New and Improved Brainwashing Techniques

The article contends that the therapy will be used to treat such horrible memories as phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety-related conditions. However, with me being the eternal skeptic and pessimist that I am, I see it being used primarily for brainwashing.

I love this quote

A person bitten by a dog as a child, for instance, might be able to overcome a canine phobia if the old memory can be replaced with a less scary one.

The goal of the research isn't to erase memory outright, as depicted in popular movies over the years. That would raise ethical issues and questions of what would happen to associated memories, scientists say. Instead, "reducing or eliminating the fear accompanying the memory...that would be the ideal scenario," says Roger Pitman, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School who has done extensive work in this area.

So permanently modifying memories poses no ethical issue? Give me a break.




Wall Street Journal

There's all kinds of new things there working on, like propranolol...
they claim they can use that drug to select what memories to suppress or erase...

there was a 60 Minutes Specal on that a couple years back... haven't heard how the drug trials are progressing though

Wow, sounds good to me. People who suffer from PTSD often lose their livelihoods, their quality of life can be nearly nonexistent.

This has nothing to do with erasing memories, its not even altering memories. This is merely altering the emotional response that is connected to memories.

The article had an example of a former bird watcher who was traumatized when he was involved in a robbery. The patient ended his romantic ties, ceased his normal activities and became house-bound. His emotional distress has become an impairment to his normal life.

Propanolol is a beta-blocker, it just calms you down by reducing sympathetic(fight or flight) response. If you couple this drug with the traumatic memory, the patient will be "conditioned" to have a less intense or a calmer response to the memory. He will still be scared when he sees a gun, but he wouldn't be scared to go outside and enjoy life.

[edit on 16-3-2010 by DrChuck]

I really hate it when people say stuff like this is a good idea.
Have you not learned through history that TPTB will ALWAYS abuse technology. If we didn't have to send our boys and girls out to fight these crappy wars there would be no PTSD.

There are a few concerns I have.
Firstly, if alittle girl was bitten by a dog at a young age and it scared her....she just learned a lesson! Now take that memory away. Next time she goes near a dog she won't remember the thing biting her the last time. Mistake repeated. I think you can see what I am getting at here.

Then there is the issue of how well we can implement this technology, is it really selective or will it have consequences further down the road?

Lastly, we know from experience that brainwashing is active and ongoing on all levels, from public schools, corporate comercials, main stream media etc.... Do we really want to give them another method to infiltrate our minds?

Originally posted by mutantgenius
I really hate it when people say stuff like this is a good idea.
Have you not learned through history that TPTB will ALWAYS abuse technology. If we didn't have to send our boys and girls out to fight these crappy wars there would be no PTSD.

There are a few concerns I have.
Firstly, if alittle girl was bitten by a dog at a young age and it scared her....she just learned a lesson! Now take that memory away. Next time she goes near a dog she won't remember the thing biting her the last time. Mistake repeated. I think you can see what I am getting at here.

Then there is the issue of how well we can implement this technology, is it really selective or will it have consequences further down the road?

Lastly, we know from experience that brainwashing is active and ongoing on all levels, from public schools, corporate comercials, main stream media etc.... Do we really want to give them another method to infiltrate our minds?

1. So only war veterans suffer from PTSD?
2. READ the article and my post...it never says anything about erasing memories in either of them. Its CONDITIONING TO ELICIT A LESS INTENSE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO A MEMORY so that they may lead normal lives again.
3. Its not technology, its modification on a method that has been used in the psychiatric healthcare for decades.
4. The type of treatment they are proposing here can have a beneficial impact to those suffering from emotional, and physical distresses from PTSD, leading to a better quality of life. And we should deny that?

[edit on 16-3-2010 by DrChuck]

reply to post by DrChuck


I think your missing the point.
Most PTSD sufferers have either been fighting a war or been on the recieving end of one. I understand that there are other traumatic events that can lead to PTSD, but the majority of severe cases are veterans. I am a peaceful person and think that wars are ridiculous, especially the ones we are engaged in today. I think we should do what we can to help them with their suffering.
The thing is, take the example in the OP, a girl getting bit by a dog is not this traumatic and "replacing or changing" that memory may decrease that childs fight or flight response. Bad things that happen to us have an innate ability to make us stronger.
The human mind is an enigma to scientists, they know very little about it, despite what they may theorize. Theory is theory. Not fact. My main concern is that what they theorize will not play out the way they think it will when implemented. Remember Lobotomy's where once a tried and true technique of phsyciatrists, that is until they realized they weren't curing anybody, just turning them into vegetables! As a matter of fact, ask any phsyciatrist if their methods are based on any scientific facts and they will not be able to tell you that they are. Even chemical brain imbalances are theory.
My secondary concern is that just like any other phsyciatric/brain experiment/method it will be implemented by corporations as a tool to get us to buy their products and drink their poison. Put it in every doctors office and we have a population that thinks this type of thing is normal. We already have doctors pushing pills for perks, imagine them changing our memory to think that we are addicted to celebrex. I know it sounds silly but these are the types of things we need to watch out for. This is a corporate world where its okay to lie, cheat and steal your way to the top.
It's never a good idea to mess around in someones head.
Phsyciatrists are bunk.

reply to post by mutantgenius


I'm sure the developers have the best intentions at heart & on the face of it can do good if people can get certain memories/traumatic events removed from their minds. I personally know a girl who was raped & it's totally destroyed her life. So if the memory of that night could be removed forever then it might enable her to turn her life back around.

That said, it won't be long before the good intentions get thrown out the window & it used against people without their permission. You could rape/rob someone, then remove the event from their mind. Murder someone, then remove the event from any potential witnesses who saw it. Frame people for crimes by blanking their memories & anybody who was with them on the night in question. Use it on someone who's going to testify against you in court etc, etc. Then scale that up a notch when the governments start to use it on people.

It would be used for good initially, but then slowly scaled up every few years bit by bit to acclimatise people to it & allow them to gradually accept it. Then in proceeding few decades or whatever, it will be perfected to allow them to seamlessly 'implant' false memories. Governments who are about to lose power could 'brainwash' their citizens into not rebelling/rioting etc'. Armies could use it on ordinary people to 'force' them to become soldiers. In a worst case scenario, a country or even a dictator could use the technology in mass to conquer the world country by country. Each country becomes subservient to your whims, then helps you take over the next one & so on & so forth.

This invention could be used for good to help people with problems but in this particular case, the potential for mis-use is staggering & definetely should not be allowed to ever be invented by anyone!

reply to post by big_BHOY


I think they aleady invented it.
I read an article somewhere that there was a pill that could do something of this nature but it couldn't target specific memories.


I did a quick google search and posted some links.

www.guardian.co.uk...
www.dailymail.co.uk...

www.secretsofhealthylife.com...