Forgetting fear? Forget about it.

This is worth a read for the idea alone but not for PTSD.

Can Fear Be Forgotten?
If fear really is all in our heads, Joseph LeDoux thinks he can eliminate it. The first step is to block out our memories

By Michael Behar December 2007
When I was nine years old, my family moved into a newly constructed home in a pleasant Seattle suburb. Within a few days, I began to notice an unsettling number of spiders creeping along baseboards, dangling in closets, and loitering under furniture. I convinced myself that the assault could only be because our digs had inadvertently razed some kind of spider civilization, and these guys were out for revenge. I remember being unable to sleep, spooked by the sight of an eight-legged nasty clinging to the ceiling, waiting to pounce. I would insist that my father leave the stairwell light on so I could track its every move, certain that under the cover of darkness the little monster would sneak into my bed and burrow into my ear canal, where it would lay its sticky spider eggs and spawn a whole new arachnid dynasty. I stuffed wads of toilet paper into my ears as a first line of defense.

Fast-forward 30 years, and I find my repulsion firmly entrenched, seemingly for good. On a recent business trip, I glimpsed a spider behind the nightstand in my hotel room. I summoned the concierge, who duly chased the evil critter into the hall with a broom. "No problem," he smirked when I apologized for my wimpiness. "Happens all the time."

There's a proven treatment for phobias called exposure therapy, better known as "facing your fears." I merely have to immerse myself in a bathtub with hundreds of spiders, let the insects crawl freely over my naked body, and voilà! I'll be cured.

Luckily, New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, the world's preeminent fear guru, agrees that this tactic might not be the most efficient remedy. Imagine forcing an aviophobe onto a plane—a severe panic attack could trigger a midair rerouting to the nearest loony bin. But LeDoux may have uncovered a better way. After a two-decade-long pursuit into the depths of the brain, LeDoux has shown that it's possible to eliminate deep-seated fears. All you have to do is remove the memory that created it.

Last year, in a landmark experiment in rats, LeDoux opened a path to doing just that. He showed that it's possible to obstruct the memory of a specific traumatic event without affecting other memories. He also demonstrated that when the memory was stifled, the fear it roused vanished as well.

This sudden ability to produce selective amnesia stunned the scientific community. It also offers unimaginable promise. It could relieve soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or rid sexual abuse and rape victims of haunting memories. My spiders would be fair game, as would LeDoux's enduring aversion to snakes. Other researchers have been quick to adapt LeDoux's findings. One has already begun experimenting on human subjects, and a startup company has emerged that plans to eliminate fears in the comfort of your own home. All you need is a mail-order box of pills and the accompanying DVD.
go here for the rest
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/5c22cc494e617110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Why do I say that? Because I've had fears, just like most people have but I've also faced death a few times and I can tell you that the two things are totally different.

I fear public speaking. I will get up in front of a crowd with something I wrote and my tongue will stumble over my teeth. My hands shake and it's hard for me to read the speech. That's a fear but I overcome it by no longer reading speeches, opting instead to just address the crowd with what is in my heart and head. I'm not afraid to speak to people on a one to one basis spontaneously so I forget that I am talking to that many people all at once.

In this case my life was not on the line, just my pride. There were times in my life that my life was in danger. At 4 1/2, I was pushed from the top of a slide and landed on concrete head first. Talk about brain trauma! My scull was cracked and I had a concussion. This caused a fear of heights. Considering I'm doing a lot of flying since moving to Florida, it's something I overcame. I still don't like to fly but I don't have to get drunk anymore just to get on the plane.

Later in my early 20's I was in a car accident. I was rear ended and my car spun out of control ending up in a guard rail. I saw the car heading into it, held up my arms to cover my face. All I could think about was how pissed off my Mother would be to not have an open casket, aside from totally her car. I shouldn't be here now. Needless to say, saying I hate traffic would be an understatement. I still drive and overcame the fear but I also drive mostly in the center or right lane now instead of in the passing lane.

Physical abuse came from my ex-husband and someone else in my life. My father was a violent alcoholic who quit drinking when I was 13. The last life threatening time came after I delivered our daughter. I had an infection that never went away. My bladder ended up developing an infection that turn septic and I almost died then too with a massive infection and a fever of 105. I really shouldn't be here at all. Telling me to just get over the fear and equating it to the fear of public speaking proves some of these experts never faced their life on the line.

I don't have PTSD but I can fully appreciate how so many do develop it. The traumas I've been through go into who I am and what I am, as well as how I think, feel and function. Of all the nonsense I've heard in the treatment of PTSD, this I think is the one that ticks me off the most. Forgetting fear is not the same as making peace with it. And oh, by the way, I really hate spiders too. One landed in my hair when I was trying to kill it and got trapped there. I had really long hair and it must have taken my mother 15 minute just to find it. There are fears that are real and do change lives but those kinds of fears can be overcome. PTSD can be stopped from getting worse but you cannot cure it.

I get really tired of "experts" trivializing the kind of experiences people with PTSD go through and how it changes every aspect of their life. I wish they would finally get serious about this and rely on experts who know what it is like to have PTSD and survive having their lives on the line. Arachnophobia does not come close to a bullet or a bomb or the carnage of combat. What I lived through does not come close to what they go through. It does not come close to having been beaten or raped, surviving floods like the people in New Orleans, surviving fires or being an emergency responder. It does not make it into the ballpark of being a cop or a fireman and if you asked a combat veteran how close it comes to being one of them, they may be polite enough to not laugh in your face.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington