A researcher has discovered a way to edit memories and in turn stop the hurting from a heartbreak, BBC reported.
Dr Alain Brunet, a researcher from Montreal, said that his 15 years of studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has helped her find a way to stop the pain from a bad breakup or a traumatic experience though editing memories via therapy and a beta blocker
His therapy, called “reconsolidation therapy,” uses propranolol—a drug that is also used to treat hypertension and migraine. According to his research, it can also be an effective beta blocker.
During the therapy, the patient will take propranolol and after an hour, there will be a session where he or she will write a detailed account of their pain and read it out loud.
According to his interview with BBC, the therapy can target the highly emotional portion of the said traumatic memory Once it has been targeted, the drug can then suppress the pain of that part of the memory.
The memory targeted by the drug and therapy will not be truly gone, but will just be saved and re-introduced as a new, less emotional version.
Brunet said that 70 percent of patients found the reconsolidation therapy effective. He said that beyond trauma and break ups, he hopes to use the method to treat addiction and phobia, as well as depression as well.
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