Shock Therapy Can 'Erase' Bad Memories, Brain Researchers Show

[Reefa]

In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, unhappy lovers undergo an experimental brain treatment to erase all memories of each other from their minds. No such fix exists for real-life couples, but researchers report today in Nature Neuroscience that a targeted medical intervention helps to reduce specific negative memories in patients who are depressed.

"This is one time I would say that science is better than art," says Karim Nader, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who was not involved in the research. "It's a very clever study."

The technique, called electroconvulsive (ECT) or electroshock therapy, induces seizures by passing current into the brain through electrode pads placed on the scalp. Despite its sometimes negative reputation, ECT is an effective last-resort treatment for severe depression, and is used today in combination with anaesthesia and muscle relaxants.

Marijn Kroes, a neuroscientist at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and his colleagues found that by strategically timing ECT bursts, they could target and disrupt patients' memory of a disturbing episode.

A matter of time

The strategy relies on a theory called memory reconsolidation, which proposes that memories are taken out of 'mental storage' each time they are accessed and 're-written' over time back onto the brain's circuits. Results from animal studies and limited evidence in humans suggest that during reconsolidation, memories are vulnerable to alteration or even erasure.

Kroes and his team tested this idea in 42 patients who had been prescribed ECT for severe clinical depression. In an initial session, the researchers showed two disturbing slide-show narratives: one depicting a car accident, and the other a physical assault.

The team later prompted patients to recall only one of the stories by replaying part of that slide show. Immediately afterwards, when the reactivated memory is thought to be vulnerable, the patients received electroconvulsive therapy.

One day later, when given a multiple-choice memory test, patients were significantly worse at remembering details from the reactivated story, performing near chance. Patients' memory of the other story, however, remained largely unscathed. But when researchers administered the memory test 90 minutes after treatment, patients showed no differences in their ability to recall the two stories. This suggests that the therapy blocked the time-dependent process of reconsolidation, rather than causing sudden memory loss.

"This provides very strong and compelling evidence that memories in the human brain undergo reconsolidation, and that a window of opportunity exists to treat bad memories," says Daniela Schiller, a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who also studies memory reconsolidation.

Thinking ahead

Schiller says more work is needed to establish how long the ECT effects last, and whether the technique works as effectively on older or more complex memories from real-life experiences, says Schiller.

Kroes adds that ECT may not be the best option for most patients, but says that these results could guide the development of less invasive interventions that target memory reconsolidation. Eventually, he says, the idea could be extended to memories involved in post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"The ability to permanently alter these types of memories might lead to novel, better treatments," says Kroes.

7 Bizarre Brain Disorders You've Probably Never Heard of(CLONED)

Alien Hand Syndrome

Also sometimes referred to as the Dr. Strangelove Syndrome, this condition causes a patient's hand to take on a life of its own and act on its own accord.

Riley-Day Syndrome

Patients with this condition are often unable to feel any pain, which can prove dangerous should they ever get injured.

Cotard's Syndrome

An individual's belief that he or she is dead despite those around them saying they are not. Some report also believing they do not exist at all.

Apotemnophilia

The desire of an individual to amputate a perfectly-healthy limb.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

Patients with this condition report experiencing distorted body proportion: certain body parts -- often the head and hands -- are larger than they should be.

Prosopagnosia

Sometimes called "face-blindness," this condition renders individuals unable to recognize faces -- even those of the people they love or encounter on a regular basis.

Capgras Delusion

The belief that an acquaintance, or even someone an individual knows very well, is actually an identical-looking imposter.

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/25/shock-therapy-erase-bad-memories-brain_n_4494888.html

[Ambrocious]

So they are wanting to revamp the old electro shock therapy? I recall they use to do this in mental hospitals to patients and it was discontinued by far because it was considered barbaric and inhumane. But I do see that the more the world sinks into crap, the more people want to be hurt to try and cancel out other hurts. Frying your brain is no solution to your problems.

[MidnightDistortions]

I'm sure a few hospitals have stopped using it, though i didn't see anything in wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy regarding the practice to be stopped. It's pretty much a last resort kind of thing but i suppose some people are desperate enough to want memories erased. Personally i wouldn't want the procedure done on me but if i was crazy/insane i probably wouldn't care. I think if supposedly you were demonically possessed (that's if it's possible, lol) it would remove any hostile entities. Doing this with crazy or desperate people is one thing, but it should never be done on animals.