BAD MEMORIES ERASED WITH THERAPY

FEARFUL RECOLLECTIONS AND BAD MEMORIES
CAN BE BLOCKED OR CHANGED WITHOUT DRUGS

WASHINGTON, DC (AHN) - Researchers with New York University say they have, for the first time, blocked conditioned fear memory in humans using non-invasive behavior therapy, and without drugs. Researcher Elizabeth Phelps said in a statement that her and her colleagues' results suggest a "non-pharmacological, naturalistic approach" is a more effective way to treat anxiety due to emotional memories. "This is the first study without drugs showing what we think is the permanent alteration of the memory," she said. The findings also could have implications for treating phobias in a more permanent way, say the researchers. The current therapy of choice involves exposing patients to the feared object, though in a safe environment. This so-called extinction method works, but the fear can come back when the person is under stress.

Phelps and her colleagues detail their findings in the Dec. 9 online issue of the journal Nature.
Researchers are finding our memories get consolidated over and over again each time we retrieve a certain bit of information. Let's say we see a snake: At that moment our brains pull out past information we've stored on snakes, such as a close encounter with one. By revisiting the snake memory a portal of sorts opens, and that memory is open to manipulation. From past studies, scientists think that the window of opportunity opens up between three and 10 minutes after spotting the snake, or its equivalent. And it stays open for at least an hour, but no longer than six hours, Phelps said. The research team "seized the moment" by changing the fearful information before the memory got reconsolidated or sealed up again. Their research was conducted with a grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Krsna says: “mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca” (Bg 15.15)
“He is the prime cause of remembrance, forgetfulness, and intelligence. He is the controller.” For his own pleasure, his līlā, he can do anything. This is true not only in the material world, but also in his own domain. What is meant by this statement of the Gita concerns this brahmanda, this material world. The gist of this statement is that from the lower planetary systems up to the highest - this entire area of evolution and dissolution - everything is manipulated by him. No credit can be attached to any external thing. All credit should go to the center who controls everything.

Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Mahārāja :
"Subjective Evolution of Consciousness"
Chapter 1: ‘Fossilism, Hypnotism, & the Cosmos’.