Research on Memory Erasure

With the advancement of neuroscience, the possibility of erasing our memories is slowly creeping into our realities. Through various clinical trials and studies, researchers hope to implement drugs that could potentially be used to erase traumatic memories of PTSD patients or drug addicts. Although seemingly beneficial, the use of memory-erasing drugs can have damaging and unethical implications for society and its individuals. While the prospects of using pharmaceutical drugs to erase memories present benefits for those suffering from tragic memories and the scientific community, such drugs should not be available for use because it compromises one’s identity and alters the human experience, fostering an environment in which our experiences hold minimal consequences and value.

The possibility of using drugs to erase traumatic memories would not only advance the scientific community’s knowledge about how memories are created, stored, and utilized in our brains, but also increase funding for further scientific investigation of memories.

When one experiences an excessively traumatic or threatening event, the amygdala, which regulates emotions in the brain, signals the adrenal gland to release adrenaline, a hormone responsible for the extent to which a certain memory maintains strong emotional significance and is firmly fixed in our brain.

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Synaptic connections in the hippocampus then grow stronger through long-term potentiation, consolidating the memory and producing a “heightened fear response to external events that are out of proportion to the actual nature of the problems at hand” (Glannon, 2006). Since adrenaline plays a significant role in the excessive emotional response to a traumatic event, using a drug, such as propranolol that blocks adrenaline could potentially prevent the emotional association of memory from forming.

Various researchers have been conducting studies with PTSD patients and rats on the effectiveness of propranolol in dampening traumatic memories. (“A”, 2006) If successful, propranolol would not only inform science’s understanding of how the brain creates and retains memories, but also further the scientific investigation of memory manipulation. In the scientific community, the success and implementation of a scientific discovery produce a cascade of further support and funding for that area of research. If the drug becomes safe and effective, the pharmaceutical industry could potentially see an increase in sales and interest, encouraging scientific associations to pool more resources and dedicate more attention to this field. While the public distribution of such drugs, if unsuccessful, may delegitimize the prospects of the drug, the benefits for the scientific community in progressing scientific understanding of our brain outweigh the risks of failing.

Whether the use of such drugs to delete one’s traumatic memories is successful or not, the scientific community can only benefit, with minimal risks, from the knowledge gained from the results of a memory-erasing drug. Using memory-erasing drugs may help PTSD patients and drug addicts overcome a life-debilitating condition, but it detracts from one’s identity, influencing one’s morals and sense of responsibility. For those battling with PTSD or life-inhibiting experiences, these drugs would enhance their quality of life. For Louise O’Donnell-Jasmin, being raped by a doctor at 12 has traumatized her for more than 30 years ago. So O’Donnell Jasmin took propranolol as part of a study conducted by Harvard University psychiatrist Roger Pitman. A week later, the emotions connected to the memories of her rape disappeared, explaining, “[w]hat was broken when I was 12 was fixed. They have given me back myself” (“A”, 2006). People like O’Donnell-Jasmin harbor memories so vivid and debilitating that “perhaps modifying [bad memories] would allow the expression of his or her true identity” (Phillips, 2008). When one has experienced trauma, memories of that episode may strip away at their identity. Memory-erasing drugs, if successful, can potentially release victims of their suffering, improving their quality of life. However, by doing so, an individual risks the self-growth one attains by overcoming struggles. Although complete autonomy of one’s experiences may provide a sense of freedom and satisfies one’s desire to feel better, it robs the individual of life lessons that instill morality and persistence. For instance, researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in Florida are testing an injection of a drug called blebbistatin that is projected to erase drug-associated memories. Their goal is “[take] away the power of an individual’s trigger” (“Scripps”, 2015) and avoids relapse. But, that does not remove the person’s capability of becoming addicted to drugs again; it givestolie them a clean slate. While forgetting traumatic memories is easier, surviving trauma builds accountability, responsibility, and willpower. To be human is to liebe fallacious, yet resilient.

An individual may always encounter hardships, but it is the emotionally charged experiences that teach right from wrong because “[u]npleasant memories are a necessary imperfection in our human nature” (Glannon, 2006). It is both the joys and perils we experience that build the principles we promote and code of conduct we live by. Unless an individual is dealt with a life-debilitating set of memories, the use of memory-erasing drugs will hinder self-growth and instill a mindset absent of progress and strength, which may harm not only the individual, but also society. Providing a drug that has the potential to erase emotionally powerful memories cultivates a setting in which life events and troubling episodes are simply fixed and inconsequential. While memory-erasing drugs would solve the effects of PTSD and aid the citizens of our society, there lies more harmful implications that promote passivity and diminish our actions as negligible and therefore, harmless. It enforces unaccountability because we are tricked into believing that if we erase the memory of an event, it is no longer significant, “allow[ing] us to do things we desire without shame” (“PCBE”, 2003). In turn, we act recklessly without regard for the consequences, cultivating chaos and absolute individual autonomy. If such drugs are successful in erasing memories, the pharmaceutical industry will, by design, push for the expansion of diagnoses for sales, exploiting and overmedicalizing the drug (Phillips, 2008). This, in turn, could lead to the coercion and normalization of the drug, promoting a culture that is numb to injustice and trauma. For instance, if a rape victim chooses to erase their memory of the incident, it may also erase their will and ability to press charges, leaving the justice system unable to punish the criminal for their crime. Although it may prove beneficial for the individual to delete the memory of the rape, society is unable to prosecute the criminal and ultimately protect its citizens from other rapists who are more likely to commit the same crime, given the low chances of going to jail (Lavazza, 2015).

Consequently, society may become less secure and more vulnerable to dangerous decisions. From a utilitarian perspective, the greatest outcome for the greatest amount of people results from not administering a memory-erasing drug. Even though PTSD patients do benefit from utilizing these drugs, their widespread implementation would not only harm society’s moral principles but also instill a false sense of satisfaction. As an enigma of neuroscience, memory continues to both baffle and amaze researchers as they attempt to identify drugs to erase traumatic memories. Although the use of a memory-erasing drug enhances a PTSD patient’s quality of life, implementing the drug to the public presents damaging repercussions that undermine the individual and society's identity and core principles.