Okay, I suppose that probably is a more relevant question. The best answer I can give is that I would be extremely hesitant to do this. I’ve never experienced anything like this, so I’m open to the idea that there’s a pain here I simply can’t understand. But I would certainly want to work very hard to find a way to deal with the situation without erasing my memory, and I would expect to do better in the long-term because of it. Having any substantial part of my memory erased is a terrifying thought to me, as it’s really about the closest thing I can imagine to “experiencing” death.
But I also see a distinction between limiting your access to the truth for narrow, strategic reasons, and outright self-deception. There are all kinds of reasons one might want the truth withheld, especially when the withholding is merely a delay (think spoilers, the Bayesian Conspiracy, surprise parties for everyone except Alicorn, etc.). In those situations, I would still want to know that the truth was being kept for me, understand why it was being done, and most importantly, know under what circumstances it would be optimal to discover it.
So maybe amnesia drugs fit into that model. If all other solutions failed, I’d probably take them to make the nightmares stop, especially if I still had access to the memory and the potential to face it again when I was stronger. But I would still want to know there was something I blocked out and was unable to bear. What if the memory was lost forever and I could never even know that fact? That really does seem like part of me is dying, so choosing it would require the sort of pain that would make me wish for (limited) death—which is obviously pretty extreme, and probably more than I can imagine for a traumatic memory.
Yet, someone experiencing trauma that they are better off continuing to suffer would hypothetically lead to learned helplessness and worse depression. But it’s true, yet false belief is more productive.
That said, genetic epidemiology is weird and I haven’t looked at the literature beyodndon’t understand the literature beyond this book. I was prompted to investigate it based on some counterintuitive outcomes regarding treatment for psychological trauama and depressive symptomology, established counterintuitive results about mindfulness and depressive symptoms in Parkinsons and Schizophrenia, and some disclosed SNP’s sequences from a known individual.
Okay, I suppose that probably is a more relevant question. The best answer I can give is that I would be extremely hesitant to do this. I’ve never experienced anything like this, so I’m open to the idea that there’s a pain here I simply can’t understand. But I would certainly want to work very hard to find a way to deal with the situation without erasing my memory, and I would expect to do better in the long-term because of it. Having any substantial part of my memory erased is a terrifying thought to me, as it’s really about the closest thing I can imagine to “experiencing” death.
But I also see a distinction between limiting your access to the truth for narrow, strategic reasons, and outright self-deception. There are all kinds of reasons one might want the truth withheld, especially when the withholding is merely a delay (think spoilers, the Bayesian Conspiracy, surprise parties for everyone except Alicorn, etc.). In those situations, I would still want to know that the truth was being kept for me, understand why it was being done, and most importantly, know under what circumstances it would be optimal to discover it.
So maybe amnesia drugs fit into that model. If all other solutions failed, I’d probably take them to make the nightmares stop, especially if I still had access to the memory and the potential to face it again when I was stronger. But I would still want to know there was something I blocked out and was unable to bear. What if the memory was lost forever and I could never even know that fact? That really does seem like part of me is dying, so choosing it would require the sort of pain that would make me wish for (limited) death—which is obviously pretty extreme, and probably more than I can imagine for a traumatic memory.
For some genotypes, more trauma is associated with lower levels of depression
Yet, someone experiencing trauma that they are better off continuing to suffer would hypothetically lead to learned helplessness and worse depression. But it’s true, yet false belief is more productive.
That said, genetic epidemiology is weird and I haven’t looked at the literature beyodndon’t understand the literature beyond this book. I was prompted to investigate it based on some counterintuitive outcomes regarding treatment for psychological trauama and depressive symptomology, established counterintuitive results about mindfulness and depressive symptoms in Parkinsons and Schizophrenia, and some disclosed SNP’s sequences from a known individual.