IUBio

"Abductions" DO NOT exist :scientists should fight this crap,like Carl Sagan did

twitchb at worldnet.att.net twitchb at worldnet.att.net
Fri Apr 24 15:35:08 EST 1998


"Etherman" <etherman at mdc.net> wrote:

>
>twitchb at worldnet.att.net wrote in message
><6hl4lr$epq at bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
>
>>Most of the people had been subjected to hypnosis.  A study
>>commission by the Royal College of Psychiatrists published
>>in the April edition of the British Journal of Psychiatry
>>states that "any memory recovered through hynopsis, dream
>>interpretation, or regression therapy is almost certainly
>>wrong."
>
>
>This is nothing more than an appeal to authority. 

Would you please post some evidence that the study is
incorrect?

>Even a
>casual perusal of psychological journals demonstrates
>that hypnosis can, in some circumstances, improve
>memory.  

This is nothing more than a claim with no evidence provided.

>Even when it is detrimental it's a stretch
>to say that the memories are almost certainly wrong
>(unless by wrong they mean <100% accurate).
>
A UFO believer made an experiment with a physician with
clinical experience in hypnosis.  They hypnotized subjects
who had never claimed to be abducted and asked them to
imagine that they had been abducted.  

He found out that these imaginary abductees stories "showed
no substantive differences" between them and the stories of
supposed abductess.

"one should be cautious about the results from hypnotic
regression in UFO investigations.  A witness can lie..
witnesses can subtly confuse their own fantasies with
reality - without either the witness or the hypnotist being
aware."

(What can we learn from Hypnosis of Imaginary Abductees by
Alvin H. Lawson)

Doctor Martin Orne, past president of the International
Society of Experimental Hypnosis, published a paper in the
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

The paper is entitled THE USE AND MISUSE OF HYPNOSIS IN
COURT.

"it is possible for an individual to feign hypnosis and
deceive even highly experienced hypnotists... Further, it is
possible for even deeply hypnotized subjects to willfully
lie."

"We should keep in mind that psychologists and psychiatrists
are not particularly adept at recognizing deception... the
average hotel credit manager is considerably more adept at
recognizing deception than we are."

(John Mack certainly proved him right here!)

"If the hypnotist has beliefs about what actually occurred,
it is exceedingly difficult for him to prevent himself from
inadvertently guiding the subject's recall so that he (the
subject) will eventually "remember" what he, the hypnotist,
believes actually happened."  




Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes,
our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot
alter the state of facts and evidence.



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