Trauma Pill can erase bad memories
Great news, a pill to erase memories- it’s not like it could ever be misused, right?
Some doctors have an even more ambitious goal: trying to cure PTSD. They are deliberately triggering very old bad memories and then giving the pill to deep-six them.
The first study to test this approach on 19 longtime PTSD sufferers has provided early encouraging results, Canadian and Harvard University researchers report.
“We figure we need to test about 10 more people until we’ve got solid evidence.” said Alain Brunet, a psychologist at McGill University in Montreal who is leading the study.
It can’t come too soon.
The need for better treatment grows daily as American troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan with wounded minds as well as bodies. One government survey found almost 1 in 6 showing symptoms of mental stress, including many with post-traumatic stress disorder. Disability payments related to the illness cost the government more than $4 billion a year.
So instead of helping the troops truly heal, we’re going to give them drugs to suppress their memories…? Sounds like a quick fix- I wonder if the memories could resurface down the road… ah, who cares- the FDA is streamlining the approval process…. no long-term research necessary- 29 subjects is “solid evidence”!
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