Scientists Find New Drug Used to Delete Bad Memories

LiveScience is reporting that researchers have come up with a drug that could cause people to forget bad memories from their past. The drug can be used to delete any memory, but will be used for forgetting painful memories and the emotions that go along with them.

This type of drug has had a featured position in science faction for years. The storylines will usually revolve around someone who was supposed to forget a certain thing or series of events. The administrator of the drug would usually be some kind of secret governmental official, or a member of an international group such as the Illuminati.

Researchers at Harvard and McGill University in Montreal have come up with a drug that can be used to delete bad memories. The drug is called propranolol and will cause a state of selective amnesia in a patient that is given the drug.

The purpose of the drug is to help those people that have had a significantly emotional issue in their life that they have not been able to get over. The tests have been conducted on former rape victims that have had their lives altered negatively by the experience.

After taking the drug for some time, it makes it very difficult to remember distinct events that happened during an attack. If a person cannot remember the specifics or the visuals from an attack, he or she will eventually lose the negative emotional ties that went along with the event and with the aftermath.

Studies have not shown that an increase in the drug can cause an immediate result like those seen in common science fiction. The drug has to be administered over a period of time to see results.

There are many other areas other then on rape victims where this drug could be useful. There are some that are looking at the drug in being used for the treatment of severe phobias. Some scientists believe that phobias are caused by a single event in a person's past. If they can cut off the memory of that event, even if it is subconscious, they can cut off the emotional ties that cause a severe phobia.