Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:22:25.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pharmacotherapy to Blunt Memories of Sexual Violence: What's a Feminist to Think?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Elisa A. Hurley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It has recently been discovered that propranolol—a beta-blocker traditionally used to treat cardiac arrhythmias and hypertension—might disrupt the formation of the emotionally disturbing memories that typically occur in the wake of traumatic events and consequently prevent the onset of trauma-induced psychological injuries such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. One context in which the use of propranolol is generating interest in both the popular and scientific press is sexual violence. Nevertheless, feminists have so far not weighed in on propranolol. I suggest that the time is ripe for a careful feminist analysis of the moral and political implications of propranolol use in the context of sexual violence. In this paper, I map the feminist issues potentially raised by providing propranolol to victims of sexual assault, focusing in particular on the compatibility of propranolol use and availability with an understanding of the social and systematic dimensions of rape's harms. I do not deliver a final verdict on propranolol; in fact, I show that we do not yet have enough information about propranolol's effects to do so. Rather, I provide a feminist framework for evaluating the possibilities and perils opened up by therapeutic memory manipulation in the context of sexual violence against women.

Type
FEMINIST BIOTECHNOLOGIES CLUSTER
Information
Hypatia , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , Summer 2010 , pp. 527 - 552
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by Hypatia, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (APA). 1994. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Baard, Eric. 2003. The guilt‐free soldier. The Village Voice, January 21, http://www.villagevoice.com/2003‐01‐21/news/the‐guilt‐free‐soldier/1 (accessed March 7, 2009).Google Scholar
Babbitt, Susan E. 1996. Impossible dreams: Rationality, integrity, and moral imagination. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Bartky, Sandra Lee. 1990. Shame and gender. In Femininity and domination: Studies in the phenomenology of oppression, ed. Bartky, Sandra Lee. New York: Routledge, 83–98.Google Scholar
Beckham, Jean C., Feldman, Michelle E., and Kirby, Angela. 1998. Atrocities exposure in Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: Relationship to combat exposure, symptom severity, guilt, and interpersonal violence. Journal of Traumatic Stress 11 (4): 777–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Bell, Marilynn, and Mosher, Jane. 1998. (Re)fashioning medicine's response to wife abuse. In The politics of women's health: Exploring agency and autonomy, ed. Sherwin, Susan. The Feminist Health Care Ethics Research Network. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 205–33.Google Scholar
Breslau, Naomi, and Davis, Glenn C. 1987. Posttraumatic stress disorder: The etiologic specificity of wartime stressors. American Journal of Psychiatry 144 (5): 578–83.Google ScholarPubMed
Brewin, Chris R., Andrews, Bernice, and Rose, Suzanne. 2000. Fear, helplessness, and horror in posttraumatic stress disorder: Investigating DSM‐IV criterion A2 in victims of violent crime. Journal of Traumatic Stress 13 (3): 499–509.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brison, Susan J. 2002. Aftermath: Violence and the remaking of the self. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Brownmiller, Susan. 1975. Against our will: Men, women, and rape. New York: Fawcett Books.Google Scholar
Brunet, Alain, Orr, Scott P., Tremblay, Jacques, Robertson, Kate, Nader, Karim, and Pitman, Roger K. 2008. Effect of post‐retrieval propranolol on psychophysiologic responding during subsequent script‐driven traumatic imagery in post‐traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research 42:503–06.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cahill, Larry. 1997. The neurobiology of emotionally influenced memory: Implications for understanding traumatic memory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 821:238–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cahill, Larry, and McGaugh, James L. 1998. Mechanisms of emotional arousal and lasting declarative memory. Trends in Neuroscience 21 (7): 294–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cahill, Larry, Prins, Bruce, Weber, Michael, and McGaugh, James L. 1994. β‐adrenergic activation and memory for emotional events. Nature 371 (6499): 702–04.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calhoun, Cheshire. 2004. An apology for moral shame. Journal of Political Philosophy 12 (2): 127–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Card, Claudia. 1991. Rape as a terrorist institution. In Violence, terrorism, and justice, ed. Frey, R. G. and Morris, Christopher. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 296–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charuvastra, Anthony, and Cloitre, Marylene. 2008. Social bonds and posttraumtic stress disorder. Annual Review of Psychology 59:301–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, Peter. 1975. The discovery of hyperkinesis: Notes on the medicalization of deviant behavior. Social Problems 23:12–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conrad, Peter. 1992. Medicalization and social control. Annual Review of Sociology 18:209–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, Peter. 2007. The medicalization of society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Dalgleish, Tim, and Power, Michael J. 2004. Emotion‐specific and emotion‐non‐specific components of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Implications for a taxonomy of related psychopathology. Behavior Research and Therapy 42:1069–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debiec, Jacek, and LeDoux, Joseph E. 2006. Noradrenergic signaling in the amygdala contributes to the reconsolidation of fear memory: Treatment implications for PTSD. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1071:521–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dillon, Robin. 1997. Self‐respect: Moral, emotional, political. Ethics 107 (2): 226–49.Google Scholar
