The Memory Pill for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Researchers at Harvard University are testing the Memory Pill featured on 60 Minutes November 26, 2006. Their hypothesis: propranolol neutralizes the emotional pain of traumatic memories, even those laid down many years ago. This would relieve the immense emotional burdens of millions who suffer the consequences of combat trauma, traumatic accidents, illnesses, or abuse in childhood or as adults.
Propranolol (trade name, Inderal), car insurance beta-blocker, is a familiar medication used for high blood pressure, angina, heart diseases, tremor and a variety of nervous symptoms. Its major effects slow the heartbeat and reduce blood pressure. It works by counteracting adrenalin. It also apparently counters the adrenalin effect on memory in the brain, which seems refinance my home take the sting out of fearful memories.
People taking propranolol regularly for the usual reasons dont notice any change in their response to fearful memories but the laboratory subjects go through certain steps that produce a special experience. They tell and write out the story of their traumatic experience from beginning to end and they note the intensity of their feelings. They agreed to do this when they enrolled in the study so they are prepared to endure the reactivated emotion. With a net of wires attached to their bodies to measure physiological changes they tell the story and write it out in Sexual Vitality detail.
This is the catch. In all likelihood, none of these subjects ever told their stories in detail from beginning to end to anyone before. That includes their therapists, even many specialized trauma therapists, because the usual phobia the victims feel for their traumatic memories stops them in their tracks. The therapists usually assume that the emotion evoked by recounting the trauma story would be too much for the patient to endure and so kindly interrupt the distressing story to protect the patient. Such protectiveness can go on for years, finally to just settle for substitute coping strategies rather than processing of trauma memories.
In the lab subjects experience a structured containment for their phobic anxiety and the calming effect of the propranolol counteracts their trauma phobia. The medication thus makes it possible to construct a narrative of the trauma that allows the memory to finally come to closure and be experienced as fully past-tense and over with.
This is not the only way to do it. The proper use of hypnosis can construct the narrative. Art therapy can do it by drawing the story as a series of scenes with a beginning, middle, and end. So-called parts work can do it by dialogue and negotiation with inner dissociated parts of the self that continue to experience the traumatic memory as unfinished and always present. Even so, there are individuals who would benefit from medication effects that render the traumatic memories less vehement.
Propranolol is useful for some patients going through intensive outpatient marathon treatment programs designed to condense the often lengthy trauma therapy into one or two weeks. A flagship program in marathon treatment, Intensive Trauma Therapy Inc., traumatherapy.us/ currently uses the medication adjunctively.
Louis Tinnin, MD
Psychiatric Consultant
Intensive Trauma Therapy, Inc.
traumatherapy.ustraumatherapy.us
