Any doctors in the house? Anyone do research for such a topic? Right now as part of the plot, I have a character under the influence of some unnamed drug and a very well-spoken antagonist. For the sake of the plot, he's convinced her that she hates the love-interest in the story (which wasn't hard, since he killed this character's sister).
So far I've kept things very general. Unidentified syringes with an unmentioned liquid. I've focused more on the side effects. Illness, nausea, sweating, etc. And the story seems to work, at least to me.
But if my sample readers start pitching a fit, I wanted to chum the waters here to see if anyone had any thoughts on what kind of drugs might be used here in this circumstance, and whether the side effects and/or procedures I'm writing about are actually realistic.
(Then again, the last chapter I wrote had a Humvee dodging RPGs and somehow taking out a Huey, so maybe realism isn't necessary...)
Posted by A Yeatts (Member # 9500) on :
My hubby is a general internist. He'll think I'm nuts when I start asking about drug interactions but he's pretty used to my randomness by this point in our marriage. Sounds very interesting! Happy writing! ~Anna
Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :
Anna, any feedback he could offer would be insanely helpful! Thanks!
Posted by Osiris (Member # 9196) on :
I'm not a doctor, but I do have an MS in neuroscience. The brain is a pretty complicated organ, and it is not uncommon for different regions of the brain to respond differently to the same chemical, so the side effects you described all sound reasonable to me.
I believe the CIA ran some illegal experiments in from the 50s to the 70s in which they tried many different drugs to try to hypnotize, brainwash, or interrogate people. Here is a link on it:
He just gave me the "crazy face" when I asked if there was a drug he would suggest for brainwashing. Maybe he's using it on me already and doesn't want to confess?
Maybe psychosis as a side effect? Flat affect (lack of facial expressions)? Short term memory loss, blurred vision, headaches?
Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :
one can easily invent new drugs for the story to do exactly what you are doing, especially if they are a bit farther in our future.
Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :
I've "faked" it all so far by being vague on "what" and "how". I think it works. I don't think it bogs the story down. But if I can find that extra nugget of realism, so much the better.
Anna - your hubby didn't mention any specifics? I've used a few of those side effects in the story. I like the idea of the flat-effect. I kind of took the opposite approach with the character and had the drug make her frantic and OCD.
Posted by A Yeatts (Member # 9500) on :
I'll ask him again. Any specific examples about what you need it to do?
The side effects for antipsychotic drugs could work nicely? They affect the dopamine receptors in the brain... work for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Has some interesting (from a literary standpoint.. I wouldn't want to have them personally) side effects that can be quite severe.
Look at tardive dyskinesia. Could be a fun one to use.
[This message has been edited by A Yeatts (edited July 01, 2011).]
Posted by A Yeatts (Member # 9500) on :
Hubby just suggested a drug like Percocet (administered as a pill/orally) that would produce a feeling of euphoria. And it's highly addictive. Perhaps your antagonist could partner the euphoria with the ideas he's trying to brainwash in? Little positive reinforcement for spouting the correct ideology. Can administer morphine or dilaudid intravenously and would be somewhat similar to Percocet.
Or use positive punishment when the "wrong" ideas are in the protagonist's mind. Erythromycin (pill or IV) is a very cheap antibiotic but most docs don't use it because everyone gets sick and throws up immediately. The hero mentally rebels and starts puking. That would make me change my mind. Cisplatin is a chemo drug that causes nausea, vomiting, hair loss, loss of appetite, loss of taste, blurred vision. Would be administered by IV. Cytoxan is another chemo drug, causes diarrhea, bleeding gums, headache, rashes, sterility... also IV. Both chemo drugs would need 24-48 hours for side effects to begin.
He also recommended just spinning the hero around and around in an office chair until he pukes. I think he's waaaaay too into this brainstorming session now. Guess he was too tired the first time I asked. :P
[This message has been edited by A Yeatts (edited July 01, 2011).]
Posted by Rhaythe (Member # 7857) on :
Wow. Your hubby rocks.
Posted by Reziac (Member # 9345) on :
Seems to me a combination of euphoria and nausea could produce a serious mindscrew effect
A minor correction re erythromycin -- if you divide the daily total into four doses (ie. every 6 hours), rather than just two doses (ie. every 12 hours), or make sure it is both preceded and followed by food (so it's never present on an empty stomach) the nausea/vomiting issue goes away.
Posted by A Yeatts (Member # 9500) on :
I'll tell him you said so! He even had his drug interaction charts out "shopping" for some good ones for you. LOL I told him if you won a Hugo with your story, I'd get him a copy for his office.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I'm thinking you'd have to be somewhat "SF-y" to come up with some kind of brainwashing drug...if such drugs had been available any time in the century just past, we'd all have been buried under hordes of zombie soldiers for real, and not just in the movies. Or been the zombie soldiers...
(I wrote something recently about turning someone into an automaton by accident...it involved heavy injections of numerous drugs over a long period of time---none of which I clearly defined.)
