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The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever

By Jonah Lehrer February 17, 2012 | 3:44 pm | Categories: Wired March 2012

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Jeffrey Mitchell, a volunteer firefighter in the suburbs of Baltimore, came across the accident by chance: A car had smashed into a pickup truck loaded with metal pipes. Mitchell tried to help, but he saw at once that he was too late. The car had rear-ended the truck at high speed, sending a pipe through the windshield and into the chest of the passengera young bride returning home from her wedding. There was blood everywhere, staining her white dress crimson. Mitchell couldnt get the dead woman out of his mind; the tableau was stuck before his eyes. He tried to tough it out, but after months of suffering, he couldnt take it anymore. He finally told his brother, a fellow firefighter, about it.

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Pushing to remember a traumatic event soon after it occurs doesnt unburden us it reinforces the fear and stress.

Miraculously, that worked. No more trauma; Mitchell felt free. This dramatic recovery, along with the experiences of fellow first responders, led Mitchell to do some research into recovery from trauma. He eventually concluded that he had stumbled upon a powerful treatment. In 1983, nearly a decade after the car accident, Mitchell wrote an influential paper in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services that transformed his experience into a seven-step practice, which he called critical incident stress debriefing, or CISD. The central idea: People who survive a painful event should express their feelings soon after so the memory isnt sealed over and repressed, which could lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

In recent years, CISD has become exceedingly popular, used by the US Department of Defense, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Israeli army, the United Nations, and the American Red Cross. Each year, more than 30,000 people are trained in the technique. (After the September 11 attacks, 2,000 facilitators descended on New York City.) Even though PTSD is triggered by a stressful incident, it is really a disease of memory. The problem isnt the traumaits that the trauma cant be forgotten. Most memories, and their associated emotions, fade with time. But PTSD memories remain horribly intense, bleeding into the present and ruining the future. So, in theory, the act of sharing those memories is an act of forgetting them. A typical CISD session lasts about three hours and involves a trained facilitator who encourages people involved to describe the event from their perspective in as much detail as possible. Facilitators are trained to probe deeply and directly, asking questions such as, what was the worst part of the incident for you personally? The underlying assumption is that a way to ease a traumatic memory is to express it. The problem is, CISD rarely helpsand recent studies show it often makes things worse. In one, burn victims were randomly assigned to receive either CISD or no treatment at all. A year later, those who went through a debriefing were more anxious and depressed and nearly three times as likely to suffer from PTSD. Another trial showed CISD was ineffective at preventing post-traumatic stress in victims of violent crime, and a US Army study of 952 Kosovo peacekeepers found that debriefing did not hasten recovery and led to more alcohol abuse. Psychologists have begun to recommend that the practice be discontinued for disaster survivors. (Mitchell now says that he doesnt think CISD necessarily helps posttraumatic stress at all, but his early papers on the subject seem clear on the link.) Mitchell was right about one thing, though. Traumatic, persistent memories are indeed a case of recall gone awry. But as a treatment, CISD misapprehends how memory works. It suggests that the way to get rid of a bad memory, or at a minimum denude it of its negative emotional connotations, is to talk it out. Thats where Mitchell went wrong. It wasnt his fault, really; this mistaken notion has been around for thousands of years. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, people have imagined memories to be a stable form of information that persists reliably. The metaphors for this persistence have changed over time Plato compared our recollections to impressions in a wax tablet, and the idea of a biological hard drive is popular todaybut the basic model has not. Once a memory is formed, we assume that it will stay the same. This, in fact, is why we trust our recollections. They feel like indelible portraits of the past. None of this is true. In the past decade, scientists have come to realize that our memories are not inert packets of data and they dont remain constant. Even though every memory feels like an honest representation, that sense of authenticity is the biggest lie of all. When CISD fails, it fails because, as scientists have recently learned, the very act of remembering changes the memory itself. New research is showing that every time we recall an event, the structure of that memory in the brain is altered in light of the present moment, warped by our current feelings and knowledge. Thats why pushing to remember a traumatic event so soon after it occurs doesnt unburden us; it reinforces the fear and stress that are part of the recollection. This new model of memory isnt just a theoryneuroscientists actually have a molecular explanation of how and why memories change. In fact, their definition of memory has broadened to encompass not only the clich cinematic scenes from childhood but also the persisting mental loops of illnesses like PTSD and addictionand even pain disorders like neuropathy. Unlike most brain research, the field of memory has actually developed simpler explanations. Whenever the brain wants to retain something, it relies on just a handful of chemicals. Even more startling, an equally small family of compounds could turn out to be a universal eraser of history, a pill that we could take whenever we wanted to forget anything. And researchers have found one of these compounds. In the very near future, the act of remembering will become a choice.

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Photo illustration: Curtis Mann; Photo: Owen Franken/Corbis

