Fear Can Be Erased From the Brain

Fear Can Be Erased From the Brain

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Scientists are one step closer to understanding how to erase painful fear memories by successfully erasing them in a small group of people, according to a study published in the journal Science. The intervention requires no drug, acting through behavioral intervention alone. The new report follows a series of studies in which researchers have made significant headway in understanding where such fear memories are processed in the brain, and how to erase them for good.

The study provides a shred of hope for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and from fear memories more generally. It also shows how the sometimes mysterious workings of the brain — the fact that memories are constantly recalled and reconsolidated, for example, rather than existing statically in the brain — can be used to our advantage.