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Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

mdedge.com

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Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#11

Post by layoutIfNeeded »

From Wikipedia:

“In a 1987 study by the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, it was shown that 27% of interviewed members admitted to using beta blockers such as propranolol for musical performances.[70] For about 10–16% of performers, their degree of stage fright is considered pathological.[70][71] Propranolol is used by musicians, actors, and public speakers for its ability to treat anxiety symptoms activated by the sympathetic nervous system.[72] It has also been used as a performance-enhancing drug in sports where high accuracy is required, including archery, shooting, golf[73] and snooker.[73] In the 2008 Summer Olympics, 50-metre pistol silver medalist and 10-metre air pistol bronze medalist Kim Jong-su tested positive for propranolol and was stripped of his medals.[74]”

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#12

Post by ionwake »

oskarpearson wrote: post #7
miguelrochefort wrote: post #2

> The researchers next conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial in 45 individuals with arachnophobia. Fifteen received 40 mg of propranolol after spending 2 minutes in proximity to a large tarantula, 15 got placebo, and another 15 received propranolol without exposure to a tarantula. One week later, all patients who received propranolol with spider exposure were able to approach and actually pet the tarant…

Please refrain from simply quoting the article, adding nothing to the conversation. It’s a blatant attempt at upvote harvesting from the TLDR crowd, and doesn’t belong on HN

Stop projecting

He was being helpful and it saved me time

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#13

Post by cgriswald »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #10

> The propranolol must be given within roughly an hour before to 1 hour after therapeutic reactivation of the fear memory to be effective. [...] when subjects were rechallenged 12 hours after taking propranolol the previous day – that is, after a night’s sleep – the fear memory was gone Oh wow, I'd be keen to give it a go: 1. Standing next to an edge of a tall building. 2. In a tightly enclosed space.

The idea of not having a fear of heights is generating a mild anxiety in me.

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#14

Post by agumonkey »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #10

> The propranolol must be given within roughly an hour before to 1 hour after therapeutic reactivation of the fear memory to be effective. [...] when subjects were rechallenged 12 hours after taking propranolol the previous day – that is, after a night’s sleep – the fear memory was gone Oh wow, I'd be keen to give it a go: 1. Standing next to an edge of a tall building. 2. In a tightly enclosed space.

Same, I lost many many fears over the years (I now help spiders go back to safe places instead of screaming in terror). But vertigo is still one that blanks my mind entirely

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#15

Post by TicklishTiger »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #10

> The propranolol must be given within roughly an hour before to 1 hour after therapeutic reactivation of the fear memory to be effective. [...] when subjects were rechallenged 12 hours after taking propranolol the previous day – that is, after a night’s sleep – the fear memory was gone Oh wow, I'd be keen to give it a go: 1. Standing next to an edge of a tall building. 2. In a tightly enclosed space.

3. Approaching hot girls.

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#16

Post by plufz »

oskarpearson wrote: post #7
miguelrochefort wrote: post #2

> The researchers next conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial in 45 individuals with arachnophobia. Fifteen received 40 mg of propranolol after spending 2 minutes in proximity to a large tarantula, 15 got placebo, and another 15 received propranolol without exposure to a tarantula. One week later, all patients who received propranolol with spider exposure were able to approach and actually pet the tarant…

Please refrain from simply quoting the article, adding nothing to the conversation. It’s a blatant attempt at upvote harvesting from the TLDR crowd, and doesn’t belong on HN

HN Guidelines: Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say face-to-face. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#17

Post by luckylion »

cgriswald wrote: post #13
Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #10

> The propranolol must be given within roughly an hour before to 1 hour after therapeutic reactivation of the fear memory to be effective. [...] when subjects were rechallenged 12 hours after taking propranolol the previous day – that is, after a night’s sleep – the fear memory was gone Oh wow, I'd be keen to give it a go: 1. Standing next to an edge of a tall building. 2. In a tightly enclosed space.

The idea of not having a fear of heights is generating a mild anxiety in me.

I understand you'll still have a healthy amount of fear when in dangerous situations, but not a crippling fear.

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#18

Post by petercooper »

As someone who has used propranolol on and off over the past few years, the thing that intrigues me here is that propranolol works well in this instance due to crossing the blood/brain barrier as opposed to other beta blockers that do not.

The use of beta blockers in anxiety is commonly associated with reducing the effects of stress on heart rate and blood pressure, not necessarily on affecting the brain directly which appears to be happening here. That is, beta blockers are usually a band aid rather than a fix, so this discovery is exciting.

(As an aside, if you suffer from unusual levels of physical response to certain stimuli while intellectually remaining calm or indifferent, propranolol may be worth investigating for you as it has helped me a lot. At your own risk, of course.)

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#19

Post by agumonkey »

TicklishTiger wrote: post #15
Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #10

> The propranolol must be given within roughly an hour before to 1 hour after therapeutic reactivation of the fear memory to be effective. [...] when subjects were rechallenged 12 hours after taking propranolol the previous day – that is, after a night’s sleep – the fear memory was gone Oh wow, I'd be keen to give it a go: 1. Standing next to an edge of a tall building. 2. In a tightly enclosed space.

3. Approaching hot girls.

just wear a liquid cooling vest

Re: Single-dose propranolol tied to ‘selective erasure’ of anxiety disorders

#20

Post by gchamonlive »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #3

Incredible, amazing, wonderful -- and a bit scary. Imagine this being used to erase more complex memories, like that person you dated for two weeks that broke your heart.

Even though the discussion is not valid in the context of the article that clearly limitates the use of memory reconstruction to basic forms of emotional memory, we could very well picture entities abusing higher forms of memory manipulation to political ends.
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