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{{Infobox BBS
| image = Archived-En.png
| file = sprinkle.txt
| author = Unknown
| date = Unknown
| subject =
| orig_bbs = Unknown
| bbs_main_page = [[ParaNet Main Page]]
| key_words = ParaNet, UFO, Ufology
}}

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(C) 1991 ParaNet(sm) Information Service. All Rights Reserved.
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ParaNet File Number: 00222

DATE OF UPLOAD: September 1, 1989
ORIGIN OF UPLOAD: ParaNet Alpha/Denver, Colorado
CONTRIBUTED BY: R. Leo Sprinkle, PhD
========================================================

Dr. Leo Sprinkle, a noted psychologist from the University of
Wyoming at Laramie sent ParaNet a literary piece that he wrote
dealing with UFO experiences and psychotherapy for contactees
and/or abductees. Further information about Dr. Sprinkle can be
obtained by contacting ParaNet Information Service by data or by
voice. The voice number is 303-420-6758.

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC SERVICES FOR PERSONS WHO CLAIM UFO EXPERIENCES

By R. Leo Sprinkle

Introduction--Psychotherapeutic services can be helpful to
persons who are experiencing post traumatic stress disorders.
Physiological and psychological stress reactions can occur from
the effects of abandonment, abuse (corporal, emotional, and/or
sexual), loss of relationship, rape, robbery, etc. If abused
persons are given competent and compassionate assistance, then
often they can learn to cope with their feelings of anger,
anxiety, doubt, grief, guilt, pain, shame, etc.
However, in our contemporary society, those persons who
describe paranormal/psychic/spiritual crises, or emotional trauma
from memories of possible past lives, often are faced with
scoffing or skeptical reactions -- not only from their friends
and relatives, but sometimes from professional persons, including
psychotherapists.
And, if a person describes a UFO experience (including
abduction by alien beings, out of body experience, near death
experience, bodily marks from a medical examination, genital
examination, past life memories, planetary visions, automatic
writing or telepathic communication, and a message or mission for
Humankind, etc.), then the psychological resistance of the
psychotherapist, as well as the emotional trauma of the person,
can be an important factor -- not only in the processes of
psychotherapy, but in the questions of whether services are
provided to that person!
The complex and controversial claims of UFO
abductees/contactees are a background for the general question:
Based on the processes of psychotherapy, what do we know about
UFO experiences?
This paper offers a personal view about psychotherapeutic
services for UFO Experiencers, a brief review of UFO literature,
and a biased viewpoint about the social significance of UFO
activity. The major hypothesis, or speculation, is that UFO
activity is an educational program: A gradual, but persistent,
conditioning of human awareness for a new age of science and
spirituality (advanced technology and advanced morality).
An excellent "introduction to issues of UFO research" can be
obtained from William L. Moore Publications; the booklet is
written by the Los Angeles UFO Research Group (LAUFORG, 1986) and
it provides a brief but comprehensive review of the available
evidence and scientific implications of UFO reports. Also,
further information can be obtained from various UFO
organizations, including, CUFOS (1987) and MUFON 1987).

EXPERIENCES OF THE WRITER

I am trained as a counseling psychologist: BA (1952), MPS
(1956), University of Colorado -- Boulder; PhD (1961), University
of Missouri -- Columbia (APA approved program). I now serve as
Psychologist II and Professor of Counseling Services, University
of Wyoming -- Laramie.
In 1949, on the campus of the University of Colorado, a
buddy and I observed a "flying saucer" (Daylight Disc). In 1956,
my wife, Marilyn, and I observed a silent UFO which hovered,
moved, hovered, moved, etc., over Boulder, Colorado. After the
second sighting, I began to investigate the literature on UFO
reports. In 1962, I joined APRO and NICAP (Aerial Phenomena
Research Organization; National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena). I began to consider ways that psychologists
could contribute to UFO research (Sprinkle, 1967) as well as
study the personal characteristics of persons interested in UFO
reports (Sprinkle, 1969).
In 1964, at the University of Wyoming, I began a study of
UFO abductees/contactees, including their claims of ESP and UFO
experiences as well as their responses to psychological
inventories (Sprinkle, 1976). In 1967, I began to provide
hypnotic sessions for persons who claimed UFO abduction encounter
experiences (Sprinkle, 1977). I have assisted more than 175
persons who have explored their UFO memories in hypnosis sessions
(Sprinkle, 1979a, 1982).
I have read thousands of reports, and I have corresponded
with hundreds of persons who have described their strange and
bizarre UFO experiences. I have cussed and discussed, with many
persons, the implications of UFO activity (Sprinkle, 1976b,
1979b).
In 1980, after our first Rocky Mountain Conference on UFO
Investigation, I sought hypnotic procedures with a fellow
psychologist in order to explore my own memories (dreams?
fantasies?) of some childhood experiences. My current
interpretation of those memories is that I experienced childhood
encounters with a Space Being (SB) on board a space craft. (See
Montgomery, R., 1985.)
After 31 years of UFO investigation, including 25 years of
UFO research and 20 years of therapeutic services to persons who
claim UFO encounters, I have come to several tentative
viewpoints:

1. I believe that "flying saucers" (UFOs) exist.
2. I believe that I cannot prove to anyone that UFOs exist.
3. I believe that UFO research is always frustrating, often
fearful, sometimes fun.
4. I believe that psychotherapeutic services and social support
for UFO Experiencers are helpful to them in accepting the reality
of these experiences and in their understanding of the silliness
and the significance of these experiences.
5. I believe that there are many skills that can be useful to
the psychotherapist who works with UFO Experiencers, but the main
attributes are courage, curiosity, and compassion.
6. I appreciate the willingness of UFO Experiencers to share
their information, and the willingness of professional colleagues
to assist UFO Experiencers.

Perhaps, someday, UFO research can lead to results which
could test the hypothesis that UFO activity is an educational
program (Cosmic Consciousness Conditioning, Sprinkle, 1976b).

UFO EXPERIENCES AS AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

Many writers have discussed the implications of UFO
activity, including Vallee (1975), who suggested that a
conditioning program is influencing the human race, and Deardorff
(1986), who presented a model of extraterrestrial strategy for
Earth.
There are four minor hypotheses which can be associated with
the major hypothesis about UFO experiences as an educational
program:
Thesis I. There is sufficient evidence to accept the
hypothesis that many UFO witnesses have experienced encounters
with space craft that are piloted or controlled by intelligent
alien beings (e.g., Hynek, 1972; Jacobs, 1975; Randles, 1983,
Rutledge, 1981; Smith, 1987).
Thesis II. There is sufficient evidence to accept the
hypothesis that many UFO witnesses have experienced abductions
and examination by UFO occupants, including bodily,
psychological, and/or sexual examinations (e.g., Fowler, 1979,
1982; Fuller, 1966; Hopkins, 1981, 1987; Lorenzen & Lorenzen,
1967, 1976, 1977; Sprinkle, 1979, 1981; Strieber, 1987).
Thesis III. There is sufficient evidence to accept the
hypothesis that most UFO witnesses are normal in their
psychological functioning (e.g., Bloecher, Clamar, & Hopkins,
1985, Keul & Phillips, 1986; Parnell, 1987; Schwarz, 1983;
Sprinkle, 1976b, 1979a).
Thesis IV. There is sufficient evidence to accept the
hypothesis that psychic phenomena, including "channeled"
communications, are associated with UFO encounters; further,
there is emerging evidence that UFO contactees view themselves as
changing from "planetary persons" to "cosmic citizens" (e.g.,
Davis, 1985; Kannenberg, 1982, 1986; Kinder, 1987; Montgomery,
1985; Puharich, 1974; Sprinkle, 1981; Steiger & Steiger, 1981).

CONCLUSIONS

Psychotherapeutic services can be helpful to persons who are
confounded by their UFO encounters. Appropriate techniques are
similar to those which are used to assist persons to deal with
paranormal experiences (e.g., Hastings, 1983, 1987; Mintz, 1983);
hypnotic techniques for recalling repressed memories or "loss of
time" (amnesic) experiences (e.g., Hopkins, 1981, 1986; Sprinkle,
1977); and mutual support in self-help groups who provide a sense
of community for UFO Experiencers (e.g., Edwards, 1987; IFUFOCS,
1987; Tessman, 1987).
An increasing number of UFO witnesses, including UFO
investigators, are sharing information about their UFO
experiences and seeking assistance in order to deal with their
anxieties about those experiences. Perhaps we are entering a new
phase of UFO research; perhaps a network of psychologists can be
established in order to provide psychotherapeutic services to
persons who claim UFO experiences.

=================================================================

R. Leo Sprinkle, PhD, is Professor of Counseling Services at the
University of Wyoming. In addition, he is associated with the
Counseling and Career Development Center, Laramie, Wyoming as
psychologist and Coordinator of Training.

Psychotherapy in Private Practice, Vol. 6(3) 1988
(C) 1989 by The Hayworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
==================================================================

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