Dudai, Yadin. 2004. The neurobiology of consolidation, or: How stable is the engram? Annual Review of Psychology 55:51–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunmore, Emma, Clark, David M., and Ehlers, Anke. 1999. Cognitive factors involved in the onset and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after physical or sexual assault. Behavior Research and Therapy 37:809–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebert, Angela, and Dyckm, Murray J. 2004. The experience of mental death: The core feature of complex posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychology Review 24:617–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehlers, Anke, and Clark, David M. 2000. A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 38:319–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehlers, Anke, Clark, David M., Dunmore, Emma, Jaycox, Lisa, Meadows, Elizabeth, and Foa, Edna B. 1998. Predicting response to exposure treatment in PTSD: The role of mental defeat and alienation. Journal of Traumatic Stress 11 (3): 457–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foa, Edna B., and Kozak, Michael J. 1986. Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin 99 (1): 20–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foa, Edna B., and Riggs, David S. 1993. Posttraumatic stress disorder and rape. In American psychiatric press review of psychiatry, Vol. 12. ed. Oldham, John M., Tasman, Allan, and Riba, Michelle B.Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 273–303.Google Scholar
Foa, Edna B., and Rothbaum, Barbara Olasov. 1998. Treating the trauma of rape: Cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Matthew J. 2006. Post‐traumatic and acute stress disorders: The latest assessment and treatment strategies. 4th ed. Kansas City, Mo.: Compact Clinicals.Google Scholar
Giles, Jim. 2005. Beta‐blockers tackle memories of horror. Nature 436:448–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilfus, Mary E. 1999. The price of the ticket: A survivor‐centered appraisal of trauma theory. Violence Against Women 5 (11): 1238–57.Google Scholar
Grey, Nick, Holmes, Emily, and Brewin, Chris. 2001. Peritraumatic emotional “hot spots” in memory. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 29:367–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, Susan. 1979. Rape: The power of consciousness. San Francisco: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Herman, Judith. 1992. Trauma and recovery. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Holmes, Emily A., Grey, Nick, and Young, Kerry A.D. 2005. Intrusive images and “hotspots” of trauma memories in posttraumatic stress disorder: An exploratory investigation of emotions and cognitive themes. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 36:3–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaysen, Deborah, Morris, Miranda K., Rizvi, Shireen L., and Resnick, Patricia. 2005. Peritraumatic responses and their relationship to perceptions of threat in female crime victims. Violence Against Women 11 (12): 1515–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keane, Terence M., Marshall, Amy D., and Taft, Casey T. 2006. Posttraumatic stress disorder: Etiology, epidemiology, and treatment outcome. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 2:161–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kilpatrick, Dean G., Saunders, Benjamin E., Veronen, Lois J., Best, Connie L., and Von, Judith M. 1987. Criminal victimization: Lifetime prevalence, reporting to police, and psychological impact. Crime & Delinquency 33 (4): 479–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koss, Mary P. 1987. Hidden rape: Sexual aggression and victimization in a national sample of students of higher education. In Rape and sexual assault, Vol. 2. ed. Burgess, A. W.New York: Garland, 3–26.Google Scholar
Koss, Mary P., and Kilpatrick, Dean G. 2001. Rape and sexual assault. In The mental health consequences of torture, ed. Gerrity, Ellen, Keane, Terence M., and Tuma, Farris. New York: Plenum Publishers, 180–94.Google Scholar
Kurz, Demie. 1987. Emergency department responses to battered women: Resistance to medicalization. Social Problems 34 (1): 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, Sharon. 1999. Constructing the victim: Popular images and lasting labels. In New versions of victims: Feminists struggle with the concept. New York: New York University Press, 108–38.Google Scholar
