John E Mack, M.D. - "Experiencers"

17 FEB 2009

John E. Mack, M.D.

Documentary: “Experiencers” - features people who have had contact with extraterrestrials, been abducted by them, and have had dramatic emotional and psychological adjustments to make as a result. In five parts.

Dr. Mack was Dean of the Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry at the time of his death. He was an expert in diagnosis and teatment of trauma-based emotional injury, and had written numerous articles, and several books, editing several others. He was the author of a psychological biography of Lawrence of Arabia that had won a Pulitizer Prize. Because of this reputation, he was approached by a colleague and asked to see someone seeking assistance. A New York artist of considerable reputation, Budd Hopkins had developed an interest in unidentified flying objects, after seeing one while at the beach on Cape Cod. Hopkins' interest led eventually to a study of people who were reporting abduction by entities that they interpreted as alien and probably extraterrestrial. Because he lacked a mental health background, and was concerned for the emotional well-being of the people he was seeing, Hopkins was seeking someone skilled in working with trauma victims, who would not pre-judge them for the strangeness of their stories.

The UFO field is seen in the mainstream as not to be taken seriously, and professionals who take an interest, take a risk. Dr. Mack’s interest was risky. In response to media coverage of his work with alien abductees, or “experiencers” as he preferred to call them, and the several books he wrote based on this work, a committee of his peers put him on academic “trial.” Though they had grave concerns regarding the subject matter, they eventually had to conclude that Dr. Mack's view, which was that the people he was seeing, were clearly not mentally ill, presented as victims of trauma, and were probably telling the truth about their experiences, was reasonable. He was "aquitted." The committee did admonished him to open up his work to colleagues in his and related field in order to broaden the scientific foundation of what was being learned. Not a bad outcome for what must have been a severe ordeal.

At the time of his death, Dr. Mack was working to establish a foundation for training of mental health professionals in the treatment of abduction-induced trauma. I will post appropriate web addresses ASAP, including, I hope a complete listing of his written works.

My interest? As a licensed social worker, I constantly receive invitations to go to conferences. Back in 1992, I received a brochure on a conference being co-sponsored by MIT and Harvard on the topic of alien abductions. The conference was obviously not the usual UFO carnival. It was designed for mental health professional with a focus on trauma victims. Since at the time I worked for the local Witness/Victim Service Center, as a specialist in treatment of domestic violence perpetrators, and had extensive experience in working with DV victims, I was an obvious candidate for the conference.

Other priorities intervened however, and I didn't go. But I did develop an interest in the subject, especially as it was approached by the late Dr. Mack.
"Experiencers" is not a new documentary, but as a reader of this blog has already surmized, I have become a YouTubenaut, and was excited to find this five-part series:
"Experiencers"

Part 1:





Part 2:




Part 3:




Part 4:




Part 5: