Alien Abduction Experience: Definition, neurobiological profiles, clinical contexts and therapeutic approaches

The experience of alien abduction consists in the alleged kidnapping of human beings by extraterrestrial biological entities, by means of superior technologies. The information is not always clear whether these experiences are lived on board spacecraft orbiting deep space outside the Earth’s orbit or inside specially built underground military bases. The narratives supporting this circumstance are often different, as are the medical investigations that are carried out by an unspecifi ed specialized technical staff [1].


Introduction and defi nition
The experience of alien abduction consists in the alleged kidnapping of human beings by extraterrestrial biological entities, by means of superior technologies. The information is not always clear whether these experiences are lived on board spacecraft orbiting deep space outside the Earth's orbit or inside specially built underground military bases. The narratives supporting this circumstance are often different, as are the medical investigations that are carried out by an unspecifi ed specialized technical staff [1].
In the world, thousands are people who claim to have lived on their own skin, at least once, the experience of being kidnapped by an alien race (mainly described as gray type humanoids, Nordic type humanoids and reptiloids).
Certainly it is the fact that to talk about alien abductions we must obviously give the existence of extraterrestrial biological entities capable of interacting with us and possessing highly advanced intelligence and technology, far superior to our currently known. The (non-scientifi c) evidence supporting the confi rmation hypothesis of the phenomenon are eyewitness testimony, mechanical evidence (audio and video), the retrieval of objects related to the "abduction" phenomenon such as the plants allegedly found in the body of the kidnapped and the experiences of direct contact with one of the alien breeds described [1].
On the basis of these premises, the "Close Encounter", according to the classifi cation of the astrophysicist Hynek, subsequently revisited by the UFO community according to Bloecher's directives, can be of seven types: [1]. The phenomenon in question is therefore called "Close encounter of the fourth type" and has been described by those who claim to have lived it as an often invasive and traumatic experience that has "missing time" as its fi rst narrative element, ie an alleged block of time (never scientifi cally proven), called by insiders also "alien interference" [2]. This memory would seem removed on a conscious level but not on an unconscious level, as if the mechanism of removal by the psychological instance of the Ego was triggered; however, to date there is no scientifi c evidence to support this hypothesis and there is also a lack of robust evidence of any kidnappings aboard spacecraft [3,4]. The stories of the kidnappings are therefore essentially based on the testimonies of the "kidnapped" and even if some ufology scholars claim that these memories can be reported on a conscious level through hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming and graphological analysis, the scientifi c evidence to support the truthfulness and correctness of these episodes, often altered or confused by false memories capable of reconstructing events that never happened [5,6]. This temporal void is instead described in psychiatric clinic as a typical element in traumatic experiences and dissociations [7][8][9][10][11].
Despite the suggestiveness of the narratives, even of events of international impact such as those of Raymond W.

Bernard, of the spouses Hill, Travis Walton and Pier Fortunato
Zanfretta, there is no scientifi c evidence of the existence of such circumstances [1].
In Italy, in the last decade, a well-known university professor and independent researcher has published numerous investigations on the subject of hypnosis and alien abductions, claiming to have analyzed thousands of cases and to be able to demonstrate the veracity of the phenomenon [12,13], however, publicly, it never provided detailed research data and the fi nal

Clinical strategies and therapeutic approaches
The best treatment suggested in the scientifi c literature is the one combined between psychotherapy (stratetic or cognitive-behavioral) and psychopharmacology (especially in the presence of evident clinical psychotic signs or disorders that need a pharmacological approach to stabilize the patient before continuing or setting up psychotherapy targeted and centered on the needs and needs specifi cally identifi ed during the anamnesis). In the presence of confi rmed dissociative episodes or rich production of false memories, it is not recommended to make use of hypnosis and suggestive techniques, which could incentivize or strengthen this patient's interpretation of reality [5,10]

Conclusion
The phenomenon of "alien abductions" seems to have a