Every memory begins as a changed set of connections among cells in the brain. If you happen to remember this momentthe content of this sentenceits because a network of neurons has been altered, woven more tightly together within a vast electrical fabric. This linkage is literal: For a memory to exist, these scattered cells must become more sensitive to the activity of the others, so that if one cell fires, the rest of the circuit lights up as well. Scientists refer to this process as long-term potentiation, and it involves an intricate cascade of gene activations and protein synthesis that makes it easier for these neurons to pass along their electrical excitement. Sometimes this requires the addition of new receptors at the dendritic end of a neuron, or an increase in the release of the chemical neurotransmitters that nerve cells use to communicate. Neurons will actually sprout new ion channels along their length, allowing them to generate more voltage. Collectively this creation of long-term potentiation is called the consolidation phase, when the circuit of cells representing a memory is first linked together. Regardless of the molecular details, its clear that even minor memories require major work. The past has to be wired into your hardware. That understanding of how memories are created emerged in the 1970s. But what happens after a memory is formed, when we attempt to access it, was much less well understood. In the late 1990s, Karim Nader, a young neuroscientist studying emotional response at New York University, realized that no one knew. My big advantage was that I wasnt trained in memory, Nader says. I was very naive about the subject. Even though the field wasnt that interested in the mechanisms of recall, it struck me as a mystery worth pursuing. He began with the simplest question he could think of. While it was clear that new proteins were needed for the making of memoriesproteins are cellular bricks and mortar, the basis of any new biological constructionwere additional proteins made when those memories were recalled? Nader hypothesized that they were, and he realized that he could test his notion by temporarily blocking protein synthesis in a brain and looking to see if that altered recall. This is the kind of question you ask when you dont know how else to approach the subject, Nader says. But I had to do something, so why not this? His boss, the famed neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, couldnt have been more discouraging. I told Karim he was wasting his time, LeDoux says. I didnt think the experiment would work. To LeDoux, the reason was obvious: Even if Nader blocked protein synthesis during recall, the original circuitry would still be intact, so the memory should be too. If Nader could induce amnesia, it would be temporary. Once the block was removed, the recall would return as strong as ever. And so LeDoux and Nader made a bet: If Nader failed to permanently erase a set of fear memories in four lab animals, he had to buy LeDoux a bottle of tequila. If it worked, drinks were on LeDoux. I honestly assumed Id be spending a bunch of money on alcohol, Nader says. Everyone else knew a lot more about the neuroscience of memory. And they all told me it would never work. He taught several dozen rats to associate a loud noise with a mild but painful electric shock. It terrified themwhenever the sound played, the rats froze in fear, anticipating the shock. After reinforcing this memory for several weeks, Nader hit the rats with the noise once again, but this time he then injected their brains with a chemical that inhibited protein synthesis. Then he played the sound again. I couldnt believe what happened, Nader says. The fear memory was gone. The rats had forgotten everything. The absence of fear persisted even after the injection wore off. The secret was the timing: If new proteins couldnt be created during the act of remembering, then the original memory ceased to exist. The erasure was also exceedingly specific. The rats could still learn new
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associations, and they remained scared of other sounds associated with a shock but that hadnt been played during the protein block. They forgot only what theyd been forced to remember while under the influence of the protein inhibitor. The disappearance of the fear memory suggested that every time we think about the past we are delicately transforming its cellular representation in the brain, changing its underlying neural circuitry. It was a stunning discovery: Memories are not formed and then pristinely maintained, as neuroscientists thought; they are formed and then rebuilt every time theyre accessed. The brain isnt interested in having a perfect set of memories about the past, LeDoux says. Instead, memory comes with a natural updating mechanism, which is how we make sure that the information taking up valuable space inside our head is still useful. That might make our memories less accurate, but it probably also makes them more relevant to the future. After collecting his tequila, Nader hit the library in an attempt to make sense of his bizarre observations. I couldnt believe that no one had ever done this experiment before, he says. I thought, theres no way Im this lucky. Nader was right. He had unknowingly replicated a 44-year-old experiment performed by a Rutgers psychologist named Donald Lewis, in which rats had been trained to be afraid of a sound associating it, again, with an electric shockand then had those memories erased by a separate electroconvulsive shock. Lewis had discovered what came to be called memory reconsolidation, the brains practice of re-creating memories over and over again. But by the mid-1970s, neuroscientists had largely stopped investigating reconsolidation. Other researchers failed to replicate several of Lewis original experiments, so the phenomenon was dismissed as an experimental error. These guys had discovered it all way before me, Nader says. But they had been left out of all the textbooks. Nader was convinced that Lewis work had been rejected unjustly. But no one wanted to hear it. Man, it was brutal, Nader says. I couldnt get published anywhere. He was shunned at conferences and accused in journal articles of forgetting the lessons of the past. By 2001, just a few years after his experimental triumph, he was on the verge of leaving the field. He thought of Thomas Kuhn, the philosopher of science who famously observed that overturning paradigms is always a fearsome task. Why put up with this shit? Nader says. I finally understood what Kuhn was talking about. Id run straight into a very stubborn paradigm. But Nader was so angry at his scientific opponents that he refused to let them win, and by 2005 other researchers had started to take his side. Multiple papers demonstrated that the act of recall required some kind of protein synthesisthat it was, at the molecular level, nearly identical to the initial creation of a long-term recollection. To be more specific: I can recall vividly the party for my eighth birthday. I can almost taste the BaskinRobbins ice cream cake and summon the thrill of tearing wrapping paper off boxes of Legos. This memory is embedded deep in my brain as a circuit of connected cells that I will likely have forever. Yet the science of reconsolidation suggests that the memory is less stable and trustworthy than it appears. Whenever I remember the party, I re-create the memory and alter its map of neural connections. Some details are reinforcedmy current hunger makes me focus on the ice creamwhile others get erased, like the face of a friend whose name I can no longer conjure. The memory is less like a movie, a permanent emulsion of chemicals on celluloid, and more like a playsubtly different each time its performed. In my brain, a network of cells is constantly being reconsolidated, rewritten, remade. That two-letter prefix changes everything.

Memory Erasure: How It Works

For years scientists have been able to change the emotional tone of a memory by administering certain drugs just before asking people to recall the event in detail. New research suggests that theyll be able to target and erase specific memories altogether. Heres how.

1/ Pick a memory.
It has to be something

2/ Recall requires
neural connections

3/ Nuke the
memory.

4/ Everything else
is fine.

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deeply implanted in the brain, a long-term memory that has undergone a process called consolidation a restructuring of neural connections.

by protein synthesis. To remember something, your brain synthesizes new proteins to stabilize circuits of neural connections. To date, researchers have identified one such protein, called PKMzeta. Before trying to erase the targeted memory, researchers would ensure that it was ensconced by having the patient write down an account of the event or retell it aloud several times.

To delete the memory, researchers would administer a drug that blocks PKMzeta and then ask the patient to recall the event again. Because the protein required to reconsolidate the memory will be absent, the memory will cease to exist. Neuroscientists think theyll be able to target the specific memory by using drugs that bind selectively to receptors found only in the correct area of the brain.

If the drug is selective enough and the memory precise enough, everything else in the brain should be unaffected and remain as correct or incorrectas ever. Illustration: Teagan White

Once you start questioning the reality of memory, things fall apart pretty quickly. So many of our assumptions about the human mindwhat it is, why it breaks, and how it can be healedare rooted in a mistaken belief about how experience is stored in the brain. (According to a recent survey, 63 percent of Americans believe that human memory works like a video camera, accurately recording the events we see and hear so that we can review and inspect them later.) We want the past to persist, because the past gives us permanence. It tells us who we are and where we belong. But what if your most cherished recollections are also the most ephemeral thing in your head? Consider the study of flashbulb memories, extremely vivid, detailed recollections. Shortly after the September 11 attacks, a team of psychologists led by William Hirst and Elizabeth Phelps surveyed several hundred subjects about their memories of that awful day. The scientists then repeated the surveys, tracking how the stories steadily decayed. At one year out, 37 percent of the details had changed. By 2004 that number was approaching 50 percent. Some changes were innocuousthe stories got tighter and the narratives more coherentbut other adjustments involved a wholesale retrofit. Some people even altered where they were when the towers fell. Over and over, the act of repeating the narrative seemed to corrupt its content. The scientists arent sure about this mechanism, and they have yet to analyze the data from the entire 10-year survey. But Phelps expects it to reveal that many details will be make-believe. Whats most troubling, of course, is that these people have no idea their memories have changed this much, she says. The strength of the emotion makes them convinced its all true, even when its clearly not. Reconsolidation provides a mechanistic explanation for these errors. Its why eyewitness testimony shouldnt be trusted (even though its central to our justice system), why every memoir should be classified as fiction, and why its so disturbingly easy to implant false recollections. (The psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has repeatedly demonstrated that nearly a third of subjects can be tricked into claiming a made-up memory as their own. It takes only a single exposure to a new fiction for it to be reconsolidated as fact.) And this returns us to critical incident stress debriefing. When we experience a traumatic event, it gets remembered in two separate ways. The first memory is the event itself, that cinematic scene we can replay at will. The second memory, however, consists entirely of the emotion, the negative feelings triggered by what happened. Every memory is actually kept in many different parts of the brain. Memories of negative emotions, for instance, are stored in the amygdala, an almond-shaped area in the center of the brain. (Patients who have suffered damage to the amygdala are incapable of remembering fear.) By contrast, all the relevant details that comprise the scene are kept in various sensory areas visual elements in the visual cortex, auditory elements in the auditory cortex, and so on. That filing system means that different aspects can be influenced independently by reconsolidation. The larger lesson is that because our memories are formed by the act of remembering them, controlling the conditions under which they are recalled can actually change their content. The problem with CISD is that the worst time to recall a traumatic event is when people are flush with terror and grief. Theyll still have all the bodily symptoms of fearracing pulse, clammy hands, tremorsso the intense emotional memory is reinforced. Its the opposite of catharsis. But when people wait a few weeks before discussing an eventas Mitchell, the inventor of CISD, did himselfthey give their negative feelings a chance to fade. The volume of trauma is dialed down; the body returns to baseline. As a result, the emotion is no longer reconsolidated in such a stressed state. Subjects will still remember the terrible event, but the feelings of pain associated with it will be rewritten in light of what they feel now. LeDoux insists that these same principles have been used by good therapists for decades. When therapy heals, when it helps reduce the impact of negative memories, its really because of reconsolidation, he says. Therapy allows people to rewrite their own memories while in a safe space, guided by trained professionals. The difference is that we finally understand the neural mechanism.

