D
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?
"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?