06-20-90 David Jacobs I would estimate that %99.99 of all abductees are unawares of what has happened to them. Perhaps many of them know that they have had strange, out of the ordinary experiences like missing time events, Out of Body Experiences, "astral travel," seen ghosts, or even had deceased relatives visit them at the foot of their beds, but these experiences are chalked up to "normality" oftentimes. They have an available menu of culturally determined explanations of strange occurrences and they pick and chose among them to help explain what has happened to them. Only a tiny fraction of abductees have systematically explored their experiences with me or with Budd Hopkins and are fully aware of the situation that they are involved in. I have handed out a questionnaire geared toward helping me to gauge how many people might have had abductions. I have given it to about 900 students at Temple university over the past few years. Right now my statistics are running at about %6.5 of potential abductees and that is being very conservative. When the pressure gets too great on an abductee and he/she feels that whatever has happened to them deserves some sort of an explanation, they characteristically seek help or answers to their questions in three main areas. The first is in the therapeutic community. They go to psychologists and psychiatrists in search of help. They think that there must be something wrong with them because they are having crazy thoughts about being on board a UFO, etc. The therapeutic community has not been very much help in this area. Usually they are given some sort of a diagnosis that suggests childhood trauma of some sort or pathology, in the case of psychiatrists. In fact some members of the psychiatric and psychological communities have been damaging to these people because of incompetence or avarice. The second area that people migrate to in search of answers is evangelical or charismatic religious groups or cults. In religion abductees are often given a "demonic" explanation. They are told to pray and the demons will be excised. The third area is New Age groups. Here they encounter channelers, and believers in benevolent space brothers, and higher cosmic consciousness and higher vibrational patterns, and universal love, and so forth. Many of the abductees find solace and answers in any of these areas. For many others, however, these areas do no provide satisfaction that they have finally come to the end of their quest. When they come to either Budd or me, however, and they finally uncover in more or less a systematic way what has happened to them, the quest is over. They do not go from us to another area still searching for answers. Now they know and they may be frightened and freaked, but at least they have the ability to gain some sort of intellectual and emotional control over their lives--often for the first time. This is not a complete answer, and there are many other ways that abductees suspect that something has happened to them, for instance, a "triggering" mechanism often works when they see a picture of an alien on a book jacket, or read something, or hear something. A bell goes off in peoples' minds that suddenly alerts them to the fact that something might have happened to them. On of the most important things to say, however, is that it is unethical and downright dangerous for anyone to suggest that another might have been the victim of abductions. I allow people to come to me in anyway that they can. Even when they come to me I issue strong warnings to them about the consequences of opening the Pandora's box of memory collection. I send them a pamphlet that Budd and I put together about the downside of memory collection. When I talk to them again I again warn them. If they still want to go ahead, then and only then do I attempt regressive hypnosis. This is not something to do on a lark. The content of abductions can be fairly strong and without proper guidance and experience the possibility of harm to the abductee is great. The population of abductees that I have investigated is small. I have worked with 49 individuals as of June, 1990. However, the way in which I do abduction research is different than most investigators. I try to spend as much time as possible with each abductee researching, on separate occasions, as many abduction events as possible for each one. We have found that all abductions begin in childhood and then continue throughout one's life (with certain exceptions). I have discovered no adult-onset abductions unless they are what I call "opportunistic" abductions--the person is in close proximity to an abductee and is therefore sometimes taken. Opportunistic abductions are uncommon. Thus I have actually researched about 265 separate abduction events. People have had as many as twenty-six sessions with me and as few as one. The average length of my sessions is about five hours--from the time a person walks in to the time he/she leaves. During the session I try to bring out as much information as possible on a chronological basis-- what happens to the abductee from the time he realizes that something is first happening to him, say in his bedroom, until the event is over and he is returned. Actual hypnosis time varies from one hour to three hours. Generally speaking, we do not know why a particular person is abducted. There appears to be no overt similarities, either mental or physical between abductees. This appears to be a random phenomenon. However, we have found a rather strong generational and familial link with abductions. Abductions appear to begin in childhood and continue throughout adulthood (there are exceptions to this). We have not found a way to stop abductions. During an abduction, characteristic procedures are run on humans that are quite narrow in their range. Most people report physical, mental and reproductive events. Without going into too much detail, the main physical event is the examination (there are many other physical procedures) which is carried on in a surprising manner. The main mental procedure is an examination of an abductee's emotional state after observing some sort of mental imagery. People's emotions are played with and they may feel a calming effect. Likewise it is very common for people to see scenes of atomic explosions, during which they might feel anxiety. These are part of the mental procedures. In the reproductive area, people report that sperm and eggs are harvested from them. They are also shown odd looking babies that they are sometimes required to hold. Abductees are mentally altered during the abduction so that it is extremely difficult to understand what is happening while it is happening. A selective form of amnesia is most commonly in place immediately after the abduction so that most people do not know what has happened to them--except unconsciously, if that is "knowing." Recovering the memories is a difficult task. Not only is there a certain amount of trauma involved, but often there is heavy confabulation, false memories, incomplete memories, and pseudo-memories placed in the abductee's mind as part of mental procedures. Furthermore, the physical aftereffects of the phenomenon can be severe- -scars, internal scar tissue, eye damage, and so forth. It is, however, the mental effects that are most important for people's lives-- affording the most damage and the most trauma. Thus investigating abductions is a very delicate endeavor. One must know what to say, what to ask, what is coming next, what is being skipped over, what is being held back, what is going to be traumatic, and what is going to have the biggest effect on the abductee whether he/she realizes it or not. Above all, the investigator must have the psychological acumen to help the abductee deal with the material both while the memories are being recalled, and after the session is over. At the same time the investigator must accumulate the most amount of data as is possible-- given the enormity and importance of the event. Unfortunately there are few who can do this. Sometimes people who need help with abductions seek advice and counsel from well meaning but incompetent psyhotherapists and even some erstwhile UFO researchers. Unfortunately not enough have been trained to service the vast number of abductees who need this help. Budd Hopkins and I have been involved with trying to train therapists to deal with abductees. This is an uphill battle and although progress has been made, we have a long struggle ahead of us. in the meantime, for those of you who think that you might have had abduction experiences, think very carefully about whether you want to open up the Pandora's Box of memories and if you decide to go ahead, be extremely careful who you decide upon. The potential for harm is there.