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But competent talk therapy is not the only way to get at those mechanisms. One intriguing approach to treating PTSD that emerged recently involves administering certain drugs and then asking patients to recall their bad memories. In one 2010 clinical trial, subjects suffering from PTSD were given MDMA (street name: ecstasy) while undergoing talk therapy. Because the drug triggers a rush of positive emotion, the patients recalled their trauma without feeling overwhelmed. As a result, the remembered event was associated with the positive feelings triggered by the pill. According to the researchers, 83 percent of their patients showed a dramatic decrease in symptoms within two months. That makes ecstasy one of the most effective PTSD treatments ever devised. Other scientists have achieved impressive results with less extreme drugs. In 2008, Alain Brunet, a clinical psychologist at McGill University, identified 19 patients who had been suffering for several years from serious stress and anxiety disorders such as PTSD. (Their traumas included sexual assaults, car crashes, and violent muggings.) People in the treatment group were given the drug propranolol, a betablocker that has long been used for conditions like high blood pressure and performance anxiety; it inhibits norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter involved in the production of strong emotions. Brunet asked subjects to write a detailed description of their traumatic experiences and then gave them a dose of propranolol. While the subjects were remembering the awful event, the drug suppressed the visceral aspects of their fear response, ensuring that the negative feeling was somewhat contained. One week later, all the patients returned to the lab and were exposed once again to a description of the traumatic event. Heres where things got interesting: Subjects who got the placebo demonstrated levels of arousal consistent with PTSD (for example, their heart rate spiked suddenly), but those given propranolol showed significantly lower stress responses. Although they could still remember the event in vivid detail, the emotional memory located in the amygdala had been modified. The fear wasnt gone, but it no longer seemed crippling. The results we get sometimes leave me in awe, Brunet says. These are people who are unable to lead normal lives, and yet after just a few sessions they become healthy again.

Photo illustration: Curtis Mann; Photo: Ed Andrieski/AP

Recoveries are possible, but they arent necessarily neat. One of Brunets patients was Lois, a retired member of the Canadian military living in Kingston, Ontario. (She asked that I not use her last name.) When Lois describes the tragic arc of her life, she sounds like a cursed character in the Old Testament. Sexually molested as a child, she married an abusive man, who would later hang himself at home. Years after that, her teenage daughter was hit by a truck and died. Id been holding it together my entire life, she says. But when I heard my child was gone I just started sobbing and couldnt stop. I felt this pain that I thought was going to kill me. Lois coped by drinking. She would start around noon and keep going until she went to bed. I lost four years to alcohol, she says. But if I wasnt drunk then I was crying. I knew I was killing myself, but I didnt know what else to do. In early 2011, Lois learned about the experimental trials being conducted by Brunet. She immediately wrote him an email, begging for help. Id spent a lot of my life in standard talk therapy, she says. It just didnt do it for me. But this seemed like it might actually work. Last spring Lois began reconsolidation

Psychiatry never cures anythingall we do is treat the

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we do is treat the worst symptoms. But this new treatment could be the first psychiatric cure ever.

treatment at Brunets hospital, driving to Montreal once a week. The routine was always the same: A nurse would give her propranolol, wait for the drug to take effect, and then have her read her life story out loud. The first few weeks were excruciating. I was a mess for days afterward, she says. I couldnt believe Id signed up for this. But then, after five weeks of therapy, Lois felt herself slowly improve. She would still cry when describing the death of her daughterLois cried during our interviewbut now she could stop crying. That was the difference, she says. I still remembered everything that happened, and it still hurt so much, but now I felt like I could live with it. The feelings were just less intense. The therapy let me breathe. Such improvements, small though they may seem, are almost unheard of in psychiatry. We never cure anything, Brunet says. All we do is try to treat the worst symptoms. But I think this treatment has the potential to be the first psychiatric cure ever. For many people, the PTSD really is gone. Propranolol, of course, is an imperfect drug, a vintage tool commandeered for a new purpose. Despite Brunets optimistic assessment, many of his patients remain traumatized, albeit perhaps less so. While he is currently conducting a larger-scale, randomized PTSD trial with the beta-blocker, future therapies will rely on more targeted compounds. These norepinephrine inhibitors are just whats available right now, LeDoux says. They work OK, but their effect is indirect. What reconsolidation therapy really needs is a drug that can target the fear memory itself. The perfect drug wouldnt just tamp down the traumatic feeling, he says. It would erase the actual representation of the trauma in the brain. Heres the amazing part: The perfect drug may have already been found. The chemistry of the brain is in constant flux, with the typical neural protein lasting anywhere from two weeks to a few months before it breaks down or gets reabsorbed. How then do some of our memories seem to last forever? Its as if they are sturdier than the mind itself. Scientists have narrowed down the list of molecules that seem essential to the creation of long-term memorysea slugs and mice without these compounds are total amnesiacsbut until recently nobody knew how they worked. In the 1980s, a Columbia University neurologist named Todd Sacktor became obsessed with this mental mystery. His breakthrough came from an unlikely source. My dad was a biochemist, Sacktor says. He was the one who said I should look into this molecule, because it seems to have some neat properties. Sacktors father had suggested a molecule called protein kinase C, an enzyme turned on by surges of calcium ions in the brain. This enzyme seemed to have a bunch of properties necessary to be a regulator of long-term potentiation, Sacktor says. But so did a bunch of other molecules. It took me a few years to figure out if my dad was right. In fact, it took Sacktor more than a decade. (He spent three years just trying to purify the molecule.) What he discovered is that a form of protein kinase C called PKMzeta hangs around synapses, the junctions where neurons connect, for an unusually long time. And without it, stable recollections start to disappear. While scientists like Nader had erased memories using chemicals that inhibited all protein synthesis, Sacktor was the first to target a single memory protein so specifically. The trick was finding a chemical that inhibited PKMzeta activity. It turned out to be remarkably easy, Sacktor says. All we had to do was order this inhibitor compound from the chemical catalog and then give it to the animals. You could watch them forget. What does PKMzeta do? The molecules crucial trick is that it increases the density of a particular type of sensor called an AMPA receptor on the outside of a neuron. Its an ion channel, a gateway to the interior of a cell that, when opened, makes it easier for adjacent cells to excite one another. (While neurons are normally shy strangers, struggling to interact, PKMzeta turns them into intimate friends, happy to exchange all sorts of incidental information.) This process requires constant upkeepevery long-term memory is always on the verge of vanishing. As a result, even a brief interruption of PKMzeta activity can dismantle the function of a steadfast circuit. If the genetic expression of PKMzeta is amped upby, say, genetically engineering rats to overproduce the stuffthey become mnemonic freaks, able to convert even the most mundane events into long-term memory. (Their performance on a standard test of recall is nearly double that of normal animals.) Furthermore, once neurons begin producing PKMzeta, the protein tends to linger, marking the neural connection as a memory. The molecules themselves are always changing, but the high level of PKMzeta stays constant, Sacktor says. Thats what makes the endurance of the memory possible. For example, in a recent experiment, Sacktor and scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science trained rats to associate the taste of saccharin with nausea (thanks to an injection of lithium). After just a few trials, the rats began studiously avoiding the artificial sweetener. All it took was a single injection of a PKMzeta inhibitor called zeta-interacting protein, or ZIP, before the rats forgot all about their aversion. The rats went back to guzzling down the stuff. By coupling these amnesia cocktails to the memory reconsolidation process, its possible to