Lehtinen, Ullaliina. 1998. How does one know what shame is? Epistemology, emotions, and forms of life in juxtaposition. Hypatia 13 (1): 56–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manion, Jennifer C. 2003. Girls blush, sometimes: Gender, moral agency, and the problem of shame. Hypatia 19 (3): 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Norah. 2001. Feminist bioethics and psychiatry. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 26 (4): 431–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGaugh, James L. 1966. Time‐dependent processes in memory storage. Science 153 (3742): 1351–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNally, Richard J. 2003. Progress and controversy in the study of posttraumatic stress disorder. Annual Review of Psychology 54:229–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meiser‐Stedman, Richard, Smith, Patrick, Bryant, Richard, Salmon, Karen, Yule, William, Dalgleish, Tim, and Nixon, Reginald D. V. 2009. Development and validation of the child post‐traumatic cognitions inventory (CPTCI). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 50 (4): 432–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milliken, Charles S., Auchterlonie, Jennifer L., and Hoge, Charles W. 2007. Longitudinal assessment of mental health problems among active and reserve component soldiers returning from the Iraq War. Journal of the American Medical Association 298 (18): 2141–48.Google ScholarPubMed
Morgan, Kathryn Pauly. 1998. Contested bodies, contested knowledges: Women, health, and the politics of medicalization. In The politics of women's health: Exploring agency and autonomy, ed. Sherwin, Susan. The Feminist Health Care Ethics Research Network. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 83–121.Google Scholar
Orr, Scott P. 2006. Effects of beta blockade, PTSD diagnosis, and explicit threat on the extinction and retention of an aversively conditioned response. Biological Psychology 73 (3): 262–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ozer, Emily J., Best, Suzanne R., Lipsey, Tami, and Weiss, Daniel. 2003. Predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder and symptoms in adults: A meta‐analysis. Psychological Bulletin 129 (1): 52–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitman, Roger K. 1989. Post‐traumatic stress disorder, hormones, and memory. Biological Psychiatry 26 (3): 221–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitman, Roger K., Sanders, Kathy M., Zusman, Randall M., Healy, Anna R., Cheema, Farah, Lasko, Natasha B., Cahill, Larry, and Orr, Scott P. 2002. Pilot study of secondary prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder with propranolol. Biological Psychiatry 51 (2): 189–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purdy, Laura. 2001. Medicalization, medical necessity, and feminist medicine. Bioethics 15 (3): 248–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reist, Christopher, Duffy, John Gregory, Fujimoto, Ken, and Cahill, Larry. 2001. Adrenergic blockade and emotional memory in PTSD. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology 4 (4): 377–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Resnick, Heidi S., Kilpatrick, Dean G., Dansky, Bonnie S., Saunders, Benjamin, and Best, Connie L. 1993. Prevalence of civilian trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a representative sample of women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61 (6): 984–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riessman, Catherine Kohler. 1983. Women and medicalization: A new perspective. Social Policy 14 (1): 3–18.Google ScholarPubMed
Rizvi, Shireen, Kaysen, Debra, Gutner, Cassidy, Griffin, Michael G., and Resnick, Patricia A. 2008. Beyond fear: The role of peritraumatic responses in posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms among female crime victims. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 23 (6): 853–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shalev, Aryeh Y., and Freedman, Sara. 2005. PTSD following terrorist attacks: A prospective evaluation. American Journal of Psychiatry 16:1188–91.Google Scholar
Shay, Jonathan. 1994. Achilles in Vietnam. New York: Scribner.Google Scholar
Southwick, Steven M., Bremner, J.Douglas, Rasmusson, Ann, Morgan, Charles A. III, Arnsten, Amy, and Charney, Dennis S. 1999. Role of norepinephrine in the pathophysiology and treatment of post‐traumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry 46 (9): 1192–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahl, Leslie. 2006. The memory pill. 60 Minutes, November 26, CBS Broadcasting Inc.Google Scholar
Stein, Rob. 2004. Is every memory worth keeping? The Washington Post, October 19, A01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp‐dyn/articles/A43210‐2004Oct18.html (accessed March 8, 2009).Google Scholar
Taylor, Gabrielle. 1985. Pride, shame, and guilt: Emotions of self‐assessment. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
U.S. National Institutes of Health. 2005. Effect of propranolol on preventing post‐traumatic stress disorder, http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00158262 (accessed January 12, 2010).Google Scholar
Vaiva, Guillaume, Ducrocqa, François, Jezequela, Karine, Averlanda, Benoit, Lestavela, Philippe, Brunet, Alain, and Marmar, Charles R. 2003. Immediate treatment with propranolol decreases posttraumatic stress disorder two months after trauma. Biological Psychiatry 54 (9): 947–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wasco, Sharon M. 2003. Conceptualizing the harm done by rape: Applications of trauma theory to experiences of sexual assault. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse 4 (4): 309–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yehuda, Rachel, Southwick, Steven M., and Giller, Earl L. 1992. Exposure to atrocities and severity of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder in Vietnam combat veterans. American Journal of Psychiatry 149 (3): 333–36.Google ScholarPubMed