Unimpaired abduction to alien abduction: Lessons on delusion formation

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 679-704
Author(s):  
Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Keyword(s):  
Alien Abduction

Alien abduction experiences.

2014 ◽  
pp. 213-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Appelle ◽  
Steven Jay Lynn ◽  
Leonard Newman ◽  
Anne Malaktaris
Keyword(s):  
Alien Abduction

An Encounter with the Other: A Thematic Analysis of Accounts of DMT Experiences from a Naturalistic Field Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Michael ◽  
David Luke ◽  
Oliver Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
The Other ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Death Experience ◽  
Extraordinary Experiences ◽  
Alien Abduction ◽  
Increasing Trends

Introduction: N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is an endogenous serotonergic psychedelic capable of producing radical shifts in conscious experience. Increasing trends in its use, as well as new trials administering DMT to patients, indicate the growing importance of a thorough elucidation of the phenomenology the drug may occasion. This is particularly in light of the hyper-real, otherworldly, and often ontologically challenging yet potentially transformative, nature of the experience, not least encounters with apparently non-self social agents. Laboratory studies have been limited by clinical setting and lacking qualitative analyses, while online surveys’ limitations lie in retrospective design, recreational use, and both of which not guaranteeing ‘breakthrough’ experiences. Methods: We report on the first naturalistic field study of DMT use including its qualitative analysis. Screened, healthy, anonymised and experienced DMT users (40-75mg inhaled) were observed during their non-clinical use of the drug at home. Semi-structured interviews using the micro-phenomenological technique were employed immediately after their experience. This paper reports on the thematic analysis of one major domain of the breakthrough experiences elicited; the ‘other’. Thirty-six post-DMT experience interviews with mostly Caucasian (83%) males (8 female) of average 37 years were predominantly inductively coded. Results: Invariably, profound and highly intense experiences occurred. The main overarching category comprised the encounter with other ‘beings’ (94% of reports), with further subordinate themes including the entities’ role, appearance, demeanour, communication and interaction; while the other over-arching category comprised experiences of emerging into other ‘worlds’ (100% of reports), in turn consisting of the scene, the content and quality of the immersive spaces. Discussion: The present study provides a systematic and in-depth analysis of the features of the otherworldly encounter within the breakthrough DMT experience, as well as elaborating on the resonances with both previous DMT studies and other types of extraordinary experiences which also entail entity encounters. These include the alien abduction, folkloric, shamanic and near-death experience. Putative neural mechanisms of these features of the DMT experience and its promise as a psychotherapeutic agent are discussed in light of such findings.

Touching

Religion ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
David Chidester
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
Alien Abduction ◽  
Sense Of Touch

This chapter undertakes a tactile exploration of the sense of touch in modern American culture and religion. After briefly recalling the denigration of tactility in Western thought, the discussion considers the usefulness of the work of two theorists, Emmanuel Levinas and Walter Benjamin, in recovering the sense of touch—the intimate caress, the violent shock—as deep background for tracking basic modes of religious tactility. By paying attention to sensory media and metaphors, the chapter proceeds from cutaneous binding and burning to kinaesthetic moving and to haptic handling in order to enter this field of tactile meaning and power. Specific cases of tactility are quickly considered, including binding covenants, firewalking, flag burning, alien abduction, global capitalism, and cellular microbiology. By exploring the religious dynamics of the sense of touch, this chapter points to the presence of a tactile politics of perception circulating through religion and popular culture.

Alien abduction experiences.

2004 ◽  
pp. 253-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Appelle ◽  
Steven Jay Lynn ◽  
Leonard Newman
Keyword(s):  
Alien Abduction

scholarly journals Clinical evidence in the phenomenon of Alien Abduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 107-115
Author(s):  
Perrotta Giulio
Keyword(s):  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Delusional Disorder ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Clinical Population ◽  
Female Group ◽  
Theoretical Assumption ◽  
Primary Disorder ◽  
Alien Abduction ◽  
The Individual

Purpose: Starting from the classic definition of “alien abduction”, the present research, starting from the study published in 2020 on the proposed clinical classification of this particular phenomenon, is aimed at confirming the theoretical assumption of psychopathological origin. Methods: Clinical interview, based on narrative-anamnestic and documentary evidence and the basis of the Perrotta Human Emotions Model (PHEM) concerning their emotional and perceptual-reactive experience, and administration of the battery of psychometric tests published in international scientific journals by the author of this work: 1) Perrotta Integrative Clinical Interviews (PICI-2), to investigate functional and dysfunctional personality traits; 2) Perrotta Individual Sexual Matrix Questionnaire (PSM-Q), to investigate the individual sexual matrix; 3) Perrotta Affective Dependence Questionnaire (PAD-Q), to investigate the profiles of affective and relational dependence; 4) Perrotta Human Defense Mechanisms Questionnaire (PDM-Q), to investigate the defence mechanisms of the Ego. Results: Preliminary results from the interviews and the anamnestic form would suggest that the phenomenon of alien abductions has a greater tendency to occur in the female group, in the adult and mature group (and tends to diminish but not disappear with advancing age) and in the group geographically originating in central-northern Italy (due to lower religious influences but greater openness to the typical contents of ufological and mystery narratives). Moreover, the subsequent results would lead us to deduce with almost total certainty, concerning the selected sample, that the phenomenon of alien abductions has an absolute prevalence in the believing population concerning the existence of paranormal phenomena per se, even in the absence of objective and/or scientific evidence. It is a phenomenon that is almost completely linked (110/112, 98.2%) to a medium-low or not fully educated cultural level. Based on the PICI-2 it emerged that the primary emerging disorder is alternatively the delusional disorder, the dissociative disorder and the narcissistic disorder; followed, as secondary disorders, by the delusional disorder (if it is not considered as primary disorder), the schizoid disorder, the borderline disorder, the obsessive disorder and the psychopathic disorder. The analysis of functional traits also reported the marked dysfunctional tendency of the classes referring to self-control, sensitivity, Ego-Es comparison, emotionality, ego stability, security and relational functionality, confirming here too the marked dysfunctional tendency of the clinical population. According to the PSM-Q, almost 2/3 of the participants (73/112, 65.2%) present a dysfunctional tendency to sexual behaviour and a marked tendency to chronicle feelings of shame in avoidance behaviour or hyposexuality. Furthermore, 100% of the sample of the population surveyed report having suffered significant or serious psychological or physical abuse at a young age, or intra-parental relational imbalances, or in any case a sexual upbringing that was not open and lacking in free communication. According to the PDM-Q, 27.7% (31/112) are affected by affective dependency, with greater emphasis on types I (neurotic), VI (covert narcissist), V (borderline) and III (histrionic), in that order of descent. Finally, the PDM-Q reveals the widespread psychopathological tendency of the functional ego framework for the mechanisms of isolation, denial, regression, reactive formation, denial, projection, removal, withdrawal, instinct, repression and idealisation. Conclusion: This research confirms the psychopathological nature of the alien abduction phenomenon, which deserves to be treated using a psychotherapeutic approach (preferably cognitive-behavioural and/or strategic) and possibly also pharmacological in serious cases, depending on the symptoms manifested and the severity of the morbid condition.

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