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get even more specific. Nader, LeDoux, and a neuroscientist named Jacek Debiec taught rats elaborate sequences of association, so that a series of sounds predicted the arrival of a painful shock to the foot. Nader calls this a chain of memoriesthe sounds lead to fear, and the animals freeze up. We wanted to know if making you remember that painful event would also lead to the disruption of related memories, Nader says. Or could we alter just that one association? The answer was clear. By injecting a protein synthesis inhibitor before the rats were exposed to only one of the soundsand therefore before they underwent memory reconsolidationthe rats could be trained to forget the fear associated with that particular tone. Only the first link was gone, Nader says. The other associations remained perfectly intact. Photo illustration: Curtis Mann; Photo: Doug This is a profound result. While scientists have Kanter/Getty long wondered how to target specific memories in the brain, it turns out to be remarkably easy: All you have to do is ask people to remember them. This isnt Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-style mindwiping. In some ways its potentially even more effective and more precise. Because of the compartmentalization of memory in the brainthe storage of different aspects of a memory in different areasthe careful application of PKMzeta synthesis inhibitors and other chemicals that interfere with reconsolidation should allow scientists to selectively delete aspects of a memory. Right now, researchers have to inject their obliviating potions directly into the rodent brain. Future treatments, however, will involve targeted inhibitors, like an advanced version of ZIP, that become active only in particular parts of the cortex and only at the precise time a memory is being recalled. The end result will be a menu of pills capable of erasing different kinds of memoriesthe scent of a former lover or the awful heartbreak of a failed relationship. These thoughts and feelings can be made to vanish, even as the rest of the memory remains perfectly intact. Reconsolidation research has shown that we can get very specific about which associations we go after, LeDoux says. And thats a very good thing. Nobody actually wants a totally spotless mind. The astonishing power of PKMzeta forces us to redefine human memory. While we typically think of memories as those facts and events from the past that stick in the brain, Sacktors research suggests that memory is actually much bigger and stranger than that. In fact, PTSD isnt the only disease thats driven by a broken set of memoriesother nasty afflictions, including chronic pain, obsessivecompulsive disorder, and drug addiction, are also fueled by memories that cant be forgotten. Sacktor is convinced that the first therapeutic use of PKMzeta inhibitors will involve making people forget not an event but physical pain. For reasons that remain mysterious, some sensory nerves never recover from bodily injury; even after a wound heals, the hurt persists. The body remembers. Because these memories are made of the exact same stuff as every other kind of memory, injecting an inhibitor near the spinal cordwhere, presumably, the sensation of pain is being storedand then somehow inducing or focusing on the pain could instantly erase the long-term suffering, as if the nerves themselves were reset. Its hard to argue against this form of memory alteration, Sacktor says. It might be the only way to treat neuropathic pain. PTSD is the emotional version of this problem. Instead of the pain coming from the spinal cord, it comes from the amygdala, where a trauma is encoded and just wont let go. For many reconsolidation researchers, there is little difference among categories of hurt. It doesnt matter if the tragedy is physical or psychic: The treatment is the same. There is perhaps no societal plague more expensive than drug addiction. In the US, the overall cost of substance abuse exceeds $600 billion a year. Previous attempts to treat drug addiction with drugs have largely failed; methadone is among the best, and its not that good. But addiction is driven by memory associating the high with a crack pipe, or the buzz of nicotine with the smell of smokewhich means that reconsolidation therapy offers some hope. Studies of morphine-addled rats have found that a few doses of a PKMzeta inhibitor can eliminate their cravings. Nader, meanwhile, has just begun a trial in which cocaine addicts are given propranolol and then shown a drug-related cue, such as a video of people shooting up. Because the blood-pressure medicine dials down their basic emotional response to the worldit reduces symptoms of stress but also inhibits expressions of pleasureNader believes it can slowly diminish the desire for illicit substances. The craving is a learned association, he says. Were hoping to weaken that association over time. Being able to control memory doesnt simply give us admin access to our brains. It gives us the power to shape nearly every aspect of our lives. Theres something terrifying about this. Long ago, humans accepted the uncontrollable nature of memory; we cant choose what to remember or forget. But now it appears that well soon gain the ability to alter our sense of the past. The problem with eliminating pain, of course, is that pain is often educational. We learn from our regrets and mistakes; wisdom is not free. If our past becomes a playlista collection of tracks we can edit with

