'Eternal Sunshine' Drug Muffles Bad Memories

A drug administered shortly after people recalled traumatic events made the memories less painful, McGill University researchers report.

Prof Karim Nader, of McGill University, said: "When you remember old memories they can become 'unstored' and then have to be 'restored'.

"As the memory is getting restored, we gave patients a drug that turns down the emotional part of the memory. It left the conscious part of the memory intact, so they could still remember all the details but without being overwhelmed by the memory."

The new study is the first to report such an effect for the drug, proplanol, which has previously been shown to reduce the intensity of traumatic memories when taken shortly after the event.

The results hint at therapies for psychoses and post-traumatic stress disorders. However, they also raise profound questions about the nature of identity, the meaning of suffering and the danger of using such drugs as a quick-and-dirty substitute for genuine therapy. There could also be unexpected risks -- what if, at the beginning of treatment, a subject inadvertently recalled a memory of love, and that feeling was subsequently deadened?

Heavy thoughts for a gray day. What about you, Wired Science readers?
If this drug was on the market, are there memories for which you'd take it?

Scientists find drug to banish bad memories [Telegraph]

Effect of post-retrieval propranolol on psychophysiologic responding during subsequent script-driven traumatic imagery in post-traumatic stress disorder [Journal of Psychiatric Research]