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| 5/24 |
| 2007/3/20-21 [Health] UID:46031 Activity:high |
3/20 Take a drug to suppress traumatic memories? Would *you* do it?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2964509&page=1
\_ Rape that hot chick next door, then stuff one of these pills down
her throat right afterwards. She can't remember any details in
court, even though she was painfully aware of your thrusting at that
moment. You're jail-free. Wow, better than date-rape drug.
\_ I'm in favor of the death penalty for proven cases of rape
by drug.
\_ Versus rape by rifle, which is so pleasant?
\_ Depends on the length and girth of your rifle.
\_ I'm in favor of the death penalty for that, too.
\_ How can it be proven? What if the girl herself pops a pill
in order to get a guy in some deep, deep shit? |
| 5/24 |
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| abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2964509&page=1 Erasing the Pain of the Past Scientists Are Developing Drugs That Could Eliminate Traumatic Events From Our Memories Memory Drug Why do painful memories come back to haunt soldiers and those who have lived through other traumatic experiences? Scientists say there is much to be learned about how the brain stores and recalls memories. Michael Walcott, an Iraq War veteran, referring to an experimental drug with the potential to target and erase traumatic memories. Walcott, who served in a Balad-based transportation unit that regularly took mortar fire, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since returning to the United States two years ago, he has been on antidepressants and in group therapy as he tries to put his life back together and heal from the psychological scars of war. "There are moments," he said, "when you just want be alone and don't want to deal with everyone telling you that you've changed." The Army estimates that one in eight soldiers returning home from Iraq suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms of the disorder, once known as shell shock, include flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of detachment, irritability, trouble concentrating and sleeplessness. Much about why painful memories come back to haunt soldiers and those who live through other traumatic experiences remains unknown. Scientists say that is because little is known about how the brain stores and recalls memories. But in their early efforts to understand the way in which short-term memories become long-term memories, researchers have discovered that certain drugs can interrupt that process. Those same drugs, they believe, can also be applied not just in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic event -- like a mortar attack, rape or car accident -- but years later, when an individual is still haunted by memories of event. The hope is that a post-traumatic stress disorder patient can work with a psychiatrist and focus a traumatic event, take one of these drugs and then slowly forget that event. With that hope, however, comes a series of ethical concerns. What makes up our personalities -- the essence of who we are as individuals -- if not the collected memories of our experiences? There is some promising preliminary data but no conclusions." |