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easethen how will we resist the temptation to erase the unpleasant ones? Even more troubling, its easy to imagine a world where people dont get to decide the fate of their own memories. My worst nightmare is that some evil dictator gets ahold of this, Sacktor says. There are all sorts of dystopian things one could do with these drugs. While tyrants have often rewritten history books, modern science might one day allow them to rewrite us, wiping away genocides and atrocities with a cocktail of pills. Those scenarios aside, the fact is we already tweak our memorieswe just do it badly. Reconsolidation constantly alters our recollections, as we rehearse nostalgias and suppress pain. We repeat stories until theyre stale, rewrite history in favor of the winners, and tamp down our sorrows with whiskey. Once people realize how memory actually works, a lot of these beliefs that memory shouldnt be changed will seem a little ridiculous, Nader says. Anything can change memory. This technology isnt new. Its just a better version of an existing biological process. Its a pretty notionhey, this memory-alteration stuff is totally natural, manbut some ethicists and clinicians dispute whether this kind of therapy is acceptable. Researchers in the field counter that not treating suffering is cruel, regardless of the type of pain involved. We have a duty, they say, to take psychological pain seriously. We can no longer ignore people like Lois. If youre in a car accident and you break your leg, everyone agrees we need to give you treatment and painkillers, Nader says. But if something terrible happens and your mind breaks, people conclude that treatment is a dangerous idea, at least if its effective. But whats the difference? Just think of all the poor souls in therapy, trying to talk themselves into a better place. These scientists point out that memory tweaks will one day be used in the same wayexcept that unlike CISD or Jungian analysis or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, these therapies could put permanent recovery just one pill away. At the moment, of course, such treatments remain entirely hypothetical, an avant-garde limited to the lab. PKMzeta inhibitors can zap rodent memories, but we cant ask the rats how they feel afterward. Maybe they feel terrible. Maybe they miss their fear. Maybe they miss their morphine. Or maybe all they know is that they miss something. They just cant remember what. Contributing editor Jonah Lehrer (jonah.lehrer@gmail.com) is the author of the new book Imagine: How Creativity Works, out in March. Pages: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 | RELATED Full Page | Next
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Tim Harrington

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The cover of the current issue poses the question "would you take such a pill?" My response is "how do we know we haven't already?"

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heterodox If we'd taken a memory-erasing pill, we'd likely remember taking the pill. To forget taking the pill, we'd have to ... take another pill, and go through the memory-erasing process. Then, we'd remember taking the second pill...

flassh81 Its a bit like Equilibrium and taking your morning interval.

Granite Sentry Some of us won't actually need this pill, but I can't seem to recall why at the moment... What were we talking about?

Tim Fargus I think it's a great idea. Here's my one concern: how would therapists ensure that only the targeted memories are recalled during a session? That is, if while I'm trying to erase memories of a painful car crash, I happen to remember that the phone bill is due in 2 days, do I forget that as well?

Monique Rosales I agree Tim! My primary concerns would be the effects of the pill itself; if this is another Benzo drug to push pharma sales; and the overall consequences of taking this drug. Naturally, we all have experiences in our lives that we would like to just put behind us and forget about, but I would much rather see the mental health experts come up with healthier alternatives that will help people to effectively and naturally deal with painful memories. Thoughts?

Andrew Foster I understand reluctance to use a therapy that is so permanent and irreversible, but the author makes a good point when he relates this treatment to cases of extreme psychological suffering. This is not for a bad breakup, that experience is painful but manageable. PKMzeta inhibitors, in my mind, would be used to alleviate the pain of people with an illness with no cure. Addiction is something you can't simply put behind you; it dominates your life and prevents you from having even a single day without struggle. OCD traps you in your habits; just imagine making each little thing you do a Herculean task. These aren't experiences that can easily be learned from, they are illnesses that need a cure.

Han van der Heide Yup, no contest there. This article hints at just such a cure. Now plz reread the article, have a breather (or smoke if you don't like fresh air). I'll wait...

Jasper Sauve I'm pretty sure you would just forget the pain of it. Which is great when it comes to phone bills, right?

Brian Gygi

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This is a really irresponsible article. You push the findings of one researcher which are not supported in the community (have they even been published anywhere?) and you fail to talk to anyone who might have a contrary opinion. This is not the way science works. Even though everyone who can't get published invokes Thomas Kuhn, in reality paradigm shifts are rarely triggered by one person. This is just another in a long string of claims about "erasing memories". Anyone remember the engram? Karl Lashley, a real scientist, thought that there were specific sites for memories for memories in the brain and proceeded to test it by progressively chopping out greater and greater amounts of rats brains. But they didn't forget (this is what led to the fallacious notion that we don't use most of our brains). In reality, memories are not stored at one site or in one fashion, they are distributed throughout the brain in numerous modalities. No one protein, (a chemical engram) encodes a specific memory - in fact, it's hard to say what even constitutes a specific memory. This is a pointless article that Wired should not have published and unfortunately it's already being picked up and discussed around the Net. Be more judicious in what you publish, you have a responsibility to the public discourse.

Steve Burnet Its a fucking mass produced magazine. If you want a peer reviewed journal, then go to your local university or buy one online.

Ffejtball It's a mass produced produced magazine that used to have a mass appeal to the technorati and overall intelligentsia. It's lost that standing because of articles like this that are appealing on the surface, but flawed within. A few words here and there could have made it balanced, but the key words are "could have".

Michael Worley Please don't ever use Intelligentsia again. I found that word once and vowed never, ever, ever to use it in any kind of discourse. Unfortunately I faltered and used it, It was probably the most ridiculous sounding word I ever committed to conversation.

Salanth Heh, I only use it in reference to the coffee company.

Hugh Churchward Easy there Steve. Unecessarily sharp mate.

Felipe Madrigal Admitting it as a fact or even as an accepted theory is of course irresponsible. But you got to admit it is fascinating and opens a lot of room for discussion

Matt Duerr Eternal Sunshine here we come.

JamesEyre1 All 'talk therapy' is not the same. Illustrating psychological alternatives in some detail with the straw man of CISD, (a mostly discredited, ineffective treatment, viewed with some suspicion by clinicians in the UK) is frankly dishonest. This article misrepresents psychological treatments for traumatic memories, and ignores effective therapies e.g. trauma focused CBT with

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interventions like imagery rescripting, imaginal exposure, re-living and other therapies like EMDR. I think its great that pharmacological interventions may soon be able to target problematic memories, but we're a long way off from licensed treatments. Today, people struggling with PTSD may read this article and wrongly conclude that psychological treatments are of little value, and that they have to tough it out until a PKMzeta inhibitor drug comes along. Research suggests doing tasks which interfere with working memory such as eye movements or playing Tetris during or after recall of a trauma, reduce both the emotional intensity and the vividness of the target memory (maybe by influencing the same neuro-chemical mechanisms?). Many trauma focused 'talk therapies' involve similar tasks, and are grounded in well researched models of memory, learning theory etc. They certainly aren't operating on the naive assumption that you can talk out the trauma, as this article seems to suggest!

