-type disorders and Miinchausen's by sug-
gesting that in some cases the self-mutilating behavior ofthe
Miinchausen's patient may be explained as: (a) an attempt
to overcome the sense ofvictimization from childhood trau-
ma by re-assuming the victim's role but controlling it secret-
ly; (b) an attempt to deny traumatic memories by weaken-
ing the cogni live-mnemonic divide between fan tasy and reality;
(c) an enactment of a conflict between wan ti lJ g childhood
abuse to be diagnosed and "wanting to maintain the lies and
the secrecy"; and/or (d) a straightforward compulsive re-
enactment of childhood abuse. Toth and BaggaJey (1991)
discuss t.he additional possibilities that Mi:i.nchausenian
behavior may occur in the MPD patient because: (e) it rep-
resents a re-enactment of childhood abuse in a hospital sel-
ting, this setting having been identified by the patient with
child abuse because of an early hospitalization requiring
aggressive and painful medical treatment; and/or (f) the
patient has the hope of redeeming her tolerance of child-
hood abuse through masochistic behavior. Note that in all
of the above explanations it is assumed that the unifying fea-
ture of coexistent MPD and Mi:i.nchausen's is an actual his-
tory of childhood abuse or trau ma - wi th a strong empha-
sis on abuse.
Annette's narrative appears to include episodes ofabuse
which, as presently described, have fantastic overtones, sug-
gesting that they should not be taken literally. Indeed, their
apparent commencement so soon after the sudden loss of
D1ssocr ITlO~. 1'01. \'II, \0. I. \larch 1991
her father suggests that they are more related to the latter
than to any actual ongoing exogenous trauma. Annette's
comments about other family members' dissociation-relat-
ed experiences, and her self-reported history of childhood
imaginary playmates, among other things, suggest that the
trauma ofher father's death occurred against a background
of relatively high psychological lability, and, perhaps aided
byAnnette's perception that she was neglected by her moth-
er, triggered chronic dissociative episodes in a process sim-
ilar to that suggested in the usual etiological models of MPD
(KIuft, 1984a) - in the absence, however, of an actual his-
tory of chronic sexual or physical abuse.
This author has interviewed a number of other chron-
ic UFO abductees, none ofwhom reported a history ofchild-
hood abuse or trauma. Linda, the alleged government-har-
rassment victim referred to above, has reported that her
childhood included neither abuse nor trauma (Hopkins,
1993), but rather a variety of paranormal experiences -
which, she says, her parents also endured. "Theywere never
believers in the unnatural," she has told an interviewer, "but
we had our home blessed by a priest on a regular basis. It
didn't help" (Amendola, 1993, p. 4).
The role of abuse and trauma in the etiology of MPD
and its variants has long been controversial. It has been sug-
gested, for example, that MPD represents merely an acting-
out, consciously or unconsciously, of suppressed impulses
or fan tasies by attention-seeking individuals whose behavior
may be explained as much by their emotional lability and
suggestibility as by exogenous stress (see Ellenberger, 1970;
McHugh, 1992).
Modern authors who otherwise support the validity of
MPD and other dissociative disorders as distinct and often
post-traumatic disease entities (e.g., Bliss, 1986; Young,
1988; Ganaway, 1989; Powers, 1991) also have argued that
the narratives ofthe dissociative disorder patient may include
fantasy to an indeterminate degree. The work ofWilson and
Barber (1983) and Lynn and Rhue (1988) suggests that at
least some (although not necessarily all) highly-hypnotiz-
able individuals - of which MPD patients would seem to
comprise a subset-maybe prone to fantasy. Ganaway (1989)
in particular has suggested that the themes of patient nar-
ratives may be determined less by straightforward factual
abuse and trauma than by certain othershapingfactors (Kluft's
Factor 3 in the etiology of MPD [KIuft, 1984a]). These fac-
tors would include books, films, hypnotic trance logic, and
the need to please one's therapist.
Ganaway appears to believe that actual abuse and trau-
ma plays an important role in the etiology of MPD and its
variants. He suggests that UFO abduction claims (see also
Powers (1991» and Satanic ritual abuse claims may repre-
sentvarian ts ofan unconscious, dissociation-mediated defen-
sive system against (relatively prosaic) trauma and traumat-
ic memories. This argument seems similar to Goodwin's
hypothesis (b) noted above. It should be noted, however,
that Annette's apparently dissociative episodes do not obvi-
ously represent an attempt to screen out or to deny the trau-
matic memory of her father's death, since she has seemed
wiIIing to discuss this memory quite openly. The possibility
thatAnnette's "alien-abduction"episodes represent instances
of actual but prosaic sexual and physical abuse seems espe-
cially remote considering their frequency, their locales, the
competitive dynamic which seems to pertain among Frank
Taylor's abductees, and the overall Miinchausenian pattern
ofAnnette's claims.
