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| Ketamine is a painkiller |
In cases
of emergency, like the example above, the fact that a painkiller has the side
effect of memory loss is a benefit. But the idea of using drugs to remove
memory isn't just a lucky side effect - scientists have been researching into
this area for years. Drugs that remove memory could be used in order to prevent
individuals developing post traumatic stress syndrome, and although there are
no drugs fully developed as of yet, the idea of a pill to forget may not be so
far away. This could be extremely beneficial for victims of attack, witnesses
of horrific events and returning soldiers.
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| Propranolol -a drug with potential? |
So how
would they work? Shortly after a traumatic event, there is a period when the
memory of the event is consolidated in the brain. The strength of the memory
relates to the release of endogenous stress hormones - such as adrenaline. When
too much adrenaline is released levels of noradrenaline increase resulting in
over-consolidation of the memory - this is what causes post traumatic stress
syndrome. Drugs aimed at undoing this over-consolidation of memory would hence
relieve symptoms of this condition. One drug of focus is propranolol, a
beta-blocker. In several studies (named in the references if you're really
interested), it was found that people given propranolol before being told a
tragic story recalled less of the story than those not given propranolol. It
was found propranolol had a significant affect on attenuating
memory.
But I
think this raises another issue - if such drugs become mainstream, would they
be used recreationally to extremes? If drug development allowed us to
pop-a-pill to forget a specific memory from our life, would we? Would we
"take one with water" to forget the memories of the lover who broke
our heart? Would we forget our embarrassing moments? Or the memories
of our bad days at work? Neuroethics are becoming increasingly
acknowledged, as advances in neuroscience are now allowing us to manipulate the
functioning of the brain, and we have to question the ethics of such tampering.
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| Homer has made his mind up |
It could
be argued that this principle of erasing memories already exists with alcohol
when we head to the pub after a rough day to "drown our sorrows", for
the purpose of escapism to forget our problems - however a temporary distraction
is less severe than the permanent erasure of a memory, and drugs
could take this to a new level. There is also the opportunity for misuse -
would witness's of crimes be spiked so they would not remember the criminals
face? Would they be used to manipulate others for financial benefit?
At present
this is not so much of an issue, as such drugs are far from being ready to use
on the human population and only tone down memories as opposed to erasing them
- but with scientific advances, I would expect one day for there to be such
memory altering drugs available. From a more philosophical view it could
be argued that experiences make us who we are and we learn
from difficult times. This leads to a very grey areas in
neuroethics - would the benefit of relieving post traumatic stress syndrome
outweigh the damage caused by misuse?
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| Would you erase? |
Personally,
I think the current prospect of using drugs to reduce the impact of tragic
events on those with post traumatic stress syndrome is only a good thing.
Propranolol, as a mainstream drug, is a front runner in
the race to reduce the impact of such memories, although this is still far from the finish line. However, I would say that we should not tamper further with our personal
memories, as tempting as this would seem. But if such
drugs were available, would you remember your pills to forget?
References
