Posted on 11/22/2010 6:35:52 PM PST by huldah1776
"Soldiers haunted by scenes of war and victims scarred by violence may wish they could wipe the memories from their minds. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University say that may someday be possible.
A commercial drug remains far off — and its use would be subject to many ethical and practical questions. But scientists have laid a foundation with their discovery that proteins can be removed from the brain's fear center to erase memories forever."
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Kate Farinholt, executive director of the mental health support and information group NAMI Maryland, said many people suffering from a traumatic event might benefit from erasing a memory. But there are a lot of unanswered questions, she said."
"Connie Walker, a Leonardtown mother of an Iraq war veteran suffering from PTSD, said there isn't enough attention given to the injuries of service members in general and she specifically supports research into PTSD-related therapy. But Walker, a 23-year-Navy veteran herself, said she wouldn't want her son to take a medication to erase what he witnessed."
Could be interesting, and like those with Alzheimer's, what you don't remember, doesn't hurt. I have lost a lot of memories from epilepsy, so my mother said, but it doesn't bother me. We can re-write and ditch memories at will, so what say you?
A commercial drug remains far off — and its use would be subject to many ethical and practical questions. But scientists have laid a foundation with their discovery that proteins can be removed from the brain's fear center to erase memories forever."
In related news, a pharma company is seeking Chicago Cubs fans to participate in clinical testing of a new drug under development...
Seems like a perfect date rape drug.
Really ~ I'd prefer reading about that in a "my life before the drug" book ~
Down the ol’ Memory Hole® for real.
Amongst other nefarious uses, to be sure...
the infowarrior
Maybe we could wipe out memory of November 2008?
Can it be sprayed with planes over the East & West coasts??
but can it erase the
Obama years? :-D. I think they call that a Tea Party.
ummmmmm........NO thanks!
How do we know that this drug has not already been widely used? Who would remember?
“How many times have you flashy-thinged her?”
I’ve lost memories of what certainly were quite traumatic events (I remember what happened before and after, and can piece together what happened during). I’m not sure I would really need a drug for that. I’m also not sure that deliberately erasing memories of a traumatic event would be a good thing.
um, yeah, thinking I’d rather learn to deal with the memories than trust a synthetic drug to rewire my brain.
Bull ,,,Kill who’s gonna kill you,..just answered your question Kate...You figure it out..without our money,
Well, there are already drugs commonly in use that keep you from forming short term memory. I think we ought to be really concerned about this kind of stuff. But i find most people are very sanguine about drugs, especially if a medical professional tells them they should use it.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
starring Jim Carrey
Years ago, one of the first effective antidepressants, called Norpramin (Desipramine Hydrochloride), was widely prescribed throughout the US to some 2 million people.
Even though it had a huge number of side effects, people were willing to put up with them to get around severe depression. After approval by the FDA, most research was discontinued in the US. However, it continued in Japan, making a strange discovery.
As infant mammals grow, they develop rigid parameters in their perceptions of reality. Things such as size, shape, color, perspective, and accuracy about what senses perceive what input.
However, Desipramine tends to “soften” these parameters.
To demonstrate this, they took ordinary cats, and sewed one of their eyelids shut. Then they injected Desipramine into the optical center of their brain. In about two weeks, after the drug was out of their system, the stitches were removed.
The cats had relearned how to see, with monocular vision. That is, the eye that had been closed still worked, and still sent signals to the brain, but those signals were ignored. The cats had relearned how to see with just one eye.
Now imagine the effect of this on the entire brain.
Importantly, the human mind effectively ignores the vast majority of the sensory input our bodies receive. We skim off just a tiny amount, then further discriminate it by putting it through our rigid mental template of how we define reality. Then we use several other tricks to get just a tiny part of what we could have perceived.
And yet this is so thoroughly trained into us as we mature that it is almost universal among people on Earth. We all use the same tiny amount of information.
So imagine what would happen if a large number of people suddenly were able to stray from the status quo of reality?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.