SELF-VICTIMIZATION SYNDROMES
An alternative hypothesis, which puts even less empha-
sis on actual trauma, is that the major unifying feature of
some (not necessarily all) cases of MPD, of other dissocia-
tion-related syndromes, ofMiinchausen'ssyndrome and other
factitious disorders, and of other claims or fabrications of
trauma or injury, is the deep-seated need to assume the role
of the victim. This hypothesis is similar to those which posit
MPD as one of many socially-defined forms of manipulative
disease-simulation or role-playing, and also largely parallels
sociological/anthropological analyses ofspirit-possessionsyn-
dromes (Lewis, 1989).2
In such cases, self-victimization would not be restrict-
ed to, but might be manifested more easily and with more
equanimity by, those with a facility for dissociation, whether
this facility arises from genetic or developmental factors, or
both. Dissociation-related or neurocognitive lability-related
experiences such as amnesic fugues, non-specific anxiety,
eating disorders, pseudocyesis or other fantasies concern-
ing pregnancy, out-of-body experiences, bedroom paralysis
and a sense of "presence," and archetypal or culture-bound
hallucinations (Hufford, 1975) would also serve as the basic
features of certain self-victimization syndromes. In the case
of the UFO abduction syndrome,3 such features would be
made .meaningful with consciously- or unconsciously-gen-
erated abduction narratives, and might be supplemented,
for example, with fabricated "alien" artifacts (Keel, 1975).
Once such a syndrome is defined and publicized, it
mayquickly attract those prone to self-victimizationwho already
suffer from such background symptoms. This would help to
explain why sensational reports ofdissociation-related expe-
riences or conditions are often followed, as MPD, Satanic rit-
ual abuse claims, and UFO abduction claims have been since
the 1970s, by exponential increases in the number of cases
presentedand diagnosed (Ross, 1989; Wright, 1993; Schnabel,
1994).
At the same time, the mimicry which would facilitate
the adoption of the victim's role also would help to drive
the thematic evolution of the self-victimizer's chosen genre.
The theme of stolen fetuses only became prominent in the
UFO abduction lore in the late 1980s, following a sensational
bookon the subject (Hopkins, 1987); abductee themeswhich
have become prominent since then include the belief in a
conspiracy between aliens and the U.S. government, claims
that some abductees are themselves part-alien, and claims
that aliensfrequently abduct abductees' (actual human) chil-
dren (Jacobs, 1992; Hopkins, 1993; Schnabel, 1994; Mack,
1994). The same mechanism might explain recent themat-
ic changes (Ganaway, 1989) and the ostensible postwar eti-
ological revolution (Ross, 1989; see below) within the MPD
57
DISSOnmO\. rol. \lI. \0. 1. ~Iarch 199~
literature.
The hypothesis !.hatsome foons ofMPD representmani~
ulative self-victimization, more or less in the sense described
by Lewis (1989), is hinted at by Ross (1989), who approv-
ingly recites Lewis's argument that spirit-possession syndromes
and possession cultscan representsocially-acceptable expres-
sions of otherwise forbidden, subversive, and often frankly
libidinal impulses: ''women living in cultures in which they
are politically powerless can acquire power, influence, auton-
omy, and partial satisfaction of thwarted needs through pos-
session ... Demon possession in western Europe made pos-
sible the ritualized expression of Dionysian impulses and
opinions that could not be stated directly... " (Ross, 1989, p.
21) .Thus, it appears to be accepted that possession can come
about via relatively mild stresses, and can serve merely as an
alternative form of expression or manipulation. As for the
connection between possession and MPD, Ross is unequiv-
ocal: MPD, he says, is "a secular version of demon posses-
sion" (1989, p. 19). Similarly, Goodwin (1988), after the his-
torian Judith Brown (1986), has retrospectively diagnosed
MPD in a 17th century "possessed" Italian nun, who report-
edly faked stigmata and a varietyofother ailments and asceti-
cisms, and manifested a system of male alters who appar-
ently enabled her to express both her lesbianism and her
somewhat grandiose mystical ambitions.
Ross (1989) accounts for the apparent etiological dis-
crepancy between these old forms of MPD and the late twen-
tieth century forms with the following hypothesis: "Since
1944 MPD has evolved into a syndrome with a post-traumatic
etiology, whereas before it tended to have less severe exter-
nal precipitants; our society has gotten sicker, and the abuse
ofchildren more bizarre; earlier clinicians missed the abuse
history in many MPD patients, which was not as severe, on
average, as that experienced by contemporary patients. The
incidence of MPD, then, is an indicator of the amount of
child abuse occurring in Western society" 0989, p. 42).
