Drug Deletes Fearful Memories

Al writes "Technology Review has an article about a common drug that seems to 'delete' painful memories related to a fearful experience. Experiments carried out by neuro-scientists at Emory University show that propranolol, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure, can suppress the emotional part of a fearful memory. The results, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest a new way to treat anxiety disorders. In recent years, scientists have discovered that the simple act of remembering a past experience requires that the memory be consolidated once again. And both animal research and some human studies have shown that during re consolidation, long-term memories — once thought to be fairly stable — can be more easily meddled with."

A boon to higher education

[mbstone]

Now they can make money re-educating the same students they educated before! Think of the student loan debt!

PropranoLOL

[HTH NE1]

Any relation to propofol, a.k.a. milk of amnesia?

Drugs

[Anonymous Coward]

propranolol

So this will turn your fearful memories into hilarious ones?

Ahh...

[XPeter]

Now I can finally forget the day that ruined my life. It took me away from schoolwork, friends, family...it was horrible.

Now I can finally forget the day I joined Slashdot.

Dupe?

[Hognoxious]

I've seen this story before. I think.

Re:A boon to higher education

[lucif3r]

Nice, now I can touch the stove again!

Buy your expensive drugs

[psnyder]

I'll keep my alcohol. Years of private studies show loss of fear and suppression of bad memories.

As Roosevelt said,

[blakedev]

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and now we have a drug for it."

Re:And this is a Good thing!?

[drolli]

Hmmm you can record you life on a carry-on camera you carry around. A knowbot indexes it for you and after you agree with the indexing you swallow this drug. After that use google desktop to search you memories.

Re:A boon to higher education

[flyingsquid]

You guys should not be joking about this. Deleting painful memories is an incredibly dangerous thing, as I can tell you from experience, and in the long run it will only make things worse than they were before. The reason why it's so dangerous is because... ah hell, I can't remember. But anyway, I'm pretty sure it's a bad idea.

Re:A boon to higher education

[hopkimi]

Nice, now I can get married again!

Re:And this is a Good thing!?

[flyingsquid]

On the other hand, previous experiences suggest this might not be such a bad thing. It didn't actually do much damage last year when a secret biowarfare lab accidentally released the Mnemonivirus and we had a global Amnesia Plague. Remember that?

Re:A boon to higher education

[FatdogHaiku]

I'll stick to the old methods, I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy...

russian perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

In Russia this thing is known for centuries, they call it "vodka".

Re:side effects of propranolol

[gmuslera]

Don't care... after the drug strips the emotional content of the memory of having suffering all of those side effects, it will just dont matter anymore.

Re:side effects of propranolol

[Anonymous Coward]

Worse side effects: I keep shitting my pants, but I don't know why!

Re:A boon to higher education

[iminplaya]

"As you age, the second thing to go is your memory. I forget what the first thing is."

I just saw that posted somewhere else, and I swear to god I forgot where it was.

Re:Buy your expensive drugs

[Tablizer]

I'll keep my alcohol. Years of private studies show loss of fear and suppression of bad memories.

Yes, but it's like a DELETE statement without a WHERE clause.
   

Thank the Lord...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll finally be able to wipe the image of Goatse from my mind.

Off-patent varieties

[jonaskoelker]

So this will turn your fearful memories into hilarious ones?

Just wait when it goes off-patent. You'll see knock-offs like propanorofl, propanolmao, propanolulz and propanocheezburgar.

Re:Drugs

[Talderas]

Propranolol.

Lol your nightmares away.

With propranolol you'll be LOLing so hard you'll be ROTFLYAO.

Sides effects may include: dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, water retention, painful rectal itch, hallucination, dementia, psychosis, coma, death, and halitosis. Propranolol is not for everyone. Consult your doctor before use.