Counseling Abductees, Contactees, Experiencers and Believers
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Since
this group consists 80% of our fellow humans in America alone, those of
us in the healing professions are likely to encounter people who have been
through these things and are seeking help.
There is a Chinese proverb that goes something like “May you be cursed to
know that something is absolutely true that the rest of the world doesn’t
believe.”
I might add to this, something that the rest of the world pretends it doesn’t
believe and is bent on making people who do believe feel unstable. This
feeling of instability is often what will lead experiencers to seek some
form of help or healing. In the helping profession we know that powerful
feelings and experiences that are held in will eventually take their toll
on a person’s physical and mental health. The medical profession now reports
that somewhere in the range of 90% of the conditions people are being seen
for are stress related or stress exacerbated. In the mental health field
stress is the number one culprit.
Previously I mentioned that in the abduction experiences revealed by Leah
A. Haley, after extensive psychological testing, the only diagnosis assigned
to her was that of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), resulting from
her experiences. The working definition of trauma is “an event outside the
range of normal human experience.” The way we are conditioned to believe
that UFOs don’t exist, any of the previously described scenarios with ETI
could then possibly fall into the category of “traumatic.”
From being a therapist specializing in PTSD for twenty years, I also have
learned that the ego strength of a person pre-trauma will greatly affect
a person’s recovery process post-trauma. A trauma is often an injury to
the identity. The healing and recovery from the trauma necessitates that
a person find a satisfactory answer to the question “Who am I now?” as in,
I saw myself as one person before this event and now that I have experienced
this event, I feel like I am another person altogether. It can represent
a loss of innocence, a loss of a sense of safety in the world, a loss of
trust of self and other people and/or a loss of comfort or health in the
physical body.
The most important approach in working with people dealing with trauma is
to first validate their feelings and perceptions of the experience.
“I was afraid,” “Of course you were afraid.”
“I was confused,” “Of course you were confused.”
“I froze,” “Of course you froze.”
“My memory is vague,” ”Of course your memory is vague.”
It helps to remind people that what they went through was traumatic and
all responses are normal in light of that trauma, including fight, flight
and freezing in place.
Initially, people usually will need to get out the things they have been
holding against themselves and say them to another person. If you are the
first person to hear such a story, remember you will represent to them “all
people.” One of the reasons that stories are held in is because we fear
judgment from others. That is what David Icke refers to when he talks about
the way we police each other.
Invariably, we are always judging ourselves in retrospect for our actions
during times of chaos and trauma. So if you are honored to be the first
witness to an important event in a person’s life, you have the opportunity
of modeling a caring, understanding and comforting humanity.
Once the story has been told and validated, all techniques that assist in
stress reduction are helpful. People often experience nightmares, vivid
dreams and flashbacks of traumatic events. These are all the result of the
mind’s attempt to integrate the experiences and are normal healing activities.
Reworking nightmare scenarios to a scenario of empowerment for the dreamer
is a helpful technique. For example: I dreamed that I am in the ship
again and I can’t move or speak.
Ask the dreamer to envision what he or she might have done or said if they
could move or speak. Suggest that they visualize a scenario where
this actually happens and the dream ends with the person feeling in charge
of their life once again. Then suggest that the dreamer replay this new
ending right before falling asleep. Usually, this will lead to a dream that
feels empowering and the dreamer wakes up and takes that feeling of empowerment
into waking life. This feeling will soon supercede any feelings of victimization.
Hypnosis, light trance, and visualization states can be helpful for people
who would like to see if they might be able to retrieve more memories that
may have been suppressed. I always remind people that they have their own
innate wisdom, and if that wisdom decides that the memory is not necessary,
then the person will not need to recall it. I also give the suggestion that
any memory that does come forward is only for the highest good and healing
intent. If people experience discomfort during memory retrieval it is important
to suggest to them that they can watch what happened to them from a distance,
a very neutral, safe place and that the memory is for information purposes
only. This type of work, of course, would only be done in an atmosphere
of safety and trust between the facilitator and the client.
Experiencer support groups for these types of events and memories can also
be very helpful in reminding people that they are not alone and that many
very “normal” people have these types of experiences. Bibliotherapy can
also be helpful. The list of books in the bibliography for this class would
be a good place to start.
As with any other issue, your own comfort level with an issue is what will
dictate your ability to be helpful to others. If you have fears or concerns
around this issue it will be best for you to seek your own process of resolution
before you attempt to be of assistance to other people.