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Can bad memories be ERASED using electric currents? Study finds ECT can wipe out painful experiences

  • The finding could lead to new treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Electroconvulsive therapy works by sending electric currents through the brain – this triggers a seizure – and is usually used to treat depression
  • The researchers found it can also be used to target specific memories

By
Emma Innes


PUBLISHED:

05:40 EST, 12 February 2014

|
UPDATED:

07:29 EST, 12 February 2014

Many people are dogged by painful memories they would rather forget.

Now, scientists think they have found a way of allowing them to do so.

Dutch researchers have discovered electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can be used to erase memories.

Electroconvulsive therapy is controversial and many people believe it is antiquated. But researchers believe it could be used to wipe out painful memories. Image shows a woman being given ECT in 1942

They say this discovery could eventually lead to new treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, the BBC reports.

While controversial, ECT is still regularly used to treat severe depression.

It involves passing electric currents through the brain to trigger a seizure in the hope of relieving depression.

It is administered under a general anaesthetic and the patient is given muscle relaxants so their body does not convulse during the fit.

No-one is certain why ECT works but there are a number of theories.

WHAT IS ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY?

ECT involves sending an electric current through the brain to trigger a seizure.

It is usually used to treat severe depression but is sometimes also used for patients with mania.

It is given under general anaesthetic and the patient is given muscle relaxants so their body does not convulse during the fit.

It is usually only used in patients with severe, life-threatening depression who have not responded to medication.

ECT
is sometimes also used for people who need a quick fix – such as those
with severe post-natal depression who are struggling to look after their
child.

Some patients suffer memory loss after the treatment while others experience drowsiness, confusion and nausea.

It
is not known exactly why it is effective but it could be because it
changes the blood flow in the brain or because it causes the brain to
release chemicals that reduce symptoms of depression.

Source: Mind

Some people think it relieves symptoms by changing the pattern of blood flow through the brain while others believe it works by causing the release of chemicals in the brain.

Recent research has also suggested that ECT can stimulate the growth of new cells and nerve pathways in certain areas of the brain.

Researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands used ECT to target specific memories in a bid to disrupt them.

They studied patients who were already receiving ECT for depression.

Researchers believe their findings could lead to new treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder

These people were shown two picture cards each of which told an unpleasant story.

They were then shown one of the cards again a week later and just before being given ECT – this reactivated their memory of that story.

The day after the therapy, the researchers discovered that the patients had forgotten the story they had just seen while they remembered the other one perfectly.

One patient, Jannetje Brussaard-Nieuwenhuizen, told the BBC: ‘I don’t remember, just that they showed me something but I don’t remember that it was that card. ‘

The researchers think the discovery could lead to a new treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder or that it could be used to erase depressive recollections.

Dr Jeroen Van Waarde told the BBC: ‘Potentially it’s very exciting because if we can manage to reactivate thoughts or memories then we have goals for the treatment of these problems.’

However, the researchers accept that their study was carried out on artificial memories and that real ones might be harder to erase.

They also admit that the technique is a long way off being ready for use on patients.

The study was published in Nature Neuroscience.

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Comments (19)

what you think

The comments below have not been moderated.

Angelfeathers,

Yorkshire,

49 minutes ago

My mother in law had this for depression years ago. It is the one thing she is terrified of ever having again.

Arjayem,

East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon,

2 hours ago

My father had this – ruined his life

Smile,

Mars,

2 hours ago

How can this be news?? My mum’s friend was given electric shock treatment to erase bad memories in 1977! It works….. for awhile. Then the memories come back!!

nicky,

Ireland,

3 hours ago

Yes and it can also erase ALL memories bad and good!

userpete86,

IrvineCA, United States,

3 hours ago

First off, this “therapy” isn’t a magic wand that only eliminates bad memories. Second, I would say there are some very interesting and very complicated reasons why it’s not okay to eliminate memories.

Dimpled_One,

Lubbock,

3 hours ago

and just how would they know where the bad memories are stored in the brain?

Flyinsulcer USA,

Huntsville, United States,

4 hours ago

MK Ultra

ross07,

new york, United States,

6 hours ago

Why would I want to erase my bad memories? We just have to find the right way to deal with them and find the positive outcomes they might bring. I wouldn’t erase the memory of my grandmother’s death body, it still hunts me to this day and I still suffer yet I don’t want to forget it, even though is a bad memory, it was the last memory I have of her.

Rosy,

USA, United States,

3 hours ago

there are different intensities of ‘bad memory’.
you have the memory of your grandmother. take combat vets for example… they have memory of human body parts that were blown into piece, etc. The ringing of the telephone can trigger that traumatic memory for some vets. Sounds like you can function fine, these vets are not able to function ‘normally’.

The Contusie,

Up a Country, United Kingdom,

7 hours ago

risky game, it may erase bad memories but how do you know it’ll be a perfect hit not erase good ones or remembering basic daily things. bad memories need dealing with positively to neutralise them

Meg,

xoxo, Canada,

8 hours ago

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”!!

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