Alien abductions? Define "real"...

[Awaken]

June 25, 2004 -- Recalling a traumatic memory may provoke severe distress in people, even if the memory may be a product of their own imagination, according to a new study. The study showed that people who claim to have been abducted by aliens show the same signs of distress, such as increased heart rate, sweating, and muscle tension, shown by people recalling more plausible traumatic events, such as wartime experiences. Researchers say these signs of distress are often viewed as a testament to authenticity of a person's memory of a traumatic event, such as childhood abuse. But the researchers say these results show that physiological responses should not be used to verify traumatic memories in the evaluation of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alien Memories Provoke Distress In the study, researchers recruited people who said they had been abducted by aliens and had them describe their alien encounter as well as other stressful, happy, or neutral memories. The researchers converted those recollections into 30-second narratives and played them back to the "abductees" while measuring their heart rate, sweat production, and facial muscle tension. For comparison, researchers also played the tapes to a group of people who had no memories of alien abductions. The study showed that people who said they had been abducted by aliens had strong distressful reactions to the stressful and alien abduction narratives and weaker reactions to the others. The comparison group had little reaction to any of the stories. The study also showed that people who said they were abducted by aliens also scored higher on measures of psychological traits that make them more likely to experience alterations in consciousness, to have a rich fantasy life, and to endorse unconventional beliefs. Researchers say that for people who believe they have been abducted by aliens, recalling their abduction can provoke physiological reactions similar to those evoked by more verifiable stressful memories. Therefore, they say physiological responses are not a valid indicator of whether a memory is real or not. "Although improbable traumatic memories (e.g. being sexually probed on a spaceship) provoke physiological reactions comparable to those provoked by more conventional and verifiable traumatic memories (e.g. a firefight in Vietnam), one should not conclude that PTSD patients are reporting false memories of trauma," write researcher Richard McNally of Harvard University and colleagues in the July issue of Psychological Science. "Conversely, the physiological markers of emotion that accompany recollection of a memory cannot be taken as evidence of the memory's authenticity," they conclude. http://content.health.msn.com/content/arti...e/89/100279.htm Thoughts? Just thought it was kind of interesting, defining reality...

[loose id]

I got picked up by aliens once. I was driving my car along county route 33, which is near my house. Well, suddenly my car just shuts off, like the power was sucked from it. I then hear this low pitched whistling/humming noise and I see three distinct lights pointed at my car. After that things get a little blurry, but through dream therapy I've been able to put together what happened. A grey came up to the side of my car and I felt him say (they didn't speak, it was as if I just "knew" what they were saying) "Do you know how to get to Europa?" And I couldn't speak, but I was thinking to myself "I think that's one of Jupiter's moons, dunno man." So they said, "Which way is Jupiter?" And I said, "It's the huge-ass one. Second rock after the asteroid belt, I think, maybe third. It's orange. Or maybe red." They asked me to come along to show them where it was, and I said, "think ya got enough gas to make the trip back to drop me off?" And they nodded. I wasn't allowed to smoke a cig or anything during the trip....crybabies. So they start flying towards Jupiter, and I didn't know which way it was so I just said "North" which doesn't do a damn bit of good in space. Then I had to take a wikked wizz, but they told me they didn't have bathroom's on their ship. After I showed them which planet I thought was jupiter, (in space, they all look friggin' huge) they thanked me and took me to my car. I asked if we could abduct a few women and get them all nekked and do things they said "eh, that's so nineties man..." I told them I was hungry and they said I could grab something out of the fridge, but all they had was light beer and turkey burritos. I mean, c'mon, turkey? That's such shit man. Anyhoo, they thanked me and sped off into space. It took a little while for me to get my car working again, but it did. Then I got busted by the cops for having an open container, and when they asked me why I was out there at that hour of the night, I told them. Immediately they gave me the breathalizer, and I blew a .22. Must be alien beer is way stronger. I tried to explain the whole deal to the cops, but they wouldn't listen.

[Awaken]

What a waste of your time. You didn't even get the point.

[Nebulae]

i have long term memory problems as well as short term sometimes when i "remember" something (which is rare) i cant distinguish between whether i actually remember it or whether someone told me about it and my brain filled in the gaps with creativity..

[Jin]

Golfing: I hit 2 good balls today. (I stepped on a rake.)

[Awaken]

Jin you are an intriguing individual Ugh my head is loopy right now, wonder if aliens exist in the third dimension too much mushrooming for me?

[Nebulae]

too much speeding for jin too much smoking for me!

[LewisM]

I read a newspaper that said a lot of 'alien abductions' could be attributed to what we all know as Sleep Paralysis. I've never experienced Sleep Paralysis, but apparently if you don't know what it is, then it can be pretty damn ****** up. The article I read said that the 'victim' could be floating, experience drilling in their back, 'feel' sinister forms(aliens) moving around them and of course would not be able to move. It also said that the victims would have the same physiological effects when remembering the traumatic incident as would someone experiencing a traumatic event that can be proven to have happened. Has anyone here had sleep paralysis like this?

[Lucius]

The aliens are not truely the point of this post, or are they? I think what he is trying to ask is "What is real? Is it that what actually happened..or is it something else?" I think everything is real, everything you see, feel, sense etc is real. If you are locked up in a dark room and think you hear a deamon nearby(lets say there wasnt a deamon) that fear was real none the less. When you have a horrible nightmare and witness the butchering of all your loved ones, this didnt actually happen, but you suffer from what you've seen anyway, you feel shocked and scared, and relieved because it was just a dream. Aparently, that "what dint truely happen in a phsysical sense" can effect you anyway, was it not real then? About the aliens, when people claim they were abducted by aliens or the like have seen, or felt something very "real" for them (if they are not just consiously lying just to get attention or something, or joking). Whatever happened to them, it make a certain impact and it changed them, something that "does not exist" cannot influence things, but basicly, everything exist, even if its just a floating thought or a part of somebodies imagination.

[Awaken]

Lewis that's very interesting. I've never heard that explanation before It certainly would explain a lot of things about abductions... Lucius, you got it. The aliens are not what I was trying to focus on. I don't really believe that aliens travel for light-years in the third dimension to shove stuff up our asses...But nonetheless, it's part of our reality. It's merely the feeling, and the perception that the feeling was REAL. If one believes that something is real, it IS real, to that person, regardless of outside influence saying otherwise. A feeling affects the mental state in the exact same way as a true physical occurrence. "The study showed that people who claim to have been abducted by aliens show the same signs of distress, such as increased heart rate, sweating, and muscle tension, shown by people recalling more plausible traumatic events, such as wartime experiences." A shadow of a memory exists whether or not the physical happening actually occurred. It's like trying to tell religious folk they're crazy. There's no tangible proof of what they believe in, but it affects their lives just as if it were real.

[LewisM]

Hmm there is another recent topic where this is mentioned... If one person believes and feels, then it is just as good as 'real' to them. Of course, though, to everyone else in the world, it is not real. Thus there is debate about whether it happened or not. When the whole world believes something, it is impossible for anyone to debate it's existence as they would already believe it. So, this thing is what we define as 'real'.

[Awaken]

The physical construct is the result of collective consciousness. I keep thinking about ancient Egypt, and how the pyramids were built. Something tells me the true power of the human mind had a lot to do with it...