What if I said that there was a pill that could ease painful memories? For those with post traumatic stress disorder this would bring relief. Studies have shown that the right medications can actually ease painful memories. A study was conducted by using 33 university students who were told the heart wrenching story of a young girl who was visiting her grandparents house and got her hand caught in a chainsaw when her grandfather was building a bird house. The students were shown a picture of the little girls mangled hand which was eventually healed fully at their near by hospital. This presentation was quite hard to sit through for the students and they showed emotional distress after hearing about this terrible story. Three days after the presentation the students were brought to a lab where they were either given a placebo drug or the test drug. The test drug was one that knocked back the amount of cortisol that was being emitted into the body. The theory is that cortisol is a chemical that preserves memories especially emotionally driven ones. With in the group of those who were given the test drug there were two groups. One group had a low dose and the other had a much stronger dose. After a while the test subjects were asked to recall the details of the story. The first group found it a little hard to remember the details of the story and the members of the higher dose group found it really hard to remember much at all about that presentation. Four days later they asked the groups the same question and the outcome was exactly the same they had a hard time remembering what the presentation was all about and its details. The findings from this research could completely reshape what we know about memories and how to help people with post traumatic stress disorder.
I think that this article is completely fascinating. To really think that there is a drug out there that could suppress memories of your past. The only thing that I think is bad about this entire situation is that the drug doesn't just suppress that one bad memory but all of your memories in general. Obviously there are many memories that you would like to keep and remember but that wouldn't be possible in this situation. On the other hand this would be relief for those who have PTSD and suffer from it each day. This drug would be a way for them to relax and be able to sleep normally without thinking about that terrible memory or experience that haunts them each day. This would also help with children who have seen terrible things in their childhood. These kids would be able to get past that and forget about what happened when they were little and move on into there future.
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/31/6757302-pill-could-erase-painful-memories-study-shows
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