Sunday, November 26, 2006

Eternal Sunshine...

If you experienced a painful or traumatic event, would you want a pill which could lessen the bad memories of what happened? That option might soon be here because of a drug called propranolol.

I find this quite fascinating. This particular drug is already in use as a high blood-pressure medication, but it is now showing promise in clinical trials for patients suffering from PTSD.

Read more and watch video clips by visiting 60 Minutes.

3 comments:

luisa said...

oh shudder.

how can you have any character growth without, well, pain?

i feel the same way about anti-depressants...

good one, k.

bigshoulders said...

L, I understand your point... but for those folks that are absolutely crippled by traumatic events, the drugs [in clinical trials] do seem to give them their lives back. They don't forget what happened to them, but they are no longer prisoner to their fears. Overall, I found the story to be encouraging, esp. for soldiers and those who might go through any traumatic event.

Of course, there might be some that may want to abuse the drug. i.e.: I make a fool out of myself at a party, and I want to forget that I embarassed myself... etc. That's an abuse, in my opinion.

You are oh, so right about character growth coming from adversity. Looking back, that's where I've made much progress when it comes to my own life.

Wouldn't trade that growth for any pill.

WOW. I didn't know I'd typed that much!

kevin

Danielle said...

This post really is something to think about.

I have taken anti-depressants - so I wanted to pipe in here...

Working through my pain in therapy and finding Jesus Christ saved my life yet I believe I needed the pills at first. For some of us...the pain hurts so much, it just doesn't let our brains rest long enough for us to "get a grip."

People can abuse drugs, relationships, God, whatever...

I agree with Luisa - you can have character growth with pain. You can also have a nervous breakdown with pain.