Eternal sunshine?

When faced with traumatic events that threaten survival, our brains form memories that linger long after the threat is gone. These unshakable recollections can express themselves as anxiety, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In early March, a team of Canadian researchers announced that they’d made progress on this front.  By first isolating the part of the amygdala in rats’ brains where fearful memories are housed, they were able to inject a diphtheria toxin into fear-storing neurons and effectively delete bad memories. Although the application is not at all safe for use in humans, the promise of erasing a painful past is alluring.

Convenient maybe, but doesn’t this interfere with the normal processes of recovery? What sense of purpose and emotional regulation have we gained? Is ignorance bliss? No big deal – it’s also available through hypnosis  (only $47!) and a morning after pill.