Post-traumatic stress disorder, suggestibility, and dissociation related to alleged alien abductions

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Objectives

Thousands of people throughout the world are convinced that they have been abducted by aliens. We aimed to assess the emotional reaction to such an implausible event and propose some explanations alternative to severe psychopathology.

Methods

A total of 19 individuals who reported memories of having been abducted by aliens were compared to a control group of 32 participants. We employed a battery of tests measuring post-traumatic stress disorder, suggestibility, and dissociation within all participants.