It would seem that such hypotheses are about all that
separate modern MPD, etiologically, from possession syn-
dromes like those described by Lewis (1989). There is, of
course, a body of literature noting corroboration of child
abuse in some MPD cases (Goodwi n, 1982; Kluft, 1983; KIuft,
1984a; Kluft, 1984b; Bowman, Blix & Coons, 1985; Coons &
Milstein, 1986;Bliss, I986, Hornstein &Putnam, J992); how-
ever, this body ofliterature accounts for relatively few cases
(Frankel, 1993), and ~corroborations"ofabuse bysocial work-
ers are often highly controversial (Schnabel, J993). Social
workers are typically empowered to make judgments about
whether abuse is occurring in the absence of evidence suf-
ficient for a criminal conviction (SL:'lte of Maryland, 1993).
Innocent parents may even be induced to "confess" inces-
tuous abuse if (a) they face pressure to plea-bargain for a
relatively mild pun ishmentorface expensive trials and lengthy
jail terms, and/or (b) they, like their children, have disso-
ciative tendencies and high suggestibility which cause them
to believe falsely, and perhaps even elaborate upon, what
they are accused of (Wright, 1993; see also Robbins, 1959;
Douglas, 1970). The beliefthat MPD is a subtle disorder requir-
ing intensive questioninf{ by therapists may also lead to a
58
false diagnosis or even induction of MPD in those who actu-
ally have suffered child abuse.
It may be that child abuse, whose prevalence and range
ofseverity today are perhaps not significantly different than
they were before 1944, often plays a direct, traumatic role
in the development of MPD. However, it may also be that a
claim of child abuse, whether true or not, serves primarily
not as the traumatic stimulus to defensive dissociation, but
as the medically-acceptable complaint through which, in part,
the role of MPD victim is adopted by a self-victimizing indi-
vidual. 5i milarly, the fact that MPD victims who claim Satan ic
ritual abuse may have an actual history of membership in
occult groups does not necessarily mean that occult abuse
has led to defensive dissociation; instead it may be that dis-
sociation-proneness manifests first and leads to exotic spir-
itual beliefs and group memberships (Persinger, 1990;
Persinger & Makarec, 1993).
Lewis's analysis (1989) depends heavily upon sociological
arguments concerning the status and the resultant strate-
gies ofwomen and other apparently peripheral members of
certain societies- arguments which may not apply in mod-
ern western cultures where MPD is believed to be epidemic.
However, a femin ist analysis (cited in Ross, 1989) argues that
modern western women suffer under oppressive conditions
which seem effectively the same as those claimed for Lewis's
possession-pronesubculturesofthe Third World. Moreover,
it may be that not only current sociological factors but also
evolved neurocognitive and behavioral differences between
men and women help to explain why women seem over-rep-
resented among possession victims, spiritual mediums, and
"channders," individuals with somatization disorders, UFO
abductees, Satanic ritual abuse claimants, and MPD patients.
In any case, the concept ofa spectrum ofmore or less adap-
tive, empowering self-victimization syndromes need not be
gender-specific; in theory, self-victimization in various forms
can be adopted by anyone to whom other roles or behaviors
are less attractive, for sociological, psychological, neuro-
physiological, and/or circumstantial reasons.
These reasons may combine and evolve in an individ-
ual case to ensure the periodic or chronic manifestation of
self-victimization in one or more forms, perhaps in an oppor-
tunistic or even a reflexive and relatively uncontrolled man-
ner involving a mixture ofself-victi mization mo tiEs. The high
incidence of somatic symptoms reported by MPD patients
would conceivably be one example. As another example,
Wright (1993) has noted that the principal complainant in
the Ingram ritual-abuse case, who fabri cated letters from her
allegedly abusive father, also had a history of making unsub-
stantiated and vaguely-directed charges of prosaic sexual
assault. Keel (1975) has noted more exotic examples includ-
ing an alien contactee/abductee who reportedly gave off
sulphurous smells (a relatively common feature of demon-
ic possession cases [Oesterreich, 1974]), and other con-
tactees/abductees who reportedly enjoined Keel to prevent
them from contractually assigning !.heir souls to the aliens.
The apparent eat's blood ritual hinted at by Annette in her
narrative also suggests an intrusion of Satanic/witchcraft
themes.
DlSSOWTIOX. ,"01. \'II. ~'(I.l. ~l,ll'ch 1994
Lewis (1989) has argued that in some cases of posses-
sian, "initiation into the ranks of the chronically possessed
is in the nature ofa cure" (p. 61). In other words, the role
of victim may represent a substantial and therapeutic ele-
vation over other available roles. This might help to explain
why MPD is so often complicated by an apparent resistance
to therapy by the patient (Ross, 1989; Ganaway, 1989).
