The alien abduction syndrome is a modern form of hysterical delirium which allows us to grasp some of its specific features. John E. Mack's clinical document illuminates in particular the difference between the acute and chronic forms of the syndrome. Paradoxically, subjects who go to see Mack feel relief from their nervous troubles insofar as their conviction is consolidated—not only that they have been victims of alien abductions, but beyond this, that they are permanently at the mercy of these all-powerful beings. Mack's clinical practice is exemplary concerning what differentiates psychotherapy from psychoanalysis. Mack's work shows in a striking way how the cost of alienation to be paid for by therapeutic benefits in psychotherapy is always exorbitant. Approving of the abduction fantasy is incontestably beneficial to the subject. He feels integrated in the community of the kidnapped, with whom he feels he shares the secret truth.