In Future, Science Could Erase Traumatic Memories

In Future, Science Could Erase Traumatic Memories
by Jon Hamilton


Scientists are beginning to understand why fearful memories are so persistent in the brain, and how they can be erased.

The research could help thousands of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, including many veterans, says Kerry Ressler, a psychiatrist at Emory University and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

In recent years, Ressler says, he's been working with veterans from Iraq who survived incidents like being in a Humvee that was blown up by a bomb. Many are haunted by the memories.

Behavioral therapies can help these PTSD patients cope with their fears, Ressler says. They learn to believe that a car ride doesn't have to end in violence.

But the traumatic memory is still there and can be set off again by almost any emotional event.

The Root Of Fear

That's because fear comes from a part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala isn't logical, Ressler says. It just reacts.

"Before we are even consciously aware of something the amygdala has activated the fight-or-flight reflex," he says, "and activated the fear system.
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