How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
A recent study claims to have zapped away traumatic memories in mice, after targeting specific “fear” neurons.
Similar to the 2004 film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” where an estranged couple wipe clean their memories of each other, the research shows that pain and trauma can be erased.
Our brains have millions of neurons, but it only takes a few to create a bad memory. The study found that by over-producing a certain brain protein they can essentially flag a painful memory’s pattern of neurons. These neurons can then be genetically removed to erase the memory, without hurting other ones.
The University of Toronto research team that conducted the research says the treatment could be particularly helpful to PTSD patients as well as drug addicts trying to break a cycle of trying to recreate remembered highs — but admit it would come with heaps of ethical issues.
“I think we are the sum total of our memories,” Sheena Josselyn, a member of the research team, said at a press conference for the study at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “If we erase the memory of our mistakes, what is to keep us from repeating them?”
However, she added that if a memory is so debilitating it’s affecting your everyday life, which can often be the case in PTSD patients, a therapy like this might bring relief.
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