I know I might be stepping in funky-smelling piles of yuck here but …
A recent article by a reporter at The Baltimore Sun indicates there may be a drug in our future that will erase bad memories. The treatment is intended for those suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
I think it’s a bad idea; hence I may be stepping in that aforementioned goo.
Please don’t get me wrong — PTSD is very real, affects thousands upon thousands of people the world over, is difficult for many to get treatment for, and I imagine can be difficult to treat given the varying severity in individual patients.
People with PTSD need help. No doubt. But I don’t think this treatment is the answer.
The folks quoted in the article admit to some problems with the treatment, mainly that they really don’t know if they can eliminate a single memory that triggers PTSD reactions. It could be that one jolt of whatever this treatment is would wipe out entire blocks of memory.
Think about this …
You are in a vehicle accident where someone in the car with you dies, or you are seriously injured. Now when you drive you go out of your way to avoid the area where the crash occurred. Sometimes when you get in your car, you freeze in sheer panic certain the next vehicle you encounter will hit you head on. Your head throbs, your pulse quickens, your chest hurts; you are drenched in sweat.
Add this — a year later you have your first child. You would not trade that memory for the world. The first time you felt the baby kick, the first cry; the first time the baby looks in your eyes and you know there is nothing on this planet you would die for but this child.
So, we have really bad and really good mixed up in one time frame. Your PTSD is getting worse and your counselor asks you to try this new treatment.
What happens if, when the treatment is over, you have lost the memories tied up in a block of time several years long? You forget the accident, and the fact you had a child and all the wonder that goes along with the event. You look at this child and wonder who she belongs to and why she is so insistent that you are her parent?
You see the problem?
Now, I would agree that there are blocks of time we all want to rid our minds of. I have a few years that I would bury if I could. The events in those years are so vivid I can tick off the months and days I would eliminate in a heartbeat. Or would I?
While helping in any way we can those who are truly suffering is a great thing, I think there are too many people out there who, like me would love to get their minds treated just so they could forget all their bad memories.
Ironic how true that is in this world where we fight off Alzheimer’s.
In the Bible the word “remember” is written 231 times. There is lot we are instructed to remember – where we have been, what the Lord has brought us out of, how and what to teach our children, the aspects of God that we are to keep in the forefront of our minds, His provision for us, His rescue when we were busy creating those memories we now want to forget.
The word “forget” is mentioned so much less in the Bible — only 64 times. Many of those are admonitions to “not forget” God or to take care of others.
Of course there are other words and phrases having the same meanings as “remember” and “forget.”
One important one is found in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
That is a major amount of forgetfulness. Out of sight, out of mind. At least that is true for God. He wants it to be true of us as far as forgetting our guilt is concerned, but we have these pesky human brains that will not let go of stuff.
I hope when this treatment becomes a reality, if it does, there will be a great many people who seek to remember the reason it is not good to forget the bad memories we store.
While on one hand there are large chunks of time I would like to blot out, where better could I have learned the lessons I needed to learn?
David was confronted by the prophet Nathan concerning David’s murder of Uriah and affair with Bathsheba. Afterward David recorded what relief he sought from God during his period of repentance and we find his prayer in Psalm 51.
In verse 1,“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” And verse 9, “Hide your face from my sin and blot out all my iniquity.”
Note that not once does David ask to have his memory of his sin removed. I am sure David never forgot his actions; after all, they led to two deaths, that of Uriah and of his son with Bathsheba. David grieved over his sin, but he certainly did not forget it or the effects of it in his life or the lives of those closest to him. After all there are consequences for our actions, and the making of a bad memory is one of them.
In Lamentations 3:19 it says “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall …” but in verses 21-23 it goes on to say, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
I don’t mean to treat the horrors of life lightly. There are very good reasons for medical treatment of PTSD in soldiers, in sex abuse cases and for other types of abuse, for accidents, and crimes against people. If I could wave my hand in the air and ease the pain of those memories I would in a New York minute.
But to erase a memory that could define a person, a memory that God allowed you to have and can use for good is not the right treatment for life’s bad memories. The right treatment is to learn from them and teach their lessons to others. Because in the midst of our bad memories is the hope of God’s compassion, mercy and grace. What better treatment could there be for bad memories?
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