Amy Johansen I suffer from PTSD, and as painful as those memories have been, I actually don't want them gone, it allows me to help others who have gone through the same thing. :) It creates a connection, if we all forgot these things, we'd lose so many lessons, and the chance to help others cope who went through the same thing. I am not saying I liked what I went through, absolutely not, but because it, I am able to connect with many people I'd never have been able to otherwise and am very compassionate towards people who have been through trauma or suffered. So, I wouldn't want to ever fully forget these things, and I am sure if they were just erased, it wouldn't get rid of the problem either. When we start to mess with things like this, it usually creates and unpredicted (negative) consequence. As you said, its not something that should just be thrust upon us casually. :) I have gone through a lot of therapy, from counselors, and by myself, and I get stronger every day. Do I still struggle, yes, but I am know it has taught me to be a more compassionate and loving person because of it. :) God Bless ~Amy

Rob Chansky I hear ya. A person I know was raped and nearly murdered, and came back after heroic efforts by the EMT staff. She had an NDE and that was a formative, soulelevating memory for her. And the memory of the period just prior to that makes her life hell sometimes. She can't help or identify with anyone going through the same thing, though--even someone mentioning getting their throat cut would destroy her day. And this is 40 years later. If she had some forgetting therapy, would it really go away? How much collateral memory would go with it? If it removed some underpinning that makes her insecure, would nearby memories (like the NDE) also remove an underpinning that helps her in life? The crime remains unsolved. Erasing the only witness would close the door for good on that (not that I would have thought it would be otherwise after this long).

flassh81 CISD is used here in the states. I just had one a week or two ago after a LODD at work in Virginia. I tell you what, I dealt with it better at home on my own. And the constant meetings regarding CISM/CISD get tired and annoying (shared amongst colleagues). Like the article said about CISD, it works for some, but not all or many. I also would personally choose NEVER to forget my memories. They may hurt, but they make me who I am today. Better or worse. I do understand that some people could/should have help like this though, and I woundn't think any less of them for doing so.

epicism Is anyone else getting that 'step one to the universally-feared Zombie apocalypse' vibe?

disqusidentity

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YES. Let's hope people can't get an addictive high off PKMzeta...

roseviolet Honestly, the article did a very poor job of explaining what PTSD is - and even more importantly what it is like to suffer. The cover graphic really diminishes what PTSD is. It's not about a blind date that showed up late wearing a horribly wrong outfit, driving an old car and who proceeded to take you to an awful art flick (in some language neither of you understood) followed by a vegan meal, totally ignoring that you love meat. Nor would it be about disappointing holidays, the time you slipped up and had a one night stand, having to go to the free clinic as a result, the hell that is called a job interview, or junior prom, etc. It's not about mere bad memories you'd prefer to forget. It's about car wrecks, rape, natural disasters, domestic violence, child abuse and other trauma that people experience and sometimes also the helpers (like firemen or EMT) witness the aftermath of that for some reason imbeds itself in the brain like it was branded there by a hot iron - and once there, the memory randomly invades your waking hours, your dreams and even your reactions to everyday stimuli (for example, you may suddenly be ducking for cover every time there's a sudden noise). PTSD literally takes away a lot of who you are because you can't react like you used to and you can't get the memory to leave you alone and when it seems to leave it always comes back. So would I take it? No, not as the first round of people to try it. I've learned not to be that trusting of psychiatrists and psychiatric medications. If a few years and however many patients doesn't turn up any weird (or deadly) side effects, you bed I'd be in line for that pill.

Amy Johansen Amen! That really sums it up pretty well! I have PTSD, only found out I had it 3yrs ago... Had it for a long time, and what described is pretty damn accurate! I wouldn't take a pill either, but I all ready explained why in a previous post. :) God Bless ~Amy

Brittany Roberts Right! I also do not like how they talk about "curing" PTSD. Erasing something is not curing it, nor is it teaching anything valuable- like coping skills. etc.

Nick Considine The concept of this is dangerous. Have we forgotten the spiritual purposes of all things that come? Hiding the painful memories is the same as hiding symptoms to sickness. With the ability to erase painful experiences, we prevent ourselves from ultimate spiritual growth and understanding who we are, and I imagine that if we were really able to hide the painful experiences behind a drug, more ailments will come to us.

Andrew Foster Seeking a cure for your debilitating psychological disease isn't "hiding." Would you tell a diabetic that insulin injections are simply hiding their true disease? Some things cannot be learned from because they are not instructive, but destructive. Pain is one of those things. There is a very common misconception in many Western cultures that somehow seeking a respite from pain is weak. If we have the tools to lessen suffering in the world, why not do so? Pain in and of itself provides no benefit. And alleging that those who seek to make their lives better through pharmacological means, rather than spiritual or mental ones, are somehow weaker or ignorant is unfair. (I'm not saying that PKMzeta inhibitors are this cure, or that they're even a viable option. I think the idea of a cure for psychological illness needs to be taken seriously and not seen as an escape.)

heterodox

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Anytime I see the word "spiritual", a huge sign saying "BULLSHIT FOLLOWS" illuminates. And for good reason. Tell me how remembering the moment your child died in your arms leads to "spiritual growth". How does this enhance self-discovery or ... really ... anything? If you think it is a good thing to remember such a thing forever, well you're lucky not to know first hand. News flash: People have been using drugs to deal with painful memories for eons. Ever heard of alcohol? I can only believe that memory-erasing drugs, used responsibly, would alleviate vast amounts of suffering and save many lives.

aj Unfortunately some people do not experience spiritual growth no matter what they do. Instead they may become recluse and not be able to function to whats considered normal. I think drug addicts that have already chosen illicit drugs to erase painful experiences should consider trying something like this to get clean instead of relying on street drugs, committing crimes, accidental overdoses, losing everything in their lives. Considering that is similar to what they are doing anyway.

thixotropic EDIT: never mind :)

Soylent_Green_is_people Eternal. Sunshine. Of. The. Spotless. Mind.

ct01 Not.even.close.to.that. Read the whole article - they even talk about how this is not like what they do in Eternal Sunshine.

flassh81 I'd like a pill to forget I even sat through 20 minutes of that trash.

quiop LOL. I don't even know where to begin with people like you.

Austin Corrales Though does this work with one pill per specific memory? Or like the movie, would the pill erase anything related to a subject or person? They'd need to be careful with this with like dosages or something :/

Michael Patterson PKMzeta has been floating around the LTP field for a while, and while it's a good story, it hasn't been replicated outside Sacktor's hands (as far as I can remember). I'd suggest contacting Rick Huganir at Johns Hopkins about this, as his lab has created a PKMzeta knockout mouse that does not have a strong memory phenotype (assuming he's willing to comment on it). They presented some of their findings at SFN 2011. I love the idea of a memory wiping drug, and we probably will discover something that can do it in

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the future, but I'm not at all convinced PKMzeta inhibitors are the answer.

brainonholiday Any chance you could link to the actual research articles you cite? Thank you.

