From: John Velez <jvif@spacelab.net>
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 01:33:26 -0500
Fwd Date: Sat, 18 Oct 1997 20:41:34 -0400
Subject: Re: Researching Abduction Cases

>Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 11:26:24 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Jim Deardorff <deardorj@ucs.orst.edu>
>To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
>Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Re: Researching Abduction Cases

>> Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Researching Abduction Cases
>> Date: Wed, 15 Oct 97 21:35:50 -0000
>> From: Paul <pwedel@neptune.on.ca> [Paul Wedel]
>> To: "UFO UpDates - Toronto" <updates@globalserve.net>

>> >Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 14:31:00 -0500
>> >To: updates@globalserve.net
>> >From: John Velez <jvif@spacelab.net>
>> >Subject: Researching abduction cases

>> >Abduction research -must be- taken out of the hands of amateurs
>> >and para-professionals. Not so much for the sake of the research
>> >itself, there are many 'amateurs' that can do as competent if not
>> >better job than some pros, but for the sake of the well being of
>> >those individuals reporting.  [...]

>> >John Velez, Abductee Union Rep.

>> Hey Johnny,

>> [...]
>> With respect to as many abductee's as possible coming forward
>> (a.m.a.a.p.c.f) I believe the initial phase of that will not
>> occur unless some brave, brave people agree to move en masse (en
>> englais, c'est "as a big forceful, credible group chewing hard
>> gum and wearing stirrups). [...]

>One more opinion -- a compromise?:

>I think that UFO abductees should indeed be encouraged to go to
>mainstream psychologists/psychiatrists for treatment or
>uncovering of memories, but *only if* they have strong assurance
>that the practitioner under consideration is considerably more
>open minded and considerate than average.

At IF we have a large list of resource people (MHP's) that are
scattered across the country. I wish we had more. I made it a
point to call and speak with each and every one. I wasn't about
to refer people to MHP's I hadn't met or spoken with myself. I
always followed up each referal to make sure that the individual
was satisfied with the guy/gal he had been sent to.

I have maintained an ongoing dialog with most of them so it's
easy for me to monitor them and how they were doing. But I agree
with you 100% MHP's must be selected carefully. As long as no-one
is imposing any belief systems on anyone everything is cool.

>Otherwise, there is just no point in seeing a "hard-nosed"
>mainstream psychologist who will think the abductee is
>hallucinating, fabricating, or whatever.  There is no changing
>such a person's belief system, which has no room for existence of
>aliens, short of most of his trusted colleagues becoming
>enlightened first.  Such a person will simply make life more
>miserable for the abductee.

Ja mon! Again, I agree.

>But I know of no definite way to learn about which
>psychologists/psychiatrists in which locations might be
>open-minded enough to be prepared to confront an abductee for the
>first time and ask himself/herself, "Maybe this really happened!
>I need to treat it seriously, and start reading up on any related
>literature about it that I can find."

When I refer someone nowadays I e-mail them a copy of the MIT
Code of Ethics for abduction researchers and tell them to present
a copy to the therapist at their first visit. You can
read/download a copy at the AIC (Abduction Information Center)
website. -Which is only partially up BTW-
http://www.crossfields.com/~aic/code.html

>Regarding whether abductees should come forward en masse, and
>thereby perhaps gain more attention and credibility, I don't
>think this would work, as they would all be categorized into one
>group and characterized as "nutty" or some such by the press.
>However, if it were one of those million-person affairs, it would
>then likely gain the attention of a few brave, open-minded
>reporters and succeed partially.

Jim, I pray that I can never muster one million abductees! -That-
would be truly frightening. If there -are- a million of us, then
God help us all.

John Velez




                              John Velez
                          jvif@spacelab.net