New Pill to erase bad memories

February 17, 2009

I can appreciate, at a superficial level, the need or desire to erase bad memories in ones life but once you start down the rabbit hold of purging your perceived bad experiences from your memory bank what’s next? Maybe you had a bad relationship, would you then like to purge all memory of that relationship? What if you had a tragic car crash that has scarred you from driving in heavy rain, will taking this pill then enable you to drive in the rain without fear? Now I am aware this is a bit of stretch but my point is once you start playing god with your own memories then it can quickly domino into an overall effort to cleanse you of all of your perceived bad life experiences. More on that in a moment.

Here’s the skinny. “A widely available blood pressure pill could one day help people erase bad memories, perhaps treating some anxiety disorders and phobias, according to a Dutch study published on Sunday. The drug was shown to significantly weaken people’s fearful memories of spiders. The generic beta-blocker propranolol significantly weakened people’s fearful memories of spiders among a group of healthy volunteers who took it, said Merel Kindt, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the study.”

warning-drinking-may-cause-memory-loss-posters

Personally it doesn’t make too much sense to me to help people forget about the bad things in their lives. If you were to forget all that went bad in your life how are you to then prevent it from happening again in the future? Just like the old adage says, “those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it.” If you’re really looking to forget or get over something do one of two things: One confront it head on and get over it or just pick up the bottle ;).

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1 PDF { 02.19.09 at 5:58 pm }: The fact that you are not immediately able to retrieve/perceive one or more extreme “bad experiences from your memory bank ,” shows how ignorant/naive you are to the effects of trauma in a person’s life and how FORTUNATE you are to be so ignorant.

I agree that a single “bad experience” in a person’s life can build character and make us stronger and that there is no need to erase this information. However, if you have ever experienced “TRAUMA” in your life, if posed the question, “Would you take a pill that would help you forget bad experiences?” you would instantaneously/immediately recall this trauma and instantaneously/immediately answer the question, YES,YES, YES!!!

After remembering repressed memories and being traumatized in my 40’s by the sexual abuse of my childhood to the point of considering suicide,I would certainly and seriously consider a medication which could erase those flashbacks and memories which sometimes incapacitated me. Please don’t judge someone’s decision to consider this possibility until you hear their story and reasoning for wanting/needing to forget or repress these memories for the first time or again . I sometimes feel that I was better off (and certainly, more emotionally functional) for all those years that I was in denial.

Dumb & Dumber

As the 3 month long NBA Finals begin D&D try and tackle who will emerge with the Larry O'Brien Trophy when it's all said and done.

Dumb

After being humiliated in the Finals last year by Boston (you know expectations are high when losing 4-2 without your starting center is considered humiliation), the Los Angeles Lakers have but one objective this year: Win It All. Anything less would be a failure. So, after bringing the gold medal home for all Americans in Beijing this past summer, Kobe has the sole focus of bringing the gold Larry O'Brien trophy back where IT belongs: The City of Angeles. And make no mistake about it, with KG sidelined with a bum knee, the Lakers are the best team in the NBA, and the best team always wins. The only team that can really give the Lake Show a run for their money is The LeBrons, aka the Cleveland Cavaliers. I agree that LeBron is the best player in the game. But history shows that the best TEAM wins the Finals, not the best player. That's why the Spurs have won 4 titles in the last 10 years, it's why Detroit won in 2004 and it's why the Celtics won last year. Assuming the Cleveland vs. Lakers scenario plays out, the Lakers will undoubtedly have the best team between the two. Last year, they were without Bynum and Trevor Ariza, and were playing with Gasol for only 1/2 season, and came within 2 games of winning it all. This year, with the core of the team healthy, both Ariza and Lamar Odom (not to mention Kobe) available to D up King James, and a supporting cast that is deeper and better from 2-12 than Cleveland, the Forum Blue & Gold will be poised to hoist the trophy once again. LeBron will have to wait at least another year to claim his crown and Kobe, ala Steve Young, can finally take that monkey off his back, earning his first title without Shaq.

Dumber

I gotta go with the Cavaliers. I know Dumb is picking the Lakers. He loves them so much he probably wishes he could be the girl Kobe raped in Colorado - just to say he “had some champion in him”. LeBron’s got home court advantage, meaning he’ll throw white powder in the air like Boston George at a Peter Frampton concert. Aside from the ridiculous talent, admittedly mostly possessed by LeBron, they have chemistry and play as a TEAM (unlike the Lakers, who play because they might get their dicks sucked after the game by Laker Girls - can’t blame em). True, the Cavs need Ben Wallace and HoMo Williams to ensure victory over Bean Town or LA, but I’m very sure LeBron is PISSED about last year — His time has come

White Noise

Homeless & Their Pets Rant: Why in the hell do homeless people always have dogs? I assume it is some kind of a begging tactic, but what the hell? PETA wants to hang Michael Vick by his balls, yet any dreadlocked idiot who cannot take care of him/herself has a cute little puppy. My parents wouldn’t let me get a dog until I was 14 or so and we had a house with power, a yard, access to dog food and only smoked crack on the weekends (you know - normal). So I’m at the DMV the other day (talk about the LCD of society), I step outside due to enjoy my 1.5 hour and what is it I see at the park? Numerous homeless with dogs. Are these poor things fed? Are they constantly getting brown weed smoke blown in their faces? If you can’t have at least a crappy apartment and a form of income, you shouldn’t have a dog. I guess the one good thing is since these people don’t work, they can spend all day with the dog. Also, since they live outside, I guess you don’t have to worry about the dog being taken out to the bathroom. Regardless, I don’t effing get it. Maybe it is for companionship, but since there are roughly 12,500 homeless in SF, I figure they can all hang out and leave poor fido out of it.