blindwanderer I often forget things, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently, regardless it's atypical (common symptom with dyslexics). I've accepted it as a fact of life. I suspect it use to terrify me but I've forgotten the terror associated with the memory of forgetting. What I find unsettling is the idea I'm forgetting who I am. I fear that I will never achieve anything because I won't be able to remember enough. Memory loss is scary when it gets existential. Temporary forgetting is annoying. I will forget the names of co-workers while standing next to them. I will forget what a word looks like, I'll write it out or type it, and spell it correctly but it will look wrong to me. Or the reverse will happen, I'll write a word and by looking at it know I've spelled it wrong (and if my memory is working I'll know how to fix it). Different parts of my memory will just randomly fail on me. It's been interesting to experience these failures and recognize them as it's given me insight into how memory works. It's been helpful in understanding how other people think, being able to find the core of their understanding or misunderstanding. I wonder if my memory issues are the result of a shortage of the chemicals necessary for reconsolidation. I wonder how you would test that short of a brain biopsy. Knowing my memory is crap, I'm now more of a go-with-the-flow type of person (I can't trust my memory) and I'm more willing to accept that I have my own cognitive biases (How can I trust my decision making when I can't trust my memory of the facts). What gets me out of bed in the morning is knowing that everyone else is the same way to a lesser extent and they don't know it, makes me feel smug. I liked this article. It's good to see all these different pieces all tied together. It's helped highlight the important parts. I'm surprised sleep and dreaming weren't mentioned at all. I think the current theory is that the purpose of dreaming is to perform reconsolidation.

yehuda_hamaccabi "... pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves. I don't want my pain taken away! I need my pain"

Han van der Heide Where would I be without all that 'baggage'?

Guest Since there are clear evolutionary benefits to having developed memory at all, I wonder if there are evolutionary advantages to the relative "loudness" of traumatic memories. I'd want to know more about why are brains are wired to do this before I set about extinguishing it. Conversely, if the absence of a relatively few chemicals can prevent memory retention, can an increase in these same chemicals increase the clarity (the detail, and therefore the veracity) of memory content? Because if I could take a pill that doubled memory resolution, I'd do it in a heartbeat. And I'd think research into this would be beneficial in treating dementia.

heterodox

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You wouldn't take a pill to erase a memory (even though any one memory of the type we're discussing is afforded by happenstance and not crucial to survival), but you would take a pill to enhance memory?

Fabio Couto "In the very near future, the act of remembering will become a choice". A choice until governments start using it against people that oppose to them. It could turn into a massive social weapon. A clockwork orange effect. Why not invest this effort on discovering a cure for cancer instead?

jujutsuka Heh, yeah, want to silence a star witness or whistleblower? Throwing them in a kidnap van and disappearing them is so pass. Just dose 'em with one of those pills. Quick, clean, no blood on their hands. Useful for the government, the elite, and the mob alike.

Hershey4ever Calling it now, below me will be a various assortment of comments expressing fear about the possibility of abusive governments using these chemicals and the negative implications of these treatments for humanity in the long term, And on the opposite side of the spectrum, comments praising the drugs and advances in science and countering the opinions against the treatment, while heralding the possibilities and unimaginable peaceful/relaxing future these treatments could bring. It's ok guys, it really is. *Hands out pills to everyone* it'll all be ok, just relax and tell me what you feel.

Muzaffer Can Karaday You took all the fun of it. This thread is now about cats.

McGhee What is 'cats'? I for one welcome our new government-sponsored vitamin program!

ed_dodds Any connection to Alzheimer's Research?

fart9658 "The K-Hole" - ha, and here was me thinking Wired was just a little prudish to discuss the lesser side of ketamine,

Robert North There follows what I teach my patients and clients: When you experience bad things happening or a painful memory:

1.

Examine
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1. Examine reality: Ask is it all happening by chance or is it coordinated? a. If your answers is chance, go to jail. You will continue to suffer. b. If you recognize coordination, ask

2. Is the coordination out of love or hate (indifference)? a. jail. b. If you recognize love, ask If your answer is hate (indifference), go to

3. What is its purpose? a. If you answer something like to destroy me, go to jail. b. If you answer, to invite me to become an evolved human being, ask 4. How do I use any painful situation to become an evolved human being? a. If you answer I do not know, go to jail.

b. If you answer, By choosing to be in the present loving all that causes painjust the way it is,

You will evolve, and you will welcome painful memories and bad things happening, and you will never take pills or eat or do anything to lessen the pain because you want that pain to awaken you. Ya cant evolve without transforming bad things happening into love. Cant be done.

Of course, that is an outline.

Sigrun Tmmers This scares me, because then the future "help" people like me, who was repeatedly abused for more than ten years as a child, might get is forgetting that we once had a past where we were children. I once was the client of a clinical psychologist who did to a large extent take memories away. The result was both that my depression became more painful and meaningless than before when its content was gone, and that I was more retraumatized by new traumatic events than I had been before. Then I would say that this would be a threat to humanity as a whole, since we live in a world with war, terror, rape and violence. We need to know what really is going on around us if we are to struggle for more justice for people.

heterodox But that psychologist *didn't* take memories away.

Martain Chandler 1) Great Article 2) I see the Pain Caucus has already made an appearance. Holding on to painful memories is the same as worshiping mental illness. Yes this can be taken too far and What Else Is New? 3) Don't think of an elephant! Whoops! Too late.

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000jbond Hi Jonah: The simplest, cheapest and probably most effective memory eraser is mindfulness-awareness meditation. You sit there, unpleasant memories arise, you witness them but don't indulge them and go back to the breath. They keep coming up and you keep applying the technique but not in a heavy handed way...you don't want to suppress them! Eventually they stop arising on their own and attendant bodily sensations like fear lessen. You can still bring up these memories by will but they lose their emotional punch. To ferret out the most deeply buried, you do a body scan. I once had a veteran have a flashback to a day of combat as he was laying still and paying attention to different parts of the body. He could hear my voice but he was back on the battle field. This reoccured over the next couple days and then vanished from unconscious activation. Cheers, jb

Brittany Roberts What would life be like without memories? Emotional experiences bring us together, give us a sense of passion about the lives we have today for we remember what they once were, or what they could have become. We remember the pain that certain decisions or life experiences have taught us, and it encourages us to go forward- pursuing the opposite. How do we truly appreciate the good without recollection of the bad? For me anyway, I have learned so much from situations that taught me to be strong- I have learned from life itself. Who would I be without my memories? Memories are part of what makes us human. To take them away is simply a slippery slope.

YellowRex You've clearly never had a tramautic memory that severely inhibits your ability to life a normal life, as many PTSD sufferers have. Bad memories are one thing. They are learning experiences just as you suggest. Deeply traumatic memories are another thing entirely.

Guccipiggy Wait, wait. Everyone is talking like the memory would be eliminated and that is simply not the case. What you would forget are the EMOTIONS that memory has. And a memory is an event, NOT a person. So, say you wanted to forget a bad breakup, you'd stop feeling as sad and devastated but would not forget that a) you were in a relationship, b) you broke up and c) the other person. This is not Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it's just rubbing painkillers on a very specific part of your past.

