Posted by alexandra_k on November 14, 2005, at 15:06:10
In reply to Re: Alien abductions and psychology » fires, posted by Jen Star on November 14, 2005, at 14:58:59
>I think that some people make up alien abduction stories, but other REALLY believe it -- and it's fascinating to try and understand how and why they believe it!
you mean some people are lying, and other people really believe it?
> I read about a rash of therapist-induced "false memories" that occurred a while back, where therapists were helping people "remember" that they killed, murdered, participated in orgies, etc. It was a big movement to uncover these "repressed memories" but most of them turned out to be completely false.yes. most of that came out of the hypothesis that satanic ritual abuse was part of the aetiology of dissoicative identity disorder. church based theapists have been interested in the disorder for a while because of perceived similarities between people with alternative identities and people suffering from what they considered to be demonic posession.
the idea was that there were cults (located in various places along the bible belt areas of the US) and that these cults forced young children to partake in these rituals. And thus they found... demons... or alters... or whatever.
> Memory is such a weird, tricky thing. It's scary to me that many people can come to believe things that never happened -- and to FERVENTLY believe them.yes. what is even more frightening to me... is that therapists are allowed to practice without demonstrating that they understand something of this... and understand something of the things they may do to make it more likely that memories are accurate as opposed to confabulated.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:578540
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20051107/msgs/578684.html