In many science fiction films we have seen advanced technological systems capable of eliminating unpleasant memories at will, which the brain insists on sealing in our memory. As if it were a sequel to one of them, a team of North American scientists has just discovered a drug that could erase the pain associated with the reminiscence of traumatic episodes, according to the journal Nature . Known as “Gilenya” and commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, this drug would join the list of “amnesic” drugs that still need to be thoroughly tested but that, in the near future, could face us in a world in which the suffering lasts a matter of minutes .
Science has been searching for the pill to forget for decades, and it seems that it is getting closer and closer to achieving it. Through experiments carried out in mice, the neuroscientists in question found that, in those animals that took the drug, the fear of receiving another electric shock was reduced . Previously, numerous shocks had been administered to the animals, which were paralyzed by anxiety. However, after taking the “Gilenya” dose, this anxiety and fear behavior was noticeably reduced.
The authors of the work hope to be able to use the medication to apply it in humans and obtain similar effects in what is known as “extinction of fear”. Thus, individuals with traumatic stress syndrome, for example, may decide to forget the painful memory of the trauma. After treatment, they could regain awareness of that memory, but freed from the feeling of pain.
The definitive development of a drug that induces forgetfulness would unseat other less precise therapies such as hypnosis and would take the concept of selective memory to the extreme.