Danh Pham I can see more uses for this as a weapon than a therapy treatment but even if you forget it, its still happened in this universe, you can't just erase something from history because you don't know that it exists. This also coincides with convenient advances in memory recovery, so this could be a very interesting field in the near future.

rachel dixon Dude, are you kidding? We live in a universe in which witches were burned in Salem, Edison invented the lightbulb, and Ronald Reagan was a great president. You don't need to erase something from history, you only need to bend history to your needs by editing out the inconvenient bits.

TheKingJAK Nice asinine reply there!

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Rebecca Araujo I suffered some horrible abuse as a child. I've suffered through post traumatic stress disorder, chronic depression. social anxiety disorder all of it. I would not want those memories to be gone and the reason is because what happened to me made me a better person because I knew exactly the person I did not want to become and worked hard to be the person I am.

SixStringSamurai "In the very near future, the act of remembering will become a choice." - More like a privilege. I can see so many evil ways to use a drug of this nature. This has government psy-ops written all over it. Here take this pill....now you will forget you ever had rights..... Everyone has painful memories....as my grandpa would say "builds character!"

Derek Bullen I was just thinking... maybe that's why Wired has published such an amateurish article. To warn us of what we could be up against... before we cant remember to be afraid of it

John Cockroft I can see the obvious benefit for someone who has been crippled by PTSD or a particularly traumatic childhood memory but the consequences of this are truly terrifying. Imagine being captured by a repressive regime (I don't need to name names) who then decides to reprogram you. They could inject the drug then show you pictures of your family or similar prompts (or of things that are key knowledge to you) - and you end up forgetting about your family, childhood or even what you were. What about some memory that is an embarrassment to the authorities - a quick injection and some forced remembering and it is no more. Obviously you cannot put the genie back in the bottle - now that we know how memory works then that is a good thing - but we need international rules/treaties to stop these sorts of techniques/drugs being misused for undoubtedly they will be.

Chuckiechan I'll never forget what's her name...

Trailmap Like so many angel investors, Wired falls under the siren's call of yet another crappy biotech start-up. The coup de grce is "Future treatments that become active only in the particular parts of the [brain] cortex and only at the precise time a memory is being recalled." As far as I am aware, this is completely unsolved problem in pharmacology, even with brain surgery. The endorsement by Wired and insidious insinuation that these guys have an actual drug (the tittle "One pill ", "How a new drug ", various blister pack shots throughout the article) goes halfway to helping them raise their Series A. Next time get someone actually involved in drug discovery to look over this stuff (try making the short trip down the road to Oyster Point). There's enough awesome and inspired stuff going on in science today that there shouldn't be a need for total fabrication by Wired.

Htos1 I can't wait to see how this is weaponized and/or forced upon us.

Derek Bullen

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Its been in the public water supply of most of the mid-western United States for about half a decade now.

Evencio I dont know about you all but I for one do NOT trust those that would administer these "pills" which BTW is just a method of delivery. The active substance could be given without consent via food, beverage or even inhaled in the atmosphere we breathe. Of course it would be done in order to "HELP" us, our Gov't being so benevolent and all without any bribes, strike that, without any "influence" from the soros types of the world. Naw, it would NEVER happen like that...................... would it ??

Ronin This WILL be abused.

SolipsisticPsychologist My immediate thought with this article was the scientist are huge fans of Jonathan Lethem. Understandable, but also creepy if the world were to go to Gun, With Occasional Music's future. But at the same I was glad to hear his fears fell in line with my own. Also nice to see no recent mention in Wired comments credit given to me for the MDMA method that has been in the news a lot recently, and I mentioned in the comments of your last PTSD article, haha. I think you should have delved into it more too. Especially about how there are quite a lot of proponents for it recently with current research again, and many are pushing for it to be legalized in medical use because of the exceptional results it's seen. But like many good things it's unfortunately a horrendous battle to get laws changed because the government only cares about what looks good on paper and I'm sure they just hear rave music in their head when the topic is brought up. But this article was interesting and I'm for anything that can help further research for curing PTSD and of course for neuropathy patients and other aliments that this would help. But I just can't help but still echo the doctors fear about this possible drug being horribly misused by evil or at the very least people only concerned with money.

Georgi Skanderbeg Memories are important part of who we are. Dealing with them is important in our development. However if you don't want to develop as a human, take a pill, watch television and do as you are told. What could be easier?

GB_1 to everyone joking about it, i saw this headline and my heart nearly stopped when i saw that i had a chance to forget the trauma that's been haunting me for years, i still freeze up at certain things its not funny, the morality and safety of this procedure will definitely have to be considered and even though the events in your life shape you as a person, there are some things that physically hurt to remember, there are people out there who know what i mean. the people like me who are wondering, who would i be, if i could just let it all go? there are some things, that are better off forgotten and sometimes, when there's no escape from your own mind, would you rather forget, or destroy your body with drugs and alcohol in an attempt to temporarily forget? i probably sound crazy to those of you reading this, but there are people out there who have had seriously traumatic experiences, not like, oh my cat died i can't get over it hmm i'll just go to the doctor and he can make me forget, i'm taking about having to watch someone you love suffer to no end and the best you can do is stand by powerless and watch it happen. it will be up to the doctors to discern whether or not the reason for treatment is valid and i do hope that if this procedure is perfected that they will hold this process in reserve for only those who really need it, i doubt that i'd be brave enough or considered eligible for this procedure. i am in no way saying this could be a cure all or that alternate treatment options should not be considered first, but for some one with nothing else left to try, this is hope.

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Reow This will be awesome at parties. You can convince your friends that it's a memory enhancer and get them to recall the best parts of their lives - holiday, hot chick they banged, whatever. When they go home, they'll have lost it!

term papers comments that you people post are so huge

Christine DiPietro I was a little late getting on the Hunger Games train, but was reading about Peeta's changed memories in "Mockingjay" and was instantly reminded of this article. I am convinced the Jonah Lehrer was reading the books when he became inspired to write it -- and Susan Collins knows her stuff.

Gianni Alexander Spata Psychiatry never cures anythingall we do is treat the worst symptoms. But this new treatment could be the first psychiatric cure ever. Yeah. I believe you this time. All Psychiatry ever does is find kinder, gentler, more insidious ways to ruin societies (Russia, Germany, Freuds' European Coke Epidemic, Modern U.S.A., etc.) Here they advocate chemical brainwashing, claiming they got something right this time. This is no different then claiming Electro-Shock has all the bugs worked out because now they anesthetize you first. Quackery is far too kind a word for what they do. EU's top 2 drug co's recently quit producing all psych meds, claiming they are based in junk science. Expect to see lots more crap articles from this increasingly discredited, anachronistic pseudo-science.

RAREGA I was traumatized for years after seeing pictures of my 18 yr old cousin after she put a gun into her mouth. Then seeing her in a casket didnt make things any easier. I missed a couple of months of my Junior year because I wasn't able to sleep at night. It didn't help to talk about it. It just took a really long time to forget.

Ata Hope these pills will be use in goodness of the world not manipulating the bad factual acts of human beings

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