FANTASY PRONENESS, AMNESIA, AND THE UFO ABDUCTION PHENOMENON Susan .\laric POIITrS. .\LA. Susan Marie Powers, M.A., is a doctoral studentattheSaybrook Absorption is interpreted as a disposition for hav­ Institute, San Francisco, CA 94109. ing episodes of total attention that fully engages one's representational (i.e., perceptual, inactive, Forreprintswrite SusanMarie Powers, M.A., SaybrookInstitute, imaginative, and ideational, resources. This kind LRC, 1550 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109. of attentional functioning is believed to result in a heightened sense of the reality of the attention­ ABSTRACT al object, imperiousness to distracting events, and an altered sense ofself. (p. 268) Fantasy proneness has been viewed as an adaptiveresponse to stress; however, the specificrelationship between amnesia andfantasyprone­ More recent research on fantasy proneness by Lynn and ness has not been ferreted out as a research focus. This essay exam­ Rhue (1988) has emphasized the importance ofabsorption ines the ways in which amnesia appears to playa functional role as it correlates to fantasy proneness, r>.70, (Lynn & Rhue, infantasyproneness andpost-traumaticstress disorder. Furthermore, 1988). This correlation is significant because "measures of this essay postulates that persons who report that they have been absorption correlate more highly with hypnotizability than abducted lJy extraterrestrials andsexually abused duringthese abduc­ with personality traits measured by multidimensional per­ tions may befantasy-prone individuals who have used systematized sonalityinventories [forexample, the MMP] " (Lynn & Rhue, amnesia to create a mask memory for repeated instances ofviolent 1988, p. 36). Therefore, while the fantasy prone personali­ sexual abuse in early childhood. ty may be more likely to be highly hypnotizable, it could be that the accompanying trait ofabsorption, which most fan­ INTRODUCTION tasy prone individuals possess, is the key to hypnotic sus­ ceptibility. Supporting this hypothesis is the research by The term, "fantasy-prone personality"was coinedbyWilson Spiegel's (1974) research, which distinguishes a population and Barber (1983) to describe the following population: ofhighlyhypnotizable individuals, The GradeFive Syndrome derives its name from a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 representing There exists a small group ofindividuals (possibly no hypnotic talent and 5 indicating a high degree of hyp­ 4% ofthe population) who fantasize a large part of notic talent. These individuals demonstratespecific personality the time, who typically "see," "smell," "touch," and characteristics and Spiegel finds that absorption, the capac­ fully experience what they fantasize; and who can ity for concentration, is a predominaflt trait in this group. be labeled fantasy-prone personalities. (p. 340) A study by Tellegen and Atkinson (1974) yields data on the trait of absorption and its relationship to hypnotic sus­ One purpose of the 1983 Wilson and Barber study was to ceptibility. However, althoughfantasy pronenessandabsorp­ shedlighton the phenomenon ofhypnosis. The researchers tion have received serious consideration in terms of their hypothesized thatindividualswith a specific constellation of relationship to hypnotizability, and the correlation between personalitytraits mightbe more easily hypnotized than mem­ fantasy proneness and absorption has been addressed, the bers of the general population. Fantasy-prone individuals occurrence of amnesia in fantasy prone personalities has were determined to be people who had had a "life-time his­ not been ferreted out as a research focus. There is much in tory ofintense fantasy" (Wilson & Barber, 1983, p. 373) and the literature to suggest thatconcentrated studies ofthe pos­ who, due to the skills they had developed during their habit­ sible relationship between amnesia and fantasy proneness, ual fantasizing, have become capable ofentering profound and between hypnosis and dissociative states in general, may hypnotic states easily. be very informative. Prior to the developmentofthe conceptoffantasy prone­ The purpose ofthis essay is to explore the hypothetical ness and the subsequentresearch ofits possible relationship relationship offantasy proneness to amnesia. Reviewing lit­ to hypnotizability, the dimension of "absorption" received erature on fantasy proneness, absorption, and dissociation attention. This trait was defined by Tellegen and Atkinson may allow the relationship, if one exists, between fantasy (1974) as follows: proneness and amnesia to emerge. The dissociative materi­ als under consideration will include studies on partial or complete amnesia which has been related to traumatic life 46 D1SS0CLUIOX. Yol. !Y. ;'\0. 1. ~Iarch 199\ , > POWERS events. trauma at its original intensity. The relationship between psychological trauma, amne­ The thirdcategoryoftraits describedbyWilson andBarber sia, andfantasy pronenessas an adaptive andcopingresponse (1983) is the self-reporting of paranormal or psychic phe­ to stress will be examined. In addition, the current phe­ nomena. Many of the fantasy-prone subjects believe they nomenon of individuals reporting their abduction by have the ability to heal, that they experience telepathy and "extraterrestrials" will be reviewed with the following ques­ out-of-bodyexperiences, and thattheyhave contactwith other tion in mind: Does the group of people who believe they worlds. This contactwith otherworldswas reported to occur have been abducted by extraterrestrials inform us of a pos­ during hypnagogic states, "the images seem to individuals sible relationship between'amnesia and fantasy proneness? experiencing them to come from another world, not from their own mind" (p. 364). Wilson and Barber account for CHARACTERISTICS OF these experiences by suggesting that fantasy proneness THE FANTASY-PRONE PERSONALITY enables many people to fantasize with hallucinatory vivid­ ness and therebyexperience the perceptionofspirits, ghosts, Adjustments and Traits or apparitions (p. 365). Wilson and Barber (1983) delineated several traits of This constellation of personality traits for the fantasy­ the fantasy prone personality. These can be divided rough­ prone personality poses intriguing questionswith respect to ly into three categories: (1) childhood behavioral and per­ amnesia. The few cases of amnesia that were spontaneous­ sonalitytraits, (2) fantasizing habitsmaintainedduringadult ly reported by the subjects inWilson and Barber's studywere life, and (3) self-reported paranormal experiences. Fantasy­ linked, by the subjects themselves, to events they did not pronepeopleareusuallyhighlyhypnotizable, although both want individuals to remember. Wilson andBarber'sdatapre­ Wilson and Barber (983) and Lynn and RIme (1988) are sents a picture ofindividuals who, as ohildren and as adults, careful to point out that there is a population of nonfanta­ are capable ofcreating another world or life for themselves. sy-prone personalitieswhich is highly hypnotizable. In addi­ Thisinformationsuggests thatthere maybe two copingmech­ tion, the traitofabsorption hasbeen linked to fantasy prone­ anisms that are readily available to a fantasy-prone person. ness (Lynn and Rhue, 1988). He or she could use an amnesic episode to block a painful Manyofthefantasy-prone subjectsinWilson andBarber's memory, or the individual could create an alternative real­ study (1983) reported that when they were children they ity or memory to replace the traumatic event. believed their dolls had feelings and personalities. Several Young (1988) discusses the structural use of fantasy in ofthe subjects had imaginarycompanions and also engaged the development of alter personalities in the case of multi­ in fantasy games wherein they pretended they were some­ ple personalitydisorder (MPD) patients. Young suggests that one else. Subjects described theirchildhoodbeliefin fairies, the alter personalities may serve a defensive purpose ofm~s­ guardian angels, and spirits, and many reported that cur­ tery and restitution in copingwith authentic trauma (1988). rently, as adults, they still believe in magical creatures. Somethingvery similar to this use offantasyby MPD patients According to the data collected by Wilson and Barber maybeoccurringwith thefantasy-prone population. Ganaway (1983), fantasy-prone adults share the following character­ (1989) underscores the possible impact ofimagination and istics. They spend much oftheir time fantasizing, and "sixty­ the use offantasy as he states that ''Within theworld oftrance five percent ofthe fantasizers typically experience their fan­ logic the uniqueness and vastness of the internal system is tasies as real as real (as hallucinatory) in all sense modalities" limited only by the creativity and psychodynamic needs of (Wilson and Barber, 1983, p. 352). Many reported that they the constructor" (p. 209). The possible link between amne­ hadcontinuedchildhoodfantasizing habitssuchas pretending sia, psychological trauma, and the use offantasy as a coping that they were someone else and creating another world or mechanism maybe further elucidated by an examination of life for themselves. Several subjects reported vivid memo­ the developmental antecedents offantasy proneness. ries ofchildhood. AninterestingcontradictionarisesinWilson andBarber's Devewpmental Antecedents study (1983) when the subjects discuss their exceptionally Lynn and Rhue (1988) specifY that two developmental vivid memories of childhood events: . antecedents emerge from the current literature on