Meetings with aliens, visions of angels and similar visual sensory images are considered by psychiatrists to be one of the signs of an altered state of the psyche. These are the so-called hallucinations - images that an individual observes without any external stimulus. A person literally sees what his own brain creates.
A figment of imagination or reality
Hallucinations are a symptom of a number of very complex and potentially dangerous diseases. Most often found in people diagnosed with schizophrenia, as well as in a number of other neurological and mental disorders. Hallucinations can be true, associative, imperative, etc.
They can appear in the form of visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and other images. In some cases, different types of hallucinations appear simultaneously. A person with an altered consciousness can not only see alien beings (UFOs, angels, devils, etc.), but also distinguish the texture of their "body", hear voices, "touch" aliens and experience a number of other sensations.
A classic example of auditory hallucinations is the story of Joan of Arc hearing the voice of God. Simultaneously with the auditory, the Virgin of Orleans also had visual hallucinations: Jeanne said that she saw the divine light pouring on her, the images of angels, the Mother of God, etc.
The manifestation of the disease
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Ordinary people may argue that not all people who describe UFO encounters have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. This is only half true. On the one hand, the disease itself can manifest itself only from time to time. During the period of remission - relative stability - a schizophrenic can behave like an absolutely normal person. Even close people for a long time may not be aware that a person is sick.
But any patient diagnosed with schizophrenia sooner or later has a so-called manifestation of the disease. This term is called the first manifestation of the clinical symptoms of the disease. The disease, as it were, "declares" about itself. Most often this is expressed in schizophrenics precisely in hallucinations and obsessive delusions.
We see the same in the story of Joan of Arc. Until a certain age, she behaved absolutely normally and did not stand out in any way among her peers. Then suddenly a certain image appeared to her, which she perceived as the image of God or an angel. After that, the girl was accompanied all her life by voices that periodically disappeared and then reappeared.
On the other hand, it is not exclusively patients with schizophrenia who see hallucinations. There are a number of other mental health conditions for which this is possible. People with some organic lesions (neoplasms, injuries) of the brain also hallucinate. We must not forget about those who take alcohol or any psychotropic drugs. Under the influence of these drugs it is also easy to "see" a flying saucer or an angel with a punishing sword.
Mass psychosis
Another question is the frequency with which all kinds of stories about aliens, "green men", etc. appear in the media. They are all very similar to each other. Psychiatrists and sociologists attribute this to the phenomenon of mass psychosis.
In any human community, there is a certain percentage of emotionally susceptible people. They represent a very specific personality type. Possessing an easily excitable psyche, such individuals quickly succumb to other people's influence, "go on about." Such individuals are characterized by increased anxiety, so they quickly perceive all sorts of frightening ideas such as the appearance of aliens on Earth.
Having heard one or several stories of "eyewitnesses", these people deeply penetrate everything told and easily believe in it. The most susceptible citizens are able not only to see similar images as a result, but can also "infect" others with their idea, evoke an emotional response from those. So one by one, more and more members of society begin to "pick up" the delusional idea.
In the middle of the last century, such an idea was the appearance of aliens on Earth. In the Middle Ages, witches caused massive psychosis. It seemed to a huge number of mentally healthy people that they saw the flights of witches, the Sabbath or something in the same spirit. This phenomenon is also explained by the fact that people tend to subconsciously copy each other. As soon as 2-3 "eyewitnesses" declare that they saw UFOs or angels, they will immediately have followers.