For anybody interested in the nature of memory, and especially for those with traumatic memories, there is an amazing article in the March 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Entitled, “The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever”, it tells of research into a memory-specific eraser, of sorts. But even more fascinating are recent discoveries in memory research: That any memory–even those associated with trauma resulting in PTSD–is not fixed and immutable. Memories are not solid, unchangeable fact. Pharmacology aside, the article may provide some beneficial information that could ease the lives of BCTS folks that still have disturbing–and even crippling–memories.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/02/ff_forgettingpill
I hope it can help.
Karin
Comments
this looks really interesting
I've been thinking about memory ever since I read those chapters of your story.
Maybe we need our memories?
I was diagnosed with PTSD, borderline personality disorder, and have masochistic tendencies. I know where those things came from, and though it has taken years, I have since forgiven the perpetrators, though the cost was heavy. I am still very frightened of some men, even though these are the happiest days of my life. The trauma I suffered has made me a more gentle, caring and compassionate person.
The PTSD suffered in combat situations, I think is different because sudden explosions that leave you bleeding at the ears, being wakened from a sound sleep by someone shooting at you, or by mortar rounds, or by taking another's life, no matter how hard you need to justify it by saying they are the enemy. Finding dead or wounded women and children after YOU lobbed a mortar round at what you thought was the enemy is just awful.
The S_____d rate for Iraq and Afghan veterans is much higher than for WWII, and it makes me really angry that some rich bastard sent one or more of my children there so they could make more profit from building weapons or getting mineral rights.
I'd be really careful about memory erasure. Those memories may be the stuff that improves our character.
G
You Must Remember This: "Forceful" and Memories
Yes, but can lead to identity death.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Erase memories?
Not for me! My memories, good or bad, are the reason I am who I am. I would be afraid that if I lost some of the memories, and the lessons I've learned, it would mean that I would be less of a person, and definitely less of a writer. How can you write about pain if you don't remember yours? How could you ever have any empathy?
No, I'll keep all of my memories, even the painful ones. Sometimes the memories that hurt the most have become so painful because they are so wonderful, reminding us of what we've lost.
Wren
I agree with you, Wren
A person is made up of their memories, as a time lord friend of mine once said. Without the memory of my assault, I would not be the person I am. Not to mention the possibility of abuse - Could someone take all my memories of ever wanting to be a girl to "help" me? And even in the story, the girl, having repressed all her memories of being a girl, it didnt make her a happy man, but instead a miserable creature with the appearance of a man.
Half and half...
...often, in the exercise described in the article, the subject is re-traumatized if the context of the memory isn't emphasized; the subject needs to be 'reminded' that they are in the present; otherwise the trauma is processed all over again in the same way.
As my therapist explained; one half of that part of the brain, the amygdala, is 'responsible' for emotion and is not temporal. That is to say, it has no context of time. The hypocampus is the logical and temporal half; distinguishing the time frame of the memory. The hypocampus may 'shut down,' leaving the amygdala to handle the truama 'alone.' It will store the memory; not so much amnesia as being a way of storing it until such time that the brain can handle it. New neural networks actually are produced that 'bypass' the memory. When the memory arises, being provoked artificially or by a trigger such as a smell or a sound, the process repeats, and the brain reacts as if the trauma was happening then and there.
In therapy, I'm doing exercises that repeat right/left brain activity; the body does this naturally in what is called bi lateral stimulation in such things as walking and running or riding a bike or even typing on a keyboard. The whole idea is to get the hypocampus and the amygdala to work together to re-form neural networks, where the memory is re-stored, but in the context of a memory only much like any other memory we may have. Taking the trauma out by getting the brain to have the emotion mitigated by the context of time; it's not happening now and you're safe. It doesn't take the pain away, but instead helps the body and mind 'know' that it no longer can threaten or hurt.
Hope this wasn't too confusing; and thankfully you can find so much info on the net to help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_an...
The article includes all the caveats associated with EMDR. All I can say is that over two years ago I was nearly unable to function, and now all of my doctors are amazed at the progress I've made. I still have memories nearly every week; my writing has reflected that recently. It's just that I'm equipped to cope with the memories that arise. Hope I've been a help.
Love, Andrea Lena
I'm glad you're getting better, 'Drea
You are an amazing woman, and deserve to be healed and whole.
Read the article; don't take the pill
First of all, I am not advocating memory erasure! The attention-grabbing title of the Wired magazine piece, and BCTS folks' comments, lead me to think that nobody has read the article out of distaste of the "erasure" concept.
I blogged about this because of the importance of information like the following:
"Shortly after the September 11 attacks, a team of psychologists led by William Hirst and Elizabeth Phelps surveyed several hundred subjects about their memories of that awful day. The scientists then repeated the surveys, tracking how the stories steadily decayed. At one year out, 37 percent of the details had changed. By 2004 that number was approaching 50 percent. Some changes were innocuous—the stories got tighter and the narratives more coherent—but other adjustments involved a wholesale retrofit. Some people even altered where they were when the towers fell. Over and over, the act of repeating the narrative seemed to corrupt its content."
This section and other information in the articles have serious implications for those whose present and future are ruled by memories of their past. If half of the eyewitness details of 9/11 alter in only three years, what can this mean for those who've suffered childhood or battlefield trauma of decades ago?
Karin