Mind Eraser

Victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be able to finally get past their repeating fear.

Recent advances in neuroscience have revised our conventional view on memory. We used to think that long-term memory was stored in our brains for good once they were stored that way. But a 1999 presentation by a relatively obscure neuroscientist, Karim Nader, changed all that.

He discovered that every time the brain recalls a long-term memory, it is stored again; meaning, the memory can be altered before it goes back to long-term storage, replacing the previous one as if it were never there.

Now, Nader and a team of scientists/psychologists are finding successful results in treating patients with PTSD. Newsweek recently reported that "participants' symptoms dropped by 50 percent, and 70 to 80 percent no longer meet the full criteria for PTSD." And this is only early data.

So is this going to spin out of control, like in 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Jim Carey, Kate Winslet)? Will we succumb to erasing memories so as to never remember having loved and lost?

The answer is: so far, no. And, according to Nader's team, it doesn't look like it's heading that way. The treatment is intended to alter only the pain in existing memories, not erase them completely.

And that's a good thing. There is a great deal to gain from "bad" memories. Painful experiences shape who we are, and at the very least prevent us from repeating similar mistakes.

PTSD is a different story, however. But defining the line that decides who gets to alter their memory and who doesn't will certainly be up for interesting debate in the coming years.