Better killers through chemistry

[RE]

I saw an article recently -- it might have been one of Susan Begley's
columns in the WSJrnl, but I can't find the reference -- regarding the use
of antidepressants and other neurochemicals to treat guilt induced by
combat-related action.  The basic idea was to administer the drugs soon
after the 'trauma' in order to break up the formation of a guilty response
neurochemically.  Neuropeptide Y sounds like it works at a more generic
level (psychologically speaking "stress" is a stupefying concept, since it
lumps together anxiety, depression, and joy, but it may be symptomatic of a
broad cultural tendency to regard numbness as the preferred condition, to be
offset by occasional bursts of Ecstasy).  The article was laced with
references to ethical concerns, on the order of "Shouldn't a soldier guilty
of war crimes feel guilty?"  Sorta interesting, but more so is the question
as to whether Rumsfeld or Bin Laden have any need for a psychiatric consult.
Randy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Pollak" <mpollak at panix.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 12:45 PM
Subject: FT: Better killers through chemistry


>
> Financial Times; Feb 19, 2003
>
> INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY & ASIA-PACIFIC: Brain chemical that aids elite
> troops
>
> By Clive Cookson in Denver
>
> Scientists have identified a natural brain chemical that gives elite
> soldiers the "right stuff" to withstand the stress of battle without
> suffering serious psychological trauma.
>
> Experiments at the US Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, have shown that
> members of the special forces produce much more of the chemical,
> Neuropeptide Y, than regular soldiers when they are under duress.
>
> Matthew Friedman, director of the US government's National Center for Post
> Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), described the research to the American
> Association for the Advancement of Science.
>
> Blood tests were carried out on military personnel as they underwent a
> rigorous survival course that involved intensive interrogation and
> incarceration in a mock prisoner-of-war camp.
>
> All participants produced high levels of stress hormones but the most
> striking finding was that special forces - Green Berets - maintained
> higher levels of Neuropeptide Y than others undergoing the same training.
>
> Neuropeptide Y performs several roles in the brain, one of which is to
> help keep focused on a task under stress. "It is part of a
> counter-regulatory system that the brain uses to calm itself down," said
> Dr Friedman.
>
> During the experiments at Fort Bragg, the Green Berets not only made more
> Neuropeptide Y but also showed fewer psychological signs of stress.
> "Others, who produced less Neuropeptide Y, performed very poorly in the
> training and looked a lot more anxious and frazzled at the end," said Andy
> Morgan, who was in charge of the project for the National Center for PTSD.
>
> The Fort Bragg results had been replicated at two naval training sites,
> said Dr Morgan.  "We can now argue convincingly that Neuropeptide Y, or
> drugs that work like it, act as anti-anxiety or anti-stress agents," he
> said.
>
> "At this point, we need to figure out how to develop these agents so we
> can use them with people who suffer from PTSD. There may come a time when
> replenishing Neuropeptide Y is a normal procedure when a person comes back
> from a stressful situation, in the same way that you would feed him if he
> had been malnourished."
>
> Alternatively, said Dr Friedman, "we might be able to train people to
> produce more of their own Neuropeptide Y in stressful situations."
>
> A blood test for Neuropeptide Y production could also be incorporated into
> the selection procedure for extremely stressful jobs.
>
>