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Psychology in the News

The world outside the couch.
Food for the mind

Deleting Bad Memories? 

4/10/2016

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Recently, an article was published by MIC highlighting the work of Cornelius Gross of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Italy. Dr. Gross has found a drug that targets the center for memory and learning in the brain and blocks the synaptic connections so that negative or traumatic thoughts can be "forgotten," or more accurately, never really stored to begin with. In his research, blocking the synapses caused learning of new information to quickly deteriorate such that it was forgotten. 

Now, of course we are all thinking, this is wonderful!
The implications for soldiers who go off to war and are subsequently traumatised and for people who experience debilitating phobias are huge.

But, are we missing something big here when researchers shroud their arguments for pushing such a drug among good intentions like protecting our Veterans? Are the implications for how wonderful this could be missing key issues such as the fact that the body forms its own memories and we might be causing even more challenges for people who are impaired by not recalling all the aspects of what happened to them? 

I think it is fair to say that there is more that needs to be investigated here before we continue to tip-toe toward Brave New World, without really understanding the implications for our minds, something we still know very little about. 

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    Articles are posted and managed by Ksera Dyette, MA, BCB a 5th year student in Clinical Psychology at Widener University.

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  • Home
    • Therapeutic Services >
      • Treatment Topics
      • What is Psychoanalysis?
      • Contact: Therapeutic Services
  • Professional Services
    • Upcoming: Lectures and Workshops
    • Past: Lectures and Workshops
    • Contact: Professional Services
  • Meet Dr. Nayar-Akhtar
    • Training
    • Research
    • Publications
  • Blog