The Eternal Sunshine Of My Spotless Mind

This thought brings me joy, the thought of relieving myself of all my bad memories that haunt me every morning from the minute I wake up till when I go to bed at night. No, they don’t stop there, I dream about them too or should I call these nightmares instead? Do I have to live with these haunting memories for the rest of my life? No, not anymore!

My Memories

There has been research on trying to understand what memories are and how our brain stores, processes and retrieves them for centuries. But in the recent years the research no longer confines to understanding them, it is also to erase them. Scientists classify memories into three categories, Sensory memory that is associated with processing sensory information, what you see, hear, taste and feel. Short term memory is the memory that is retained by the mind for very short durations; this does not involve the mind recalling this information, all though some short term memory can be converted into the third category, Long term Memory. Long term memory, the area where most of the memory erasure research is being focused, is the memory that we retain for long periods of time. It is categorised into the memory that helps you utilize the skills you have learnt called the Implicit memory and the Explicit memory, our area of interest, is the one that stores emotional memories.

The day to day lives of people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is affected severely because of the traumatic memories of a terrifying event that they underwent or witnessed is being triggered constantly by specific places, people or circumstances resulting in an insurmountable fear, anxiety or nightmares. Sometimes these memories affect behaviour even when they are not directly triggered. The symptoms of PSTD can last for months or even years after the event affecting their normal functioning. The people at risk of experiencing PSTD are war veterans, survivors of natural disasters, concentration camp survivors and victims of violent crimes and assaults. A common symptom is called the "Survivor’s guilt", when the individual survived a trauma while the others in the event died. The other symptom of PTSD symptoms include becoming emotionally numb, developing negative feeling towards oneself or others, hopelessness, lack of interest in everything and inability to maintain close relationships. Alcohol and drug abuse are also common symptoms associated with PTSD. Aggressive behaviour, self destructing habit and even suicidal thoughts are not uncommon among patients suffering from PTSD.

Erasure is the Elixir

For decades scientists have been researching about the workings of the brain and the makings of memories. The methods used early on were techniques like "Drug induced Amnesia" where certain drugs such as Triazolam and Midazolam were administered to patients for selectively inhibiting or losing memories. There have been other techniques like "Selective suppression" only suppress memories without erasing them and do not work on all patients. "Emotional Freedom" is another technique which is somewhat like a self help method, with no scientific evidence proving its effectiveness, can be considered more like a placebo.

They have now understood that memory is not as inflexible as it was thought to be. Memory can be manipulated. Besides, Memories are nothing but a consequence of electrochemical impulses and synaptic activity. Studies on mice have shown that Xenon gas when used like anaesthesia can neutralise negative memories. The gas targets the memory cells and blocks it from making the normal connections that are involved in recalling memory and can be even used for reshaping memory, which is making a bad memory a good one. If this technique is proved effective on human beings, you can soon buy an inhaler with xenon gas that can help you forget memories you want to. Another study on mice uses optogenetics or light to track the neurons that are involved in storing memories or recalling them. Shining blue light on the neurons of some shocked male mice triggered fear in them, but when the shocked mice were exposed to blue light and the company of female mice, were not showing any negative feeling. That is the selective exposure to blue light in the presence of female mice helped overwrite the existing bad memory or convert it into a positive one. Though these studies have been conducted only on mice, the scientists are confident that they will work on human beings too. The use of Psychotherapy is also found to be effective where the therapists make the patients recall and revisit the traumatic experiences. As any new information attached with the memory can make it neutral or more positive.

These studies and procedures in the future can help curing or alleviating the condition of patients suffering from diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Tampering with Memories

It is not wrong to say that my memories and my experiences make me the person I am. Erasing these memories is destroying a part of me. Memories cannot be isolated, they form a complex network that is interlinked to everything to do, the decisions we take and the personalities we are. It may not be possible to delete a memory completely. And is right to be playing god with our minds? We have still not understood the complex functioning of the brain but our brain is equipped with the skills to cope. It can cope with a tragic event, the ability to forget and the ability to learn from a bad experience. These lessons may be precious, may even be survival instincts that are keeping us alive. Tampering with these will only make us confused being who don’t understand why we are the person we are.

"You never realise what a good memory you have until you try to forget something"

• Franklin P. Jones

We specialize in Market Research Consulting, Market Research Reports, Market Sizing Reports, Industry Research Reports, Global Strategic Business Reports etc.