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

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

#51

Post by layoutIfNeeded »

rjth wrote: post #35

I have been taking low dosage Propranolol for about a year now. It was prescribed for me for my hemiplegic migraines. Combined with exercise and occasional CBD oil it has completely eliminated migraines from my life. This medication is absolutely brilliant and harmless. Also keeps my resting heart rate around 55. If you struggle with migraines, talk to your neurologist, for me it was a life changer.

>Also keeps my resting heart rate around 55.

That would be considered mild bradycardia.

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

#52

Post by julien_c »

gchamonlive wrote: post #23

This is also pictured in NOVA: memory hackers on Netflix (last accessed in Brazil, in case it is region locked). It documents the process of treating arachnophobia in a patient that clearly has an extreme aversion to spiders and it is incredible.

Thanks for the pointer. I can access it here in the US.

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

#53

Post by thrav »

blattimwind wrote: post #40
peteretep wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> erasing a specific kind of memory under very specific conditions Why do you think it erases the memory?

> Propranolol achieves selective erasure: It targets the emotional component, but knowledge is intact. They know what happened, but they aren’t scared anymore. The fear association is affected, but not the innate fear response to a threat stimulus [...] This single-session therapy addressing what psychologists call fear memory reconsolidation emotional/fear association sounds like a type of memory to me.

Read “The Body Keeps the Score”, it is. Your entire nervous system has a memory, not just your brain.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429941-200-the-life...

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

#54

Post by erentz »

ransom1538 wrote: post #28
petercooper wrote: post #18

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 whi…

If you are out there and suffer daily 'stage fright' or serious social anxiety - propranolol is the drug for you. That weird fear that sweeps over you before a conversation - just doesn't happen. Need to talk in front of 50 people in 25 minutes? No problem. If you are crippled by social anxiety - this pill will turn you into Bradley Cooper in Limitless.

> this pill will turn you into Bradley Cooper in Limitless

That’s quite a sales pitch! Propranolol worked for me for occasional use for stage fright scenarios. It was an amazing feeling the first couple of times to be able to go into those situations without the anxiety. But far from the Limitless example, for me a couple of hours after taking it I would slow down mentally and a few hours after taking it I would be exhausted and absolutely done for the day.

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

#55

Post by julien_c »

layoutIfNeeded wrote: post #51
rjth wrote: post #35

I have been taking low dosage Propranolol for about a year now. It was prescribed for me for my hemiplegic migraines. Combined with exercise and occasional CBD oil it has completely eliminated migraines from my life. This medication is absolutely brilliant and harmless. Also keeps my resting heart rate around 55. If you struggle with migraines, talk to your neurologist, for me it was a life changer.

>Also keeps my resting heart rate around 55. That would be considered mild bradycardia.

Resting rate around 55 for someone who exercises? I don't think I would this bradycardia.

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

#56

Post by mchannon »

Living with someone with crippling PTSD and anxiety disorders, I'm thrilled to hear about this study.

As someone who's dealt with an oppressive government (which is where the PTSD and anxiety came from), I wonder if this therapy can be weaponized by the powerful to oppress the powerless. The rise of the warrior cop is bad enough, but what about a crack squad that has been chemically desensitized to killing in cold blood, taking orders from corrupt officials? Great for the warrior cop's medical prognosis, not so great if you're his target.

I believe many people in prison got there through some form of fear. Fear they'd get found out, fear they'd lose something, fear for their life, fear from their childhood they lost the ability to deal with, fear they self-medicated leading to a crime. If this technology makes it out of the proverbial Petri dish, I'm hoping we as a society could substitute a session for 10+ years of incarceration. We'd end up safer, less poor, and more just.

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

#57

Post by Uptrenda »

This does not surprise me one bit. I was prescribed beta blockers for "heart problems" that turned out to be panic attacks and I noticed the same effects. On beta blockers you're able to talk about unpleasant memories as casually as one would note the weather. It's a surreal experience, but a useful one.

Before this it was easy to shut down and avoid confronting bad memories. Now I can just brush away everything. Another great property to propranolol is it reduces the jitteriness from caffeine. Granted, if your anxiety is bad enough to need beta blockers that's definitely not a good thing, but at least the medication works well for what it does.

This kind of medication is far superior to benzos for anxiety disorders. It was pure luck to have been prescribed this instead of getting put on some horrible downer, developing a tolerance in a few months, and then having to detox with rebound symptoms that are worse than the illness being treated. There seems to be a lot of promising developments in psychiatry recently.

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

#60

Post by DanielBMarkham »

oskarpearson wrote: post #6
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.

I really wish people would RTFA before commenting.

I did.

You gain retention by assimilating facts at the same time you have some emotional experience, this is one of the reasons why professors who are entertaining can sometimes also be much better teachers. Laughing while assimilating works better than simply trying to memorize stuff.

Even looking at rote memorization, most experts in memorization tell you to associate places and emotions with whatever you're currently trying to memorize.

So by removing the emotional payload from the memory, you're effectively also removing the memory itself, even if superficially the facts remain. What will happen over time is that since there's less emotion associated with the facts, the facts will be forgotten -- like all the other facts in your life day-to-day are forgotten.

I knew all of that and thought others did too. Next time I'll try assuming that is not the case.

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