UAP and mental health: leads from the UK
UAP and mental health: leads from the UK
The uNHIdden website, founded in 2023 by English physicist John Priestland, has just published a White Paper on "The impact of Exceptional Experiences and Disclosure on mental health and well-being".
In a Debrief article, the founder states that the UK's lack of policy on UAP is having damaging consequences. This led him to set up the charity uNHIdden. Its aim is to help and advise the UK government in the field of mental health, in the same way as The Sol Foundation provides recommendations to the US government on UAP. UnHidden intends to ”be an advocate for individuals who have had Exceptional Experiences and to promote better mental health practices around the UAP topic. The association's ambassadors include Admiral Tim Gallaudet and astronomer Béatriz Villarroel.
In order to account for the events experienced by UAP observers and abductees, the white paper takes up the concept of Exceptional Experiences described by Thomas Rabeyron as follows:
An exceptional experience is usually a rare, spontaneous or provoked experience, involving from the subject's point of view a non-ordinary interaction with his or her environment. It often generates intense emotions, both positive and negative, stemming from its unusual and strange nature.
Whether real or imagined, these experiences concern 11% of Britons whose need for listening, support and even care is prevented by the lack of recognition of the UFO phenomenon. A change in policy would stop the stigmatization of UFO experiencers and allow the medical professions to work on treating the anxiety and distress felt by victims.
The report also points to the anxiety caused by the lack of information on UAP. Indeed, the mainstream media relay little information on this subject, condemning the public to seek answers elsewhere, on networks such as X or niche media with less verified sources. What's more, the uNHIdden team points to repeated discrepancies between confirmed information from the USA and denials from the UK. This "lack of proper and accurate news coverage" makes the public concerned “vulnerable to hyperbole and deliberate manipulation”. The report stresses the need for "a clear, consistent narrative on which people can start to rely".
Finally, the white paper warns about the impact of Disclosure on the public. Drawing this time on the work of sociologist Anthony Giddens, the editors warn of the ontological shock that disclosure can represent.
“('Ontological shock' is a term that has entered the world of UAPs in recent years. It is used to indicate the disorientation and anxiety that people encounter when they learn of the existence of non-human intelligence. This could include the realization that humankind may not be the 'apex predator' here on Earth, as well as the fact that we may have been lied to by our governments and authorities for decades.
It is necessary to envisage that Disclosure could affect a sufficiently large proportion of the population for it to become a societal problem. In the book After Disclosure, Bryce Zabel and Richard Dolan suggest that between 10 and 30% of people would be negatively affected by Disclosure.
This was the thrust of Karl Nell's presentation at The Sol Foundation conference, Avoiding Catastrophic Disclosure, which he defined as:
Precipitous and uncontrolled public revelation(s) that demonstrate reality behind UAP, TUO and/or NHI in such a manner as may reasonably be assumed to cause significant societal disruption.
Nell then developed a controlled disclosure strategy to achieve the desired end state with "Proper oversight restored - Catastrophic disclosure avoided - Scientific understanding advanced”.
While this plan is quite interesting, the report highlights a major omission here: the medical and psychological aspect. For the uNHIdden team, a person-centered approach is imperative. Comparing disclosure to the announcement of a serious illness, they stress the importance of building trust between government and citizens, in the same way as between doctor and patient.
To address the issue of disclosure, and more broadly that of UAP, uNHIdden makes the following recommendations:
1. The UK Government should publicly acknowledge that UAP sightings and other forms of Exceptional Experiences are real, and that the people who have experienced them may need care and support.
2. The National Health System and professional bodies should develop guidance for health and social care professionals, to make it easier for them to consult patients presenting with Exceptional Experiences in a non-judgmental and evidence-based manner.
3. The UK Government should provide credible information on the UAP topic to the public, and the media needs to play its part by reporting newsworthy stories about UAP fairly and properly.
4. The UK Government should commission multidisciplinary research that considers both the medical and psychological aspects of how the general population might react to UAP disclosure, and identifies the most vulnerable individuals, groups, and communities, and what sort of help and support might be beneficial.
5. The UK Government should develop a plan for UAP disclosure that brings together multiple branches of government and community groups as a single, open, shared endeavor, putting people and their well-being first. This needs to be done in a way that builds trust.
Translation by Guillaume Fournier Airaud
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0