142 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
142 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: MACK HOAXED, CRITICIZED FILE: UFO2225
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E.T., phone Harvard: Dr. John Mack could use the help as critics rip his
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research on alien abductions
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04/21/94 THE BOSTON GLOBE
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CAMBRIDGE -- The big Mack attack has just begun. And no one has heard from
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the little people yet.
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The aliens, that is.
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"Abduction," the much-publicized book by Harvard psychiatrist John Mack
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about extraterrestrial visitations, had barely touched down in bookstores this
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week before it came under heavy groundfire from critics of both Mack's
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methodology and his UFO-friendly mindset.
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Time magazine fired the loudest shot in a report that one "experiencer" on
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whom Mack practiced hypnotic regression therapy, Donna Bassett, says she faked
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tales of her encounters with space aliens -- and that Mack not only believed
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the stories but also failed to obtain consent forms from his research subjects.
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Mack has seen or treated more than 100 abductees since 1991, most of whom say
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they are victims of sexual or genetic experimentation by their captors.
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"Abduction" contains detailed case studies on 13 of those patients.
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Bassett also charges Mack with billing insurance companies improperly for
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therapy sessions that were actually research. Furthermore, the Time story,
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written by veteran investigative reporter James Willwerth, suggests that
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Mack's work is riddled with scientific improprieties, including supplying
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patients with accounts of other abduction experiences before hypnotizing them.
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For Mack, a tenured Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning
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biographer, these attacks on his credibility have hit a raw nerve. Mack is in
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the launch phase of an all-out publicity blitzkrieg ("Oprah" "48 Hours,"
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People, Larry King) that includes network TV interviews with several of his
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research subjects. These people are clearly emotionally and psychologically
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vulnerable, whatever the underlying cause might be. And so, to a degree, is
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Mack, whose credentials far outweigh those of any previous investigator
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publicly aligned with the abduction-recovery movement.
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Yes, Mack says, he anticipated the mainstream media would have difficulty
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swallowing his conclusion that these abduction reports are reality-based.
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Skeptical criticism of his work is to be expected, he says, even welcomed.
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Moreover, Mack harbors few illusions that anyone hung up on Western
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scientific rationalism will cede much ground to him in this debate. Mack
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himself calls abductions a "great mystery" that defy proof, one way or another.
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Or logic. Only reluctantly did he come to believe in them himself, Mack
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says.
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But this latest flurry hits below the professional belt, the clinician
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contends.
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"Why do they pick the most destructive part of the story and focus on that?
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" Mack asks. "One or two disaffected persons come forward. Why don't they look
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into her background? It surprises me they {Time} would go so far to discredit
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me when they claim to be seriously interested in the phenomenon."
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Mack insists he is bound by doctor-patient confidentiality not to discuss
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in any detail his work with Bassett, a researcher now living in North Carolina.
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He will say, however, that he dealt with Bassett "in good faith" and that if
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he gave her any UFO-related articles to read, it was only to satisfy her own
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curiosity about the abduction experience.
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"People can be angry for all sorts of reasons," he maintains. "I doubt the
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writer checked out her background."
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Mack also says that while he did bill third-party insurers for some therapy
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sessions, he kept none of the money for himself. The total amount, he says,
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which he estimates to be between $2,000 and $3,000, went to a now-defunct
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support group known as Group for Research and Aid to Last year, Mack
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founded The Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER) to oversee
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his abduction research. PEER in turn is overseen by, and funded through, the
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Center for Psychology and Social Change, a nonprofit organization co-founded
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by Mack in 1983 to facilitate scholarly research into topics such as human
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psychology and the nuclear arms race.
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According to Karen Wesolowski of PEER, billing and consent procedures
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changed once Mack stopped treating incoming abductees as private psychiatric
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patients. At that point, she says, PEER mailed out consent forms to all of
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Mack's abductee patients, current and former. Most, though not all, signed the
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forms, she maintains. Meanwhile, Mack stopped billing insurers in order to be
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"absolutely scrupulous" about the clinical division between research and
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therapy.
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As for his methodology, Mack calls it "very legitimate" to raise questions
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about how he has gone about recovering memories of alien encounters. In
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"Helping Abductees," a 1992 article in the International UFO Reporter, Mack
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noted that he "had little training in hypnosis as a psychiatric resident and
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had virtually to teach myself." He credits pioneering investigator Budd
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Hopkins with helping him refine his techniques. Hopkins, a visual artist, has
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written two popular books on the abduction phenomenon, "Missing Time" and
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"Intruders."
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On numerous occasions, Mack continues, sitting in his cramped office
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located behind Cambridge Hospital, other therapists and researchers have been
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present to observe -- and validate -- the relived trauma that subjects
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experience under hypnosis. Tapes of these sessions leave little doubt that
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their emotional suffering is real, not invented.
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"It's conceivable somebody could dupe me, of course," Mack says, referring
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to Bassett, "but I've had a lot of clinical experience. And this {Time}
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article says I'm damaging people. Where is the evidence for that?"
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Furthermore, he asks, "How could I possibly keep everybody happy? There are
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bound to be one or two disaffected people. That's what I object to, the focus
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on them. It ignores the dozens and dozens of people I've helped."
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Time reporter Willwerth is more skeptical. He dismisses Mack's complaints
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about lack of background checking as nonsense. A specialist in health-research
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abuse, Willwerth says he thoroughly reviewed both Bassett's charges and the
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supporting evidence, while Time's lawyers in turn thoroughly vetted his piece.
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"The bottom line is, there was no informed consent going on," says the writer.
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"We checked this out 13 ways from Sunday."
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Bassett first met Mack in September 1992 and underwent three "regression"
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sessions with him over the next four months. She says reading other articles
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by Mack about abductions "told me exactly what he was looking for" when she
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pretended to be hypnotized. She also maintains that real harm may have been
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done to at least some of his research subjects, who have been stripped of
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other psychological support systems.
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"This isn't about UFOs," Bassett insists, speaking by phone from her home
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in North Carolina. "This is a way to hide human experimentation that's been
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undertaken for a personal political agenda."
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That agenda, contends Bassett, is reflected in the message Mack cliams to
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have distilled from patients' encounters with aliens: that the planet is
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threatened by ecological destruction, that earthlings must wake up before the
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destruction goes too far and that human-alien cross-breeding may be the only
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way to save a doomed race. Mack would hardly quibble with that assessment of
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the message, only with how the messenger -- himself -- is being treated by
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opponents like Bassett.
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"Contrary to what some critics say," says Mack, "I was surprised by the
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message of earth's destruction."
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Mack does admit, though, that colleagues warned him long ago that he would
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open himself up to professional criticism -- if not outright ridicule -- by
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pursuing abduction research. Still, he insists, he has no regrets.
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"I have this innocent confidence that if you do your work in a
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comprehensive and objective way," he says, "it stands on its own.
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"I'm not worried the attacks will silence me. What I worry about is giving
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support to the wonderful abductees and others who are helping this process. I
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don't want to disappoint them."
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@ART CAPTION:"It's conceivable somebody could dupe me, of course," says
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Harvard psychiatrist John Mack of the research subject who claims she invented
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stories of alien abduction.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |