combine this with improvements in battlefield armor, etc. etc. and it looks more and more like heinlein was a genuine visionary, in this regard . . .
j
On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 10:26 AM, RE wrote:
> 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.
>>
>>
>