Due to a paucity of objective physical evidence, most scientists and mental health professionals dismiss the phenomenon as “deception, suggestibility (fantasy-proneness, hypnotizability, false memory syndrome), personality, sleep paralysis, psychopathology, psychodynamics [and] environmental factors”.

However, the late Prof. John E. Mack, a respected Harvard University psychiatrist, devoted a substantial amount of time to investigating such cases and eventually concluded that the only phenomenon in psychiatry that adequately explained the patients’ symptoms in several of the most compelling cases was posttraumatic stress disorder. As he noted at the time, this would imply that the patient genuinely believed that the remembered frightening incident had really occurred. 

Skeptic Robert Sheaffer sees similarity between the aliens depicted in early science fiction films, in particular, Invaders From Mars, and some of those reported to have actually abducted people.

Typical claims involve being subjected to a forced medical examination that emphasizes their reproductive system. Abductees sometimes claim to have been warned against environmental abuse and the dangers of nuclear weapons. While many of these claimed encounters are described as terrifying, some have been viewed as pleasurable or transformative.

Antônio Vilas-Boas   (1934–1991) was a Brazilian farmer who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials in 1957. Though similar stories had circulated for years beforehand, Vilas Boas’ claims were among the first alien abduction stories to receive wide attention

The first alleged American alien abduction claim to be widely publicized was the Betty and Barney Hill abduction in 1961. Reports of the abduction phenomenon have been made around the world, but are most common in English speaking countries, especially the United States. The contents of the abduction narrative often seem to vary with the home culture of the alleged abductee

                                        

The following quiz was developed by MUFON,  The Mutual UFO Network, for possible alien abduction.  Answer each yes or no.  

1. Have you had a close encounter with a UFO?

67% of experiencers have conscious recall of a craft at less than 1000 feet prior to an abduction . 

2. Do you consciously recall (not with hypnosis), the observation of non-human entities immediately prior to an abduction while you were outside your home?

56% had conscious recall for observing non-human entities outside their home.

3. Have witnesses observed a UFO near your house, vehicle, tent, etc. prior to or during your abduction?

43% said that witnesses observed a UFO near their home, vehicle, tent, etc.

4. Have you experienced at least an hour of missing time following a close encounter with a UFO for which you can find no prosaic explanation?

The most frequently reported period of missing time is 2 hours.

5. Have you awoken in bed to find beings in your bedroom? Did you move your body or cry out and then become paralyzed?

Many experiencers report that it couldn’t have been sleep paralysis, because they moved and attempted to escape. 

6. Do you have memories of moving rapidly through the air under someone else’s control when you were awake in bed and observed intruders in your bedroom?

Dreams of flying or the sensation of moving is not necessarily indicative of alien abduction. But if you were awake and observed non-human entities in your house, and then were moved rapidly through someone else’s control, you might be an experiencer.

7. Do you consciously recall part of an abduction experience?

88% of experiencers consciously recall part of an abduction experience. 

8. Are you aware of having been examined on an alien craft?

58% of experiencers are aware of having been examined on a craft

9. Have you had recurring dreams/nightmares about alien abduction?

56% of experiencers had dreams about alien abduction. 

10. Do you occasionally hear strange code-like buzzing sounds in your ears similar to tinnitus, or hear telepathic messages, or feel a strange but familiar sensation that you’ll have an abduction experience that night?

12. Have you awoken with unexplained marks on your body, such as cored out areas of tissue, triangle shaped burns, finger shaped bruises, or a sunburn without exposure to the sun?

83% of experiencers have awoken with unexplained marks on their bodies.

13. Have you awoken and found yourself dressed in someone else’s clothing or with own clothing inside out or backwards, without a prosaic explanation?

It is common for experiencers to have found themselves dressed in someone else’s clothing or with own clothing inside out or backwards. Sometimes people find that they are upside down in bed, with their heads tucked tightly under their covers and their feet on the pillow.

14. If you are a female, have you experienced a gynecological problem that you think is related to your abduction/contact experiences?

69% of female experiencers have experienced gynecological problems.

15. As a child, were you generally happy and without unusual highs and lows?

16. As an adult, are you generally happy and without unusual highs and lows?

17. Can you feel a foreign object in your body that you suspect is an alien implant?

18. Have you awoken with memories of alien abduction and found that you are more sensitive to light?

19. Do you have difficulty falling asleep and remaining asleep due to fear of alien abduction?

20. Have you been diagnosed as having Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome or Reactivated Mononucleosis?

21. Do you suffer from migraine headaches?

22. Have you awoken with burns, hair loss, or conjunctivitis and memories of an abduction/contact?

23 Has your nose bled immediately following a suspected abduction/contact?

25. Following a suspected abduction/contact, did you ever experience malfunctions of electrical equipment such as lights, digital watches, computers, appliances, all within a four hour period?

26.  Have you witnessed paranormal activity in your home, such as light orbs, objects flying through the air, pictures flying off walls, lights turning off and on, windows opening and closing, doors opening and closing and toilets flushing on their own?

27. Are you more or less sensitive, intuitive, or psychic than you were before you had a memory of alien abduction?

72% of experiencers state that they are more sensitive, intuitive, or psychic than they were before their alien abduction. 

28.  Do you possess information about alien technology that you’ve never read or learned in your normal environment?

29.  Have you had multiple sightings of UFOs up close?

The majority of experiencers state that they’ve had many UFO sightings.

Scoring your questionnaire: (If you answered 15 or more questions in the affirmative, you might be an ETI contact experiencer