Lewis also has noted that what he terms "the ranks of
the chronically possessed" often amount to possession cults,
within which the victim may encounter a range of new and
attractive social opportunities which perhaps further reduce
the chances of a return to her pre-victim role. Possession
cults typically feature a group of chronic possession victims
and a shaman, the possessees often competing for the lat-
ter's attention (Lewis, personal communication, 1993). The
same structure seems to exist for many modern medical con-
ditions and traumas, in the form ofvictim "support groups"
which are attended by a therapist or therapists. In the alien
abduction syndrome, supportgroups typically are dominated
by young women and focus upon a therapist who is an older
male. In this respect the alien abduction syndrome seems
similar to many of the European convent possession epi-
demics of the 16th and 17th centuries, where confessors and
exorcists played a role similar to that of modern therapists
(Ross, 1989), and often seemed, merely through their pres-
ence as males, to stimulate competitive self-victimization (typ-
icallywith obvious sexual overtones) among possessed nuns.
One notable feature ofpossessee competition, incidentally,
was the occasional tendency for a possessee to manifest an
increasingly large and complex system of demonic posses-
sors (Robbins, 1959), in a manner reminiscent of today's
expansion of alien abductee narratives to include govern-
ment agents and alien-human hybrids. A similar dynamic
might explain the proliferation of alters which sometimes
occurs in MPD patients, for example as an apparent resis-
tance to therapy (Ross, 1989) or following exposure to other
MPD patients (Schnabel, 1993).
CONCLUSION
It is hypothesized that some cases of "UFO abduction,"
of other dissociation-related syndromes including MPD, of
factitious disorders, and of other self-reported illnesses or
traumas may be more usefully viewed as self-victimization
syndromes. According to this hypothesis, these syndromes
may be triggered by various social, psychological, neuro-
physiological, and circumstantial factors or stressors which
need not always include severe exogenous trauma or abuse.
These syndromes maybeenactedunconsciouslyorconsciously,
and may involve not only false narratives but also the fabri-
cation ofevidence. The dynamics of patient support groups
and ofthe patient-therapist relationship mayencourage com-
petitive self-victimizationwith increasinglydramatic andbizarre
narratives and fabricated evidence. Two or more distinct
manifestations of self-victimization may exist in the same
individual, and it may be that individuals who present with
a recently developed self-victimization syndrome have a his-
tory of presenting with other, more established self-victim-
ization syndromes. The fact that self-victimization itselfmay
be therapeutic for the patient implies that therapy may often
be prolonged or interminable.
This hypothesis may be incorrect; however, it involves
reasonably specific predictions and implications, explains
the rapid expansion ofMPDand its variants in recent years,
and does not require an etiological divide between these
syndromes and their pre-modern and non-western forms.
The consequences of failing to recognize such self-vic-
timization syndromes where they exist could be significant,
since the above hypothesis predicts the elaboration of nar-
ratives and fabricated evidence in some cases as a conse-
quence ofpatient-patientand patient-therapistrelationships.
Aside from the possible psychological harm done to the patient,
there may be false narratives and other fabricated evidence
directed against other, innocent people. Even in alien
abduction claims, where the accused are beyond the reach
ofsocial workers or prosecutors, there is now a trend accord-
ing to which the scarred or otherwise marked children of
alien abductees are presented to abduction researchers as
evidence for the reality ofabductions (Mack, 1994; Schnabel,
1994); such practices have obvioussimilarity to Miinchausen's
syndrome by proxy (Meadow, 1977), a vicarious self-victim-
ization syndrome which is frequently lethal.
NOTES
1Another researcher familiar with the Linda case, a prac-
ticing psychologist (Donald Johnson, personal communi-
cation, 1993), told this author that Linda had turned in an
MMPI profile similar to those ofpsychics and MPD patients.
2ParapsychologistWilliam Roll's analysis ofsome "poltergeist"
cases as an attention-seeking response to stress (1977; per-
sonal communication, 1993) would seem to fit this general
picture, too.
3rt may be that not all UFO abductions are psychogenic in
the classic sense; some, especially pre-1980 cases, have been
reported in association with separately-witnessed outdoor
UFO encounters and have been interpreted as the result of
seizures or trances induced by exogenous electromagnetic
geo-atmospheric phenomena, combined with neurophysi-
ological and psychosocialfactors (Persinger, 1989; Devereux,
1989). However, it is noteworthy that such encounters are
often followed by reports of more or less chronic encoun-
ters which are not necessarily associated with actual exoge-
nous phenomena (Keel, 1975; Eliade, 1989), suggesting that
a self-victimization - or even, "shamanic"~ reflex may be
triggered by an initial crisis of this kind. •
--
D15.'OrL\TIO:\. ,"oJ. "U. :\0. I. ~Iar,h 1m
59
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