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News Propranolol Erases The Fear Associated With Memories

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doglover

I have seen stuff on this site about taking beta-blockers for anxiety, but so far I haven't seen this particular info. A study suggests that Propranolol can "erase" the emotional intensity around a particular memory. The research is still quite new, made public in 2009. Here is a snippet from an article in a science blog about the study:

"The drug in question is propranolol, commonly used to treat high blood pressure and prevent migraines in children. But [DLMURL="http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/m.kindt/page1.html"]Merel Kindt[/DLMURL] and colleagues from the University of Amsterdam have found that it can do much more. By giving it to people before they recalled a scary memory about a spider, they could erase the fearful response it triggered. The critical thing about the study is that the entire memory hadn’t been erased in a typical sci-fi way. Kindt had trained the volunteers to be fearful of spidery images by pairing them with electric shocks. Even after they’d been given propranolol, they still expected to receive a shock when they saw a picture of a spider – they just weren’t afraid of the prospect. The drug hadn’t so much erased their memories, as dulled their emotional sting....

Kindt’s work hinges on the fact that memories of past fears aren’t as fixed as previously thought. When they are brought back to mind, proteins at the synapses – the junctions between two nerve cells – are broken down and have to be Dead Link Removed. This process is called “reconsolidation” and scientists believe that it helps to incorporate new information into existing memories. The upshot is that when we recall old memories, they have to be rebuilt on some level, which creates an opportunity for changing them.

A few years ago, two American scientists managed to use propranolol to banish fearful responses in rats. They injected the animals in their amygdalae, a part of their brains involved in processing emotional memories. The drug didn’t stop a fearful memory from forming in the first place, but it did impair the memory when the rats tried to retrieve it. Now, Kindt has shown that the chemical has the same effect in humans"

[I would post the source, but recently I shared a book recommendation and the thread was deleted so I want to stay within the rules. If you do an internet search you can find this info for yourself.]

This seems to be in the early stages, and many questions have been raised about it (check for yourself, again I want to be sure I am following the rules here), but it sounds like a promising way for people to process their experiences. What do you think?
 
Ah. That's a shame. Thank you for catching me up. The mechanism for it reminded me of EMDR.
 
Yes, another spin on the drugs attempted applications. I do wonder though Eloise, as you thinking about the trial they did with soldiers with the first attempted usage as a beta blocker prior to experiencing the trauma? That didn't go well... agreed.

They have gone on another tangent with it recently, still explored even into the current year, with its use prior to therapy sessions, just like MDMA pretty much, except without the increased risks.

It is another spin though IMO on trying to get the drug into mainstream therapy treatment... more than likely a push by the pharmaceutical companies because their business is dying down with SSRI's due to their failure in mental health, which is gaining increased recognition as drugs to avoid.

Personally, whilst I understand that the drug attempts to block the pathways with the fear response, just as they attempted its usage with prior to trauma itself, which failed, I don't really see a valid application either way because you are introducing a drug into something where a drug is usually problematic at the best of times, hence psychotherapy and its aim... being to not use drugs at all possible, yet the issue becomes resolved.

If a person is conditioned to take a drug to suppress fear, then that will endup outside therapy, which is what pharmaceutical companies want... they want people popping a pill so they don't feel as fearful when they feel fear.

Pharmaceuticals have a real time and place, there are some life saving drugs that really help humanity... IMHO, this is not one of them for its attempted application outside its scope of use.

It really is an issue within itself on what pharmaceutical companies are trying to push into the realms of off-label usage.
 
I have taken Proponol for 2 years. I am not sure it does much other than stop me shaking. In the time that I have taken it my trauma symptoms have not improved. I hate having to take drugs, I wish there was a pill that erased my trauma memories. They won't leave me alone. The haunt me like a ghost/
Valium however, the only thing I can cope on... sad existence really:(
 
timetorecover, the study I read about said very clearly that it does not erase the memories. It is supposed to erase the fear around the memories. So you can recall the event without the fight-or-flight stuff.
 
Well, anthony, I agree with you that pharmaceutical companies push their product like they were the illegal kind of dealers. I also think drugs do have their place. Some folks are too unstable to really process their trauma without medications. This class of drugs is not habit-forming, and doesn't cause a "high" or anything. It is nowhere near the same, IMO, as doctors prescribing benzos (terrible detox, habit-forming) and the like.

While I agree that natural is the best option (though natural doesn't necessarily mean safe either), therapy without meds is the best option, I do think meds have a place - in helping people get stable enough to do the work they need to do, to reduce symptoms, increase coping, decrease triggering, improve functioning, and then they can wean off the medication.

I suppose in theory, studies done at Universities are not allowed to be influenced by pharma companies - I am sure in practice it can be a different story.

(The study I was referring to was done by M. Kindt, 2009, at U of Amsterdam; it involved spiders